half a million bottles of wine Kladstrup, Wine and War, 1–2.
culled the 20,000 best bottles Ibid., 42–44.
6. “WE DID WHAT YOU TOLD US”
In addition to “A Piece of History,” in The New Yorker (January 20, 1986), I also benefited from lingering BBC footage of the auction and from a first-person account by Marvin Shanken, “Passion vs. Reason in Wine Collecting,” which appeared in the February 28, 1998, issue of WS.
last in his class “The Man Who Knows What Everyone’s Drinking,” NYT, February 16, 1986.
two-bedroom smoking lounge “He Did It His Way,” Fortune, May 2, 1994.
seemed to pine for a bygone world Christopher Winans, Malcolm Forbes (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990), 88–89.
He planned to celebrate “Record Bid Brings Jefferson Wine Home,” Baltimore Sun, December 6, 1985.
“Well, Pop,…I did what you told me” Malcolm Forbes, More Than I Dreamed (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989), 213.
Malcolm dropped the phone Ibid.
“The Forbes family would be far better off” Ibid.
7. IMAGINARY VALUE
The investigation by Lucia (Cinder) Goodwin (now Stanton), which is the basis for much of this chapter, was detailed in her “Research Report: Château Lafite 1787, with initials ‘Th.J.,’” dated December 12, 1985.
sold some furniture James A. Bear, Jr., “Furniture and Furnishings of Monticello,” Antiques, date unknown.
gave a draft of the Declaration Silvio A. Bedini, The Declaration of Independence Desk: Relic of Revolution (Smithsonian, 1992), 34.
“If these things acquire a superstitious value” Ibid., 34–36.
walking stick…watches Marc Leepson, Saving Monticello (New York: The Free Press, 2001), 14.
ten clippings of his hair “Last Few Days in the Life of Thomas Jefferson,” Magazine of Albermarle County History 5, no. 32 (1974), 76n.
40,000 letters Leepson, Saving Monticello, 14.
the silver went to his daughter “Thomas Jefferson’s Silver,” Antiques, September 1958.
“130 valuable negroes” Notice in Richmond Inquirer, January 9, 1827.
grandchildren bought a lot of the furniture Leepson, Saving Monticello, 15.
“desist from such trespasses” Ibid., 17.
Most of Jefferson’s books Ibid.
art collection was shipped to Boston Ibid., 16.
paintings were severely damaged Jane Blair Cary Smith, The Carys of Virginia, diary excerpts in Cary Papers, University of Virginia Archives, courtesy Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.
only one sold Leepson, Saving Monticello, 16.
“Superstitions! Imaginary value!” Bedini, The Declaration of Independence Desk, 40–43.
brass coal scuttle “Jefferson Relic Stolen,” NYT, June 8, 1904.
marble punch bowl “Bryan Has Jefferson Relic,” NYT, December 19, 1904.
In 1930, Jefferson descendants consigned “Descendants Offer Jefferson Relics,” NYT, October 26, 1930.
In the 1940s a New York antiques dealer Provenance recorded in file on 1827 effects sale in special collections of Jefferson Library, courtesy Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.
original wooden models “Jefferson Relics Are Found in Paris,” NYT, February 23, 1947.
The Jefferson table lent by “Provenance of Dining Table,” Maryland Historical Society.
more than fifteen pieces of the original silver “Thomas Jefferson’s Silver,” Antiques, September 1958.
586 bottles left in his cellar Hailman, Thomas Jefferson on Wine, 369.
the curator of Monticello traveled “Monticello Is Seeking Wine Bottles of 1800,” NYT, February 22, 1966.
a shard of glass bearing the seal of Lafite “Monticello Wine Glass Archaeology,” VWGJ, Spring 1988.
16,000-odd letters Sarah N. Randolph, The Domestic Life of Jefferson (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1871), 381.
he would swear on his deathbed Letter from TJ to Nicholas Lewis, July 11, 1788, Papers XIII, 342.
couldn’t be expected to “note every vintage and source” “Jefferson’s Paris Wines: Comparing the Questions with the Facts,” VWGJ, Spring 1986.
he had written to John Jay Letter from TJ to John Jay, September 17, 1789, Papers XV, 436–37.
“led astray and raised doubts” “Now it’s the Broadbent 1787,” Decanter, April 1986.
a copy of what appeared to be “Jefferson’s Paris Wines: Comparing the Questions with the Facts,” VWGJ, Spring 1986.
“one’s dubious and unfounded remarks” “The Jefferson Bottles,” The New Yorker, September 3 & 10, 2007.
“Did I hear somebody murmur ‘Piltdown Man’?” “Was it worth it?”, Decanter, March 1986.
“I don’t question its authenticity” “Forbes to Son: You Paid How Much?”, WS, January 1–31, 1986.
Count Alexandre de Lur Saluces came next Colin Parnell, “Authentic Yquem,” Decanter, 1986.
“I cannot imagine anyone in the late eighteenth century” “Lafite Again,” Decanter, July 1986.
“for each year of the life” “157,500 buys wine meant for Jefferson’s cup,” The Times-Picayune, December 6, 1985.
