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

by Benjamin Wallace (Author)

4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group, Division of Random House Inc; 1 edition (25 Jul 2008)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0307338770
ISBN-13: 978-0307338778
Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16.3 x 3 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 94,585 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
Popular in these categories:
#5 in Books > Home & Garden > Antiques & Collectables > Antiques & Collectables by Subject > Wine
#45 in Books > Food & Drink > Reference & Gastronomy > History of Food

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Product Description

Synopsis

Describes the 1985 purchase of a bottle of 1787 Ch ateau Lafite Bordeaux for $156,000, the mysterious background of the wine, and the enigmatic wine collector who discovered the bottle, once supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson, in a bricked-up Paris cellar.

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt

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	90% buy the item featured on this page: The Billionaire's Vinegar: The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine 4.3 out of 5 stars (3)
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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews

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4.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Arrogance of Wealth, 16 Oct 2008

By	Jeremy Watson (England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Having spent 50 years at the sharp end of the Wine Trade I found it fascinating to read about the ephereal aspect which one only encountered through reputation and the more elite journals of the business.
Apart from being saddened by the discrediting of one much loved personality in the trade I enjoyed the discomfort of the exposure of a well known charletan and the unveiling of the enormous vanity of his hugely wealthy clients whose judgement deserted them when social acceptance was the carrot. To be the owner of a bottle of wine more than 230 years old with ownership attributed to Thomas Jefferson but without any clear provenance distorted the sensibilities they would regularly apply to their own businesses.
These bottles included the most expensive ever sold, which was a direct consequence of the self same vanity of the purchasers. But it was an enormous confidence trick that was compounded by the greed of the subject's clients as they increasingly fell under the spell cast by the opportunity to own a priceless, but also probably worthless bottle of wine.

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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars When Money Isn't Enough, 13 May 2008

By	taking a rest - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

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.

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0 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars delivery rating, 10 Jan 2009

By	friend of Pooh "bertie" (lincolnshire) - See all my reviews

just a note to say I ordered this book at about 6pm on friday and it arrived the next morning!!

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