I am a big fan of wine and a big fan of antiques, so I read this book with great anticipation. I really enjoyed this book for about two thirds its length. After that, I think it really lost its steam. The trick to writing a "nonfiction mystery" is to dole out the clues and facts a little at a time. Enough to keep the reader engaged, but with enough questions left to keep you interested. In other words, a mystery is all about the chase. This is especially true with nonfiction where you already know the outcome.

Wallace is a skilled writer and excellent researcher, but he solves the mystery all at once and then leaves you to slog through the final cleaning up of details.

Still, I enjoyed the story enough to recommend it. The writing is fluid and the mystery is intriguing, but the most compelling part of this book is the characters. These people are the right amount of eccentric and obsessive.

bought this as a gift for my dad and he said that it is pretty interesting but it can get kinda dry at times. but the storyline and the insight on wine in history is what made him want to keep going and get kinda into it. so he said it was decent considering the subject. kinda tough to make a story super exciting about wine and Thomas Jefferson...

Compelling and well-written. Gives great insight into the wine auction market and wine collecting. Save yourself some money and read this book before you bid in an auction for old wine.

This is an enthralling story of a world few people have the privilege of getting mixed up in. It begins with one extraordinarily expensive and rare bottle of wine and turns into an international mystery with all sorts of oddball characters. From worldwide authorities on ancient wines, to reclusive chateau owners, to hot-shot collectors and mega rich CEO's, this story weaves it's way through all of their lives. Everything surrounds the secretive life of a man with an uncanny ability to uncover extremely old and rare wines, specifically a cache which belonged to Thomas Jefferson. By the end you are left wondering who to believe, while having learned a great deal about the high stakes wine market.

A week ago, if a 1982 Mouton-Rothschild showed up at Trader Joes, I would not have cared. Then, Lafite just sounded like a French word. But, now I'm hell bent on tasting both. Only, my husband won't let me sell the house.

If you know nothing about wine, this is a modern-day forensics mystery, riveting with historical twists and turns and lots of high-class scheudenfraud. (Think Esquire Magazine or Sunday's New York Times. This is the article that you wish were a book.) For wine lovers, especially those enamored with Thomas Jefferson and his cellar legacies, this is a must. Gossipy, well-researched and consistently engaging, it will leave you wanting more. Seriously. Brilliantly arcane. A secret pleasure. Gift with a really good bottle of wine. Perhaps Yquem?

(And Mike, if you're reading this, the wine guy downtown owns a few bottles.)

This my order is correct, because you had sent me, the ordem wrong firts. You had send bilingual bible.

Regard,

Jorge Armando

Great fun read into the world of high end collecting. Big egos and big money mixed with inconclusive evidence. Quite a cocktail. Potentially dull as old nails, but the extensive research and excellent storytelling of the author delivers this eminently readable tale. How collecting has evolved from a small select group of true wine lovers into a frenetic state of egos, experts, finger-pointing and suspicions.

Broadbent and Rodenstock are the principal players in bidding up bottles of venerable yet questionable old wines; but this book features many others. From foolish status-seekers merely drinking money to the true connoisseurs, all have the collector gene and cannot stop. Several classic stories, asides and anecdotes makes for LOL reading. Some may say it is published too early yet I think it points you to where you can draw your own conclusions.

An excellent book which traces the history of the very rare wine market and explains how its excesses led to the Rodenstock-Koch-Broadbent fiasco. The author deftly explores both the business issues and the psychology of the rare wine world, and shows little mercy for the "experts" who were taken in by Rodenstock, either because of cupidity or stupidity.

This is a gripping read. Hard some times to think its non fiction given the complexity and deviousness of the players

As a wine writer for more than 30 years who knows some of the players mentioned in the book, I enjoyed the way Benjamin Wallace cleverly wove together history, the world of wine and France in particular and the hoax so many bought into. Not only does he chronicle an incredible array of details into understandable context with dexterity, he weaves in a steady thread of humor (Harry Waugh, the English wine merchant and writer, was once asked how often he confused Bordeaux with Burgundy. "Not since lunch," he replied."). The confusion and complicity of some of the world's best-known wine critics and auctioneers comes to light as the hoax unfolds. Some reputations are ruined because of seeming complicity.