“[turning] over in his grave” Daily Progress (Charlottesville, VA), December 7, 1985.
“the major event of the wine season” Christie’s Review of the Season, 1986 (Phaidon/Christie’s), 495.
“the most expensive wine” “Guinness Factfile,” Daily Mail, November 9, 1986.
rundown of the 1980s “80 Greats,” Life (special issue), Fall 1989.
Rodenstock would claim “The World’s Wildest Collector,” WS, December 15, 1988; “Mann, da ist im Gaumen die Hölle los,” Der Spiegel, no. 7, 1988.
8. THE SWEETNESS OF DEATH
The primary texts I relied on in reconstructing the tasting at Mouton were contemporaneous accounts by Michael Broadbent (“No more doubts,” Decanter, September 1986), Jancis Robinson (“Sweet Taste of Legend at £5,000 a Sip—Tasting 199-year-old claret,” The Sunday Times (of London), June 15, 1986; “Jefferson’s 1787 Mouton,” Decanter, September 1986, and Heinz-Gert Woschek (“Die Rechte Zeit, Der Rechte Ort,” Alles über Wein, no. 3 [1986]); as well as recollections published in JMB’s Vintage Wine, 11, and Robinson’s Tasting Pleasure, 175–78.
cork bobbing in the liquid “Unspoiled Treasure of Lafite 1787,” Decanter, February 1993.
sent fifty bottles of the 1846 Lafite Dewey Markham, 1855: A History of the Bordeaux Classification (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997), 113.
famously serving curry Winemasters, 202.
the early-1970s price spiral Penning-Rowsell, “The First Growths of Bordeaux.”
he refused to meet with the Germans Author interview with JMB, November 16, 2005.
9. SALAD DRESSING
For the account of the auction of the 1784 Yquem, three reports were indispensable: James Suckling, “Rare 1784 Yquem Brings $56,000,” WS, January 31, 1987; Francis X. Clines, “1784 Wine Fetches $56,000,” NYT, December 5, 1986; and “The Thirst for Vintage Thomas Jefferson Leads to a Record $55,800,” Associated Press, December 5, 1986. My account of the auction of the 1784 Margaux owes a debt to Suckling’s “Publisher Buys 1784 Margaux,” WS, August 31, 1987, and JMB’s Vintage Wine, 11. Lloyd Flatt’s Lafite tasting, both the planning and the execution, was vividly memorialized in two WS articles: Peter Meltzer, “Planning the Lafite Tasting,” December 15, 1988; and Terry Robards, “Lafite Lives Up to Its Name,” December 15, 1988. Some details come from two other articles by Meltzer (“America Collects,” and “Celebrated Collector Lloyd Flatt Rebuilds His Cellar, and Focuses His Buying Strategy,” WS, March 31, 1995) and a report by Frank J. Prial, “Wine,” NYT, October 19, 1988.
the only bottle “of its kind” “Record bid brings Jefferson wine home,” Baltimore Sun, December 6, 1985.
“One now supposes” “That Lafite 1787,” Decanter, June 1986.
“perfect in every sense” Christie’s Finest and Rarest Wines auction catalog, D
ecember 5, 1985.
a buyer in the front row “Sale room: 1784 Wine Fetches £39,600,” Times (of London), December 5, 1986.
his precocious connoisseurship “Jefferson: A Shrewd and Demanding Connoisseur,” NYT, September 15, 1976.
Virginia’s wine industry “Virginians Enjoy Some Down-Home Wine Tasting,” WS, July 31, 1991.
122 in 2006 “Virginia: Jefferson Sipped Here…And So Can You,” Washington Post, June 3, 2007.
Jefferson’s epistolary mention TJ to Miromenil, September 6, 1790, Library of Congress collection, translation in J. M. Gabler, Passions: The Wines and Travels of Thomas Jefferson (Baltimore: Bacchus Press), 172.
a sock over the bottle “Jefferson wine flies Concorde,” Times (of London), September 3, 1987.
“Slight ullage” JMB, Vintage Wine, 11.
“Yes…, Now go away” Ibid.
“three atrocious vintages” Ibid., 37.
“a penance” Ibid., 58.
Robards had observed “Suspicions Still Surround Rodenstock Lafite,” WS, September 30, 1992.
“An ullaged bottle” JMB, Vintage Wine, 10–11.
told Bill he wasn’t welcome “Wild Bill Koch,” Vanity Fair, June 1994.
$470 million “The Curse on the Koch Brothers,” Fortune, February 17, 1997.
a hedonistic tear “Wild Bill Koch,” Vanity Fair, June 1994.
Koch had been interested in wine “Raising America’s Cup,” WS, August 31, 1996.
deep verticals of four iconic wines Ibid.
33 vintages of Hennessey Cognac “Oil, Water and Wine,” WS, November 15, 2005.
“They don’t exist now” “Taking time to talk and taste,” Baltimore Sun, December 4, 2002.
10. A PLEASANT STAIN, BUT NOT A GREAT ONE
“an incorrigible hypemeister” “The Adventures of an Incorrigible Hypemeister in the Wine Trade,” New York Observer, November 21, 1994.
wrote to thank the editor “Hype Is Ripe,” New York Observer, November 28, 1994.
found wines recorked…to be subpar John Tilson, “Another View,” Rarities 1, no. 1 (First Quarter, 1991).
