Benjamin Wallace - The Billionaire's Vinegar

auction totals in the United States “Grand Totals,” WS, February 28, 1997.

In 1996, worldwide wine auction sales Ibid.

a case of six magnums of ’82 Le Pin Ibid.

a case of ’45 Mouton Ibid.

“If the trail goes dead” “Compared with bank notes, faking a Le Pin label is a doddle,” Daily Telegraph, April 19, 1997.

“awash in fakes” “A Taste of Deception,” WS, May 31, 1998.

an essay titled “In Vino Veritas?” The Wine Advocate, issue 105.

French police arrested “Cru Bogus,” Decanter, 1986(?).

seventy cases “How Château Pétrus Became Bordeaux’s Most Coveted Wine,” WS, February 15, 1991.

five cases of 1986 DRC Montrachet “A Wine Whodunit with DRC,” WS, October 30, 1990.

In 1995, at a dinner in Hong Kong “Compared with bank notes…,” Daily Telegraph, April 19, 1997.

In 1996 an attempt to sell fake Ibid.

In the late 1990s a London customer “A Taste of Deception,” WS, May 31, 1998.

In March of 1998, Langton’s “Australian police investigate fake wine racket,” BBC News, March 18, 1998; “Fighting forgery,” Wine International, December 22, 2004.

In 1985 two American businessmen “Reducing the Old-Wine Risk,” WS, June 30, 1992.

a bottle of 1947 Romanée-Conti “Beware of Bogus DRC Bottles,” WS, November 30, 1990; John Tilson, “Another View,” Rarities 1, no. 1 (First Quarter, 1991).

Impériale of 1947 Cheval Blanc… 1908 Port “A Taste of Deception,” WS, May 31, 1998.

A German restaurant was reported Ibid.

Serena Sutcliffe was convinced Ibid.

Colin Lutman, an English forger of Port “The Case of the Exploding Bottle,” Decanter, September 1987.

At the molecular level “‘Vintage’ wine,” Times (of London), December 15, 1990.

Émile Peynaud… once conducted an experiment Author interview with Alexandre de Lur Saluces, February 16, 2006.

“German sommelier with a vast knowledge” “A Taste of Deception,” WS, May 31, 1998.

In the Mouton episode in 1982 “Counterfeit Wine,” Vintage Wine, October 1982.

The 1981 and 1982 Pétrus “How Château Pétrus Became Bordeaux’s Most Coveted Wine,” WS, February 15, 1991.

The fraudsters behind “Fighting Forgery,” Wine International, December 22, 2004.

cases, packing tissue, and corks “Security Packaging Offers Brand Protection,” Wines & Vines, May 2006.

incorrectly colored bar codes “In Vino Falsitas,” forbes.com, May 26, 2003.

the Japanese customer noticed John Tilson, “Another View,” Rarities 1, no. 1 (First Quarter, 1991).

a Jéroboam of 1869 Mouton This is according to Littler; JMB recalls it as a 1920s vintage.

When the police arrived “‘Vintage’ wine,” Times (of London), December 15, 1990.

“a shipment of sardines” Simon Loftus, Anatomy of the Wine Trade (Harper & Row, 1985), 77.

nuclear magnetic resonance “‘Vintage’ wine,” Times (of London), December 15, 1990.

leading châteaux had become suspicious Ibid.

FBI and New Scotland Yard “A Taste of Deception,” May 31, 1998.

Baltimore Sun article “Toasted in Old Madeira,” October 11, 1904.

oversaw a $6-million collection “Wine Cellar at the Rio Suite Hotel & Casino Now Exceeds 100,000 Bottles,” hotel-online.com, August 24, 1998.

largest bottle in the world Ibid.

Wine Spectator identified these bottles “Jefferson’s Madeira and More Recent Wines Lead Strong New York Sale,” WS, July 31, 1997.

“The bouquet was extremely powerful” Ben Killerby and Barrie Larvin, “A 200-year-old treat,” Robin Garr’s Wine Lovers Page, January 4, 2000.

“research involved our book experts” E-mail from Sutcliffe to author, October 17, 2005.

“The origin of the Madeira was solid” E-mail from Sutcliffe to author, October 19, 2005.

My main textual sources for reconstructing the Yquem vertical were Per-Henrik Mansson, “Three Centuries of Château d’Yquem,” WS, May 15, 1999; Dennis Foley, “Hardy Rodenstock’s Château d’Yquem Tasting,” Underground Wine Journal 17, no. 6; Jancis Robinson, “A Taste of Thomas Jefferson’s Wine,” Los Angeles Times, December 30, 1998; and Peter Moser, “Ein stück vom Paradies,” Falstaff, no. 6, 1998.

“than anyone else in the world” “A Taste of Thomas Jefferson’s Wine,” Los Angeles Times, December 30, 1998.

“I was an excellent heathen” “Famed Collector Dismantles Huge Cellar,” WS, January 31, 1994; “Born Again Surgeon Is at One with God, But Not with Peers,” Wall Street Journal, June 6, 1994.

Tawfiq Khoury “Lots Left,” WS, May 15, 1997.

Lloyd Flatt “Celebrated Collector Lloyd Flatt Rebuilds His Cellar…,” WS, March 31, 1995.

18,000-bottle cellar “From the Estate of Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber,” Slate.com, June 19, 1997.

from the cellar of Norwegian investor “Best wine sale ever… part II,” Times (of London), November 17, 1999.

$14.4 million “2006 Consolidated Results for Sotheby’s International Wine Department,” finewinepress.com.

“the world’s most exclusive private wine cellar” “Wine sale of the century,” Evening Standard (London), August 14, 1997.

“jammy wonder” “the Cairo spice bazaar” “Pretentiousness? It’s poetic license,” The Independent (London), September 30, 1998.

“I find that there is a chemistry” “A cheeky little whine from Christie’s,” Daily Telegraph, September 29, 1998.

“pre-revolutionary bouquet” Jancis Robinson, Tasting Pleasure (New York: Penguin, 1989), 177.

definitive studies Richard Olney, Yquem (Boston: Godine, 1986); Nicholas Faith, Château Margaux (New York: Vendome Press, 1991).

held forth in Cantonese “Restrainers cut loose with vintage display,” South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), November 19, 1998.

“[I]t is crazy, really” “A Taste of Thomas Jefferson’s Wine,” Los Angeles Times, December 30, 1998.

“the deepest of deep browns” Ibid.

Moise Pe’er “What’s an inauguration party without a little nosh?”, Jerusalem Post, January 20, 1997.

“one or two” left “A Taste of Thomas Jefferson’s Wine,” Los Angeles Times, December 30, 1998.

“The journalists have written so much nonsense” Fax from Rodenstock to author, July 22, 2005.

“a couple of half bottles” “The World’s Wildest Collector,” WS, December 15, 1988.

a late-1992 interview “The Mystery of the 1787 Lafite,” Decanter, October 1992.

I was helped, in telling Bill Koch’s story, by three articles in particular: Bryan Burrough, “Wild Bill Koch,” Vanity Fair, June 1994; Ryan Isaac, “Oil, Water, and Wine,” WS, November 15, 2005; and Ted Loos, “Raising America’s Cup,” WS, August 31, 1996.