One parallel that might have been pursued further: the brilliance of Bill Koch, the billionaire who exposed the fraud, and Thomas Jefferson, whose name was attached to the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold. Both were meticulous in their work and record-keeping. The fact that no records existed at Monticello of the so-called Jefferson bottles should have put the Rodenstock collection into question immediately. Then, with carbon dating and other modern technology, the Koch team exposed the fraud. A tale well told.

An interesting, but slow moving book, The Billionaire's Vinegar jumps around frequently between the life of Thomas Jefferson, and the modern day auction of the wine bottle labeled 1787. I would have liked to have read more about Thomas Jefferson, because that part was more interesting then the associated neurotic wine collecting characters. The book fails to say, if the bottle is really fake, because it was published too early. I suggest newer editions be updated. The last paragraph poignantly goes back to Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was reduced to drinking cheaper wines in his declining years, but does not explain the reason behind his financial hardship.

I've seen some critiques stating that this book was premature in its publication, but I disagree. The essence of the book is the mystery of the bottle, so a definitive answer at the end would be disappointing (in my view). This is a fantastic book. I know very little about wine, but was intrigued by the thought of a 200+ year old bottle of wine formerly owned by Thomas Jefferson. The story is very well written and kept me turning pages longer after I should have gone to bed. I felt as though I really knew the characters and was a part of the experience. In all, a great book that I highly recommend, whether a wine aficionado or not.

I was very interested when I had the sample sent to my Kindle. I read the sample and was intrigued. The story seemed to drift back and forth. It was somewhat confusing at times. I was disappointed by the ending of the story. I feel as though the author was confused himself with his telling of the events that took place. I had to force myself to continue reading until I finished.

Very easy and entertaining read. Highly recommend for anyone interested in wine and it's history.

Fakes are common: From LVMH ladies' bags to wine. And we are just at the beginning. If Petrus is making 30,000 bottles a year there may be 300,000 on the market. I have met counterfeits twice: Some years ago Le Pin and quite recently Romanné-Conti. So stay alert And widen your knowledge about this particular industry by reading the excellent book 'The Billionaire's Vinegar. Just as exciting as a novel by Agatha Christie and full of knowledge and facts not easily available for us commoners. And the book is real!!!!!

The Billionaire's Vinegar is a wonderful, but incomplete story. As other reviewers note, the dispute that is at the center of this book has a long way to go before it's resolved. In early Spring of '08, a New York judge ruled in favor of the "bad guy" Hardy Rodenstock, but Koch, his relentless pursuer, is still seeking legal satisfaction. This story has yet to have it's final chapter written; but this book makes a very compelling start to recording the tale.

Besides the story of Rodenstock and his clearly fake Thomas Jefferson purchased wines, is the story of the elite wine trade. All of the famous wine critics, Broadbent, Shanken, Parker, Robinson etc. appear to come off as a bit foolish in falling for what are revealed as fakes. Given the susceptability of these people to fall for the apparent prestige of old Ch. Lafite, Petrus, etc.; along with the revelations in a documentary movie about Wine Spectator's James Suckling giving a high rating to a wine for someone he had a business relationship with, makes one wonder about whose advice can be trusted.



As a regular wine consumer, I find that the lesson of this story and others is to get to know your local wine merchant, make friends, and trust your own judgement. The magazines etc may lead you to some interesting and wonderful finds, but don't be too pursuaded by inflated ratings and correspondingly inflated prices.

Pour yourself a glass of wine, preferably an aged vintage, and prepare to savor this mysterious tale in one long, unhurried sitting. Part wine discourse, part historical adventure, part suspenseful tale, The Billionaire's Vinegar exposes the world of wine, both past and present, displaying its idiosyncrasies and colorful characters. Of particular interest is the portrayal of Thomas Jefferson as a man with more devotion to a bottle of fine wine than to his own family. His human side, often lost in history textbooks, is a delightful addition.

