CorkSavvy

Interest in the book “The Billionaire’s Vinegar” by Benjamin Wallace has just been revived by the settlement of a libel lawsuit brought by Michael Broadbent, a renowned wine expert and former head of Christie’s wine department against Random House Publishers in London alleging that the book made him appear to be complicit in criminal or, at the very least, unsavory conduct. The book relates a true story about a 1787 Chateau Lafite Bordeaux supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson that sold at auction for $156,000 in 1985 at a Christie’s auction in London conducted by Michael Broadbent.

It is a fascinating and informative narrative of the wines of France from the late 1700’s to the current decade. There was meticulous detail garnered from the curators of Thomas Jefferson’s writings at Monticello as to the wines Jefferson collected, his visits to different vineyards, his means of payment, shipping and the inventory of his wines. The bulk of the book focuses on the discovery of the wines that allegedly belonged to Thomas Jefferson and the tasting, sales and auctions of these very rare wines. Specific wine purveyors are mentioned as well as the auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s. Great detail was given as to how the sellers or auction houses authenticated the wines and similarly there was detail as to the scientific scrutiny that was used to attempt to refute the authenticity. There were allegations and lawsuits amongst the different buyers and sellers during the prior decades with no clear outcomes.

If it was possible to trace the provenance of these old wines, as with other valuable antiques, there would be no story. The problem was that a wine collector/seller discovered the “Jefferson” bottles and would not reveal the source which in itself seems suspicious. Since this gentleman had been the source for the sale of many old bottles, not just the Jefferson bottles, some people did not want to discover that their wine collections were fake and had diminished in value, so he continued to find, sell and collect old wine and continued to be an integral part of this very small, very wealthy group of mega wine collectors. Over the years he ingratiated himself among his peers by organizing extravagant, multi-day vertical wine tastings of the finest and oldest wines and it became an honor to be invited to participate.

The story is a wonderful read for anyone interested in history or wine or just a good mystery. As for the recent lawsuit, Random House paid Michael Broadbent some undisclosed sum of money and agreed not to sell the book in the UK. -- Jill Sloane