“It would positively have killed Bill Sokolin” William F. Buckley, Jr., Miles Gone By (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2004), 43–5.
$394,000…$519,750 “Wine Is Spilt; Some Tears Ensue,” NYT, April 26, 1989.
a quarter of all Pétrus “How Château Pétrus Became Bordeaux’s Most Coveted Wine,” WS, February 15, 1991.
half of the production of the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti “Beware of Bogus DRC Bottles,” WS, November 30, 1990.
Forty minutes into Sokolin’s birthday “Wine Is Spilt…,” NYT, April 26, 1989.
“What a Plonker!” Daily Star, April 26, 1989.
“It’s a pleasant stain” “Matt,” Daily Telegraph, date unknown.
“looked like chocolate-brown goo” “Oops! A New York Wine Merchant Turns a 1787 Château Margaux Into the World’s Most Expensive Puddle,” People, May 15, 1989.
“worth maybe $10 million” “Case of the Broken Bottle,” WS, date unknown.
“what it is to be a William Sokolin” “Some Special Occasion,” NYT, April 27, 1989.
11. THE DIVINER OF WINES
the wine to be drunk at his funeral “Old Wine in New Glasses,” WS, December 15, 1999.
When Thomas Jefferson was alive “A Brief History of Glass,” WS, November 30, 1992.
they got rid of all their old glasses “Old Wine in New Glasses,” WS, December 15, 1999.
“The palate recognised a heroic wine” H. Warner Allen, The Romance of Wine (New York: Dover, 1971), 45.
Rodenstock went so far as to suggest Richard Olney, Yquem (Boston: Godine, 1986), 144.
a Taiwanese company “The World’s Wildest Collector,” WS, December 15, 1988.
The publicity from the Forbes sale “Jefferson’s Paris Wines: Comparing the Questions with the Facts,” VWGJ, Spring 1986.
an Yquem he said he had obtained in Leningrad “Ein Sammler Shreibt Weingeschichte,” Falstaff no. 3, 1988.
“The rarest of all these rarities” Jancis Robinson, Tasting Pleasure (New York: Penguin, 1999), 180.
“these glasses of unctuous history” Ibid., 181.
Rodenstock spoke of a confederate “The World’s Wildest Collector,” WS, December 15, 1988.
He told friends that he had found another trove Ibid.
“similar powers of discovery to water diviners” Edmund Penning-Rowsell, The Wines of Bordeaux (London: Penguin, 1989), 190.
a tax exile “Germans call for tax on the big spenders,” Sunday Times (London), August 8, 1999.
the regional railway director “The World’s Wildest Collector,” WS, December 15, 1988.
“the youngest such person” “Ein Sammler…,” Falstaff no. 3, 1988.
Rodenstock was a Sagittarius Ibid.
blank checks…“all hell is breaking loose on my palate” “Mann, da ist im Gaumen die Hölle los,” Der Spiegel, no. 7, 1988.
a fortieth-birthday gift “Verborgene Keller,” Der Spiegel, October 28, 1991.
“grand occasion wines” “Six of the Best,” Decanter, December 1989.
Peppercorn agreed with her “‘Vintage’ wine,” The Times (of London), December 15, 1990.
12. A BUILT-IN PREFERENCE FOR THE OBVIOUS
drinking 1964 Lanson Champagne Jancis Robinson, Tasting Pleasure (New York: Penguin, 1999), 181.
“horror machine” “Eisiger Schock,” Der Spiegel, no. 42, 1988.
snarled to his diary Albert Givton, Carte Blanche (Vancouver: Turnagain Enterprises, 1999), 55.
“a built-in preference for the obvious” Quoted from May 1987 Decanter in “Buying by Numbers,” Decanter, October 1987.
Givton was suspicous…“He seems too sleek” Givton, Carte Blanche, 111.
Troy was certain…that the wine was a fake Geoffrey Troy, “Another View,” Rarities 1, no. 1 (First Quarter, 1991).
Among the bottles…were two from Rodenstock “Tasting 44 Years of Elegance,” WS, January 31, 1988.
“vanilla-chocolate-mint aroma” Edward M. Lazarus, “A Taste of History…or the Stench of Fraud?” Rarities 1, no. 1 (First Quarter, 1991).
his Venezuelan haul “Michael Broadbent’s Tasting Notes,” Decanter, October 1987.
struck many participants as atypical Bipin Desai, “Another View,” Rarities 1, no. 1 (First Quarter, 1991).
“a complete fraud” “A Taste of Deception,” WS, May 31, 1998.
Rodenstock, put on the spot Desai, “Another View,” Rarities 1, no. 1 (First Quarter, 1991).
auction house subsequently reported “Editor’s note,” Rarities 1, no. 1 (First Quarter, 1991).
Rodenstock said he had made a mistake Desai, “Reply to the Editor’s note on Hardy Rodenstock’s 1905 Ch. Figeac,” Rarities 1, no. 