Is the 1787 bottle of Château Lafite Bordeaux really worth $156,000 or is it an extremely well-crafted counterfeit? Benjamin Wallace exhaustively researched this issue and presents all sides, points and minutiae. He writes with wit and occasionally a tongue placed firmly in cheek, which keeps the reader weaving through the controversy. Once in a while, bordering on too tangential and focusing on details concerning only the most devout of wine connoisseurs, Wallace provides the reader a generally impartial view with only a few glimpses of his personal thoughts on the matter.

The Billionaire's Vinegar is an exciting tale of intrigue highlighting the frenzy, madness and competition of the elite and often-absurd world of wine collecting.

Armchair Interviews says: Wine, wine and more wine.

Fine book, good start, exciting characters but... it appears the author tried to reach some "magical" page count and therefore mid-way he tells the same story, chapters appear in unrelated sequence, and the conclusion hastily written.

Yes, I recommend this book for wine geeks, history buffs, mystery lovers, but if you can, don't buy it, borrow it from a friend -- to me this is not a "keeper".

I read the first chapter for this online after seeing an ad for it in the NY Times. I was hooked and had to buy the book. It was a fascinating story, and taught me a lot about wine and its history. The writer succeeded in giving this nonfiction work and fictional feel and made it an easy read. My only complaint is that I did not feel the story had an ultimate resolution, and I was left wondering what happened next. That's the problem with nonfiction, you can't just make up the missing details.

this book caught my eye in the new books section of borders recently. i'm not a rare and collectible wine aficianado. i really don't know that much about wine. i know that i like most reds (with pinot noir being my current favorite, along with argentine malbec), i like chardonnay, and i don't like sauvignon blanc, white zin, or other girly whites. i can tell the difference between two-buck-chuck and a decent $10 - $20 bottle. but i can't tell the difference between a $30 bottle and a $50 bottle. once, a friend had been given a $300 bottle of wine as a gift, and he shared it with me. other than that, i've not tasted much of the really pricey stuff.

but this book was about much more than bottles of wine that sell for $20,000 - $100,000 (or more). it's about human behavior. and it's about the birth, rise, corruption, and demise, of a small and unique passion (in this case, collecting -- and occasionally tasting -- rare old wines). the bottle in the subtitle is (or was) the most expensive bottle ever sold, at more than $150,000. part of its allure was its connection to thomas jefferson. for twenty years, this bottle, and a couple dozen others like it, were surrounded with suspicion as to their authenticity. and, after a couple decades, they've been outed as fakes. this was one factor (of many) that rotted the collectible wine world from the inside out (the fake-creator turned out to be one of the rare wine world's leading sellers).

this rise and fall (starting in the early 60s and lasting, roughly, into the last decade) reminded me of the natural cycle of human organizations.

it reminded of how a surprising conflict over something we were all passionate about became the cancer that destroyed a wonderful group of friends i was a part of.

it made me think about the differences between american culture and others (when american wine collectors got on board with the collectible wine craze, it spiraled out of control and collapsed in on itself).

it made me think about affinity networks and their role in our lives (and their role in my life, and how sustaining they are to me).

it made me think about the love of money.

it made me think about the differences between appreciating a good thing, and needing to possess that thing.

it made me think about the current state of my profession (youth ministry), and of the emerging church (and emergent village, in particular), and of both churches i am part of (the big seeker church and the grass-roots home church), and the internet, and cigars, and a bunch of other stuff.

so, yeah, i enjoyed reading this really well-researched and well-written book - not because i now know more about wine than i did a few weeks ago, but because it provided a hundred rabbit trails of thought.

As another reviewer noted, I thought that this book suffered from being published before the story was actually resolved. The first couple hundred pages are true page turners. The author has a nice writing style, and has obviously done his research on the subject of wine and the players in the story. But about two thirds of the way through the book, it starts to unravel. What had been solid focus on the story started to waver, and when the end arrives, it's unsatisfying and abrupt. It felt as if the story wasn't finished, but the author couldn't wait for the resolution. As a result, for all the breathless lead up, the story ends on an anticlimatic note.

So this is a really good book, except that it feels like an unfinished story, probably with several more chapters to go before it's played out. This is the problem with writing about true current events. The facts are still unfolding; it's hard to know where a tale "ends." Sometimes, that's not even clear with events that are clearly put into the historical bucket.

The first 60% or so of this book was excellent, a real page-turner as others have said. The author does a great job of setting the stage and introducing the characters. The intricacies of ultra-premium wines was explained well, and the characters well drawn and interesting.

My issue came at the mid-point where the story loses focus on its main characters and loses its way for several chapters. Books on reality of course can't always have tidy end-games, but in this case, the tautness of the 3rd quarter didn't live up to the promise of the first three. In the end, very little was revealed or resolved about the motives, methods, and lessons learned about the events of the book. I've read that the movie rights have already been sold; expect a significant re-write of the 3rd act for the film, reality be damned.

Maybe if the author had waited longer or trimmed some of the mid-book tangents, it could have been a 4-star or 5-star taut thriller.

I read this book in two sittings. Just a terrific, ripping yarn, full of amazing, vivid characters and beautiful prose. Not only do you get to learn about this rarified world of expensive wine -- a world full of rich people behaving badly -- but you also learn about the hedonism of Thomas Jefferson, and the lameness of Brit-vs.-Yank snobbery, and the psychology of a con job, and (surprisingly, wonderfully) the science of proton beams and carbon dating. Also, despite the fact that the book goes down soooooo easy, it's deceptively daring... you'll have to read it to see why. Up there with "The Devil in the White City" and "The Professor and the Madman" and "Into the Wild" in terms of sheer storytelling power.

Since I did not follow this story in the news and am rather new to wine this was a fabulous read. Mr. Wallace keeps you filled with information and knowledge on wine tasting, history and the individuals. He weaves a solid tale and I would recommend for anyone new or experienced.

It's hard to know what to expect from a book, labeled a "mystery," which tells the true story behind the purchase of one bottle of wine. Granted, it was the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold. And while I like wine as much as the next guy, there's a limit to how much wine-related information I can digest (or perhaps should digest) as well as to how much interest I can muster for a transaction involving the expenditure of more than $158,000 for a single bottle of wine (what would that be, by the way, in today's dollars and how many people would it feed are questions that come to mind immediately). Notwithstanding my reservations, however, I found this book to be a well-written and well-researched piece of investigative journalism concerning what may well be one of the brashest hoaxes in modern history. It held my interest right to the last page. I was hoping it would go on, but the intrigue surrounding this bottle of wine has not, apparently, seen its last chapter - reality stinks like that sometimes.

The production of wine is indeed a complex business, and Mr. Wallace provides a very interesting overview of certain aspects of it, as well as a fascinating historical discussion of the development of America's wine industry. What I found most riveting, however, was the author's portrayal of the psychological perspective of the serious wine collector and of some of the "experts." It was surprising to learn of the competitiveness and self-indulgence not of the various vineyards involved in the production of some of the finest wines in the world, but of those drinking it (or maybe just displaying it) and selling it. The descriptions of wine-tasting events and the extravagances associated with them gave new meaning to the term "excess", even while making my mouth water with some wonderful decriptions of the wines being served. In the end, it was so difficult to garner sympathy for some of these "victims" that I was surprised to learn that so many of them actually cooperated in the author's investigation!

Suffice it to say that it will probably come as no shock that the very self-indulgence that seems to qualify one as a true "oenophile" -- at least where these old (dare I say antique?) wines are concerned -- may well have set the stage for the major bilking that is played out in the pages of this wonderful book. It is also no wonder that this amazing tale ends, at least for now, in protracted litigation, which as Mr. Wallace describes in great detail, costs drastically more money (to investigate and attempt to prove the fraud) than could ever be recovered from its alleged perpetrators. Apparently this makes sense to someone, but perhaps only someone who would spend thousands and thousands of dollars on a bottle of wine whose provenance could not possibly be proven.

Even if you are not a wine crazed person, this story of greed, excess, fraud, and litigation will make you ponder the priorities of the frightfully rich in a whole new way. And it may even hold a lesson or two for the rabid collectors among us.

The author is like one of the wine collectors he writes about who has to have more than the other guy. Wallace includes every fact he comes across, no matter how tangential.

The book goes on and on with vintages and details and minor characters. Then it ends. As gripping as a Wikipedia article.

If you want a "mesmerizing history of wine," this is the book for you. If you want a compelling detective story, well, wait for the movie. Hollywood will strip it down and sex it up, I'm sure.

Thoroughly enjoyable, excellent writing, an excellent read. In fact I read it in one sitting. It's a glimpse into the world of high end oenophilia (or perhaps snobbery), at a level of luxury that only handfuls will ever know. And it's a ripping good mystery to boot. My only complaint is that it peters out a bit at the end, but it is nonfiction, and life will do that sometimes.

It's not right to fool people, especially to make money from them. It's still fun, however, to learn about how suckers have gotten swindled, if the suckers aren't you or someone close to you. It's especially fun if the suckers are successful tycoons who are used to having the world and its denizens bow to their wills. It's fun, too, if the suckers are partaking in some particular form of snobbery, like the prestige that comes from buying hugely expensive bottles of wine. When a bottle went in 1985 for $156,000, the world swooned at the presumptuousness, and the press went wild calculating just how many hundreds of dollars each little sip would cost. Twenty years later, the fun is that the bottle was a phony, and the buyers of that particular bottle and of who knows how many others had been taken in by a very smart wine expert who eventually got caught. This is a fun story, told with verve and detail in _The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine_ (Crown) by Benjamin Wallace. Wallace has researched different facets of wine history, so there is a good deal of science and social history in his book, and he has the eye for detail of a good mystery writer (it isn't surprising that this nonfiction book has recently been optioned to be turned into a movie). You don't have to be interested in wine to find this story of human foibles funny and instructive.

The bottle in question was auctioned by Christie's in 1985. It was a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux, and was presented as having been part of the cellar of the wine enthusiast Thomas Jefferson. It was engraved "1787 Lafitte" (the way they spelled it then) and had the initials "Th.J." Christie's was the most prestigious of auctioneers in the department of fine and historic wines, and it vouched for the authenticity of the bottle. The wine had been found and placed on the market by a German wine dealer named Hardy Rodenstock, who had previously been a pop-band manager. Rodenstock refused to say who sold the wine to him, nor how many other bottles there were. But he was doing a great business in very rare, very old wines, and customers were in those days eager to buy his finds, whether he would reveal their provenance or not. Neither Christie's nor potential buyers took the simple step of checking with the museum staff at Monticello, Jefferson's home, to see if there were any record of such a purchase by him. Jefferson was meticulous, even obsessive, about documenting his purchases of wine and everything else, so there should have been a record. There was none. Rodenstock's silence on where his fine old wines were coming from should not have taken two decades to foster suspicion in some of those who were buying from him, but such suspicions eventually started up. Wallace is exactly right about how the con game was played: "As with all successful cons, the marks and the grifter had been collaborators. One sold the illusion that the others were desperate to buy." Rodenstock made the mistake of selling Jefferson bottles to a litigious Florida tycoon who spent a fortune on investigators and laboratory tests to demonstrate fraud. Wallace cannot end his book with Rodenstock being convicted and sent to jail, but the arguments included in the book seem conclusive. Readers will be eager to hear about further legal news in the case.

There wasn't anything vintners could do in the seventeenth century to make sure that counterfeits didn't show up two centuries later, but Wallace explains that steps are being taken these days to make sure no future Rodenstock can pull the same tricks. Laser-etching of bottles or embossing them with particular marks is one step, as is using watermarked and ultraviolet-tagged labels. Another step is using particularly adhesive glue to affix the label, but this will irritate collectors who like putting labels in their scrapbooks. There will be future wine counterfeiters, but they will have to work harder. And that bottle sold at Christie's in 1985? It was bought by Kip Forbes, under orders from his father Malcolm Forbes. The father was furious that the son had paid so much, but he always had a yen for publicity, and realized that having such a headline-making bottle was just what he needed. He put it on display in a case specially highlighted, and the heat from the light made for just the opposite of a wine cellar. It shrank the cork, which fell in, and even if the wine was fake, it wasn't even wine after that, just the vinegar of this book's title. You couldn't ask for a more fittingly symbolic end to all the selfishness and self-importance that Wallace has illustrated in this fascinating tale.

This is a revealing look at a little known part of the wine world - the collection of incredibly rare wines by the super rich. For them, it is more about competition, history, one-upsmanship and obsession rather than sharing an excellent bottle of wine with friends. The story is populated with interesting European and American characters; collectors, auctioneers, salesmen, historians and scientists who all have a role in the rarefied world of very old and expensive French wine. As is to be expected, the less scrupulous begin to work their way into a world where buyers, some knowledgeable and some ignorant, pay large sums for bottles of uncertain heritage. But the providers of these mysterious bottles push too far and soon several buyers, who have significant resources, start to shine a bright light into the shadowy corners of the wine world.

Wallace does a fine job illuminating this obscure but fascinating club of European aristocracy and new money. The only negative is that the story is quite diffuse; there are many collectors who make an appearance but then drop out of the story. While the anecdotes and stories are uniformly interesting, the story lacks a strong narrative drive or satisfying conclusion (the lawsuits are still ongoing). But these are minor flaws; if you like wine you'll love the book.

A volume about collecting rare vintage wine might seem an unusual topic for a real page-turner of a book, but Benjamin Wallace's "The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine" is an enthralling exploration of the hype and mystery surrounding the mania of the 1980s and 1990s about pursuing and buying bottles of rare and expensive (!) vintages of old wine. The starting point of the book is the 1985 auction in which a single bottle of 1787 Lafite Bordeaux, a bottle supposedly once belonging to Thomas Jefferson, sold for over [..]

Wallace leads the reader over decades of intrigue and deception, as it becomes seemingly increasingly evident that much of such rare wine (including that bottle of 1787 Lafite) is fraudulent. The portraits of the people involved -- sellers and buyers and auctioneers and technical experts -- are well-drawn. What is perhaps most remarkable is that Wallace appears to have formed and maintained cordial relationships with almost every major player in the story, including the man widely suspected of being the chief wine faker, giving the author an unmatched view of the whole business.

Even if your only connection with wine is an occasional glass of grape with dinner, "The Billionaire's Vinegar" is a book almost guaranteed to hold your interest -- and to teach you more about wine than you have ever known.

Talk about catching lightning in a bottle.

In 1985, Christie's of London was the venue for a landmark auction; a 1787 bottle of Château Lafite Bordeaux--one, reportedly owned by Thomas Jefferson, was sold for $156,000.

To make this story even more intriguing was this historic bottle being found amongst a number of bottles unearthed in a Paris cellar and the winning bidder was a member of the Forbes family.

But some of the greatest stories are built on a foundation of cheap bricks and cheaper mortar; and, as it turns out, like the alleged bricked-up cellar that the Jefferson bottle was housed.

Author Benjamin Wallace takes the reader on a journey of incredible wealth, rivalries & egos and a discovery that was too good to be true, but still duped so many who desperately wanted something more than white lightning.

This is a world tour of the history of wine, historical figures and the bitter aftertaste when reality actually pops the cork on a grand illusion.

Mr. Wallace has produced a great read that is interesting from a historical prospective while it harpoons the very wealthy whose pursuit of money is no longer satisfying. Nope, these folks have to pursue a type of collectable that they cannot have any provenance for, which experts in the field can only hope to guess at what the bottle contains. Wine that is a century younger than the bottle on the book cover might at best be "recognizable as wine", unless of course it has become an ingredient for salad dressing.

The central charlatan in this tale is a master at exploiting the wishes of collectors and even the experts that should know better. Or perhaps that do know better and just let their own egos persuade them that in spite of zero evidence the product is real, and worse, valid sources that explain there is nothing to suggest the wine's legitimacy, never slow down. On with the auction!

The book is not just about human nature and its dimmer moments, there is a great deal of information on wine production, wine history and enough wine tasting descriptions for the most avid connoisseur. Or if you find the whole field a bit pretentious and tedious you might still be entertained by the likes of what follows "the art of drinking the very oldest rarities required an extra degree of connoisseurship-almost a kind of necrophilia".

I look forward to many more from the pen of Mr. Wallace. This is a very good offering that should find a wide audience whether you are an avid wine drinker or you feel the 18th Amendment was a great idea.