A story about "The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine"

nobody@allconsuming.net (henrypaul) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:43:25 GMT

The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine

by Benjamin Wallace

I just finished the book The Billionaire’s Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves wine or even to anyone who simply loves reading detective mysteries. I originally gave this book to my partner (a certified oenophile) as a birthday gift. The book, just to give you a little “tasting”, is about the controversial 1787 vintage bottle of Chateau Lafit purportedly owned by Thomas Jefferson, and purchased by the Forbes family in a Christie’s auction in 1985. It was listed in Guiness World Book of Records as the most expensive bottle of red wine. (It was sold for a staggering $156,000 or as how the book computed its prorated cost: “$19,500 per glass, $4,000 for a sip, and $795 for each year of the life of the wine.”) In 2006, the authenticity of the bottles were disputed, and the book tells a gripping story of the person who perpetuated the alleged forgery. I couldn’t put the book down, and read it cover to cover in two days. I would certainly like to offer a toast to the author for making a putrefied and oxidized topic (like corked wine to the non-initiated), into a fascinating and riveting narrative. If this book was a bottle of wine, it deserves a 98 Parker points!

All Consuming : henrypaul

A story about "The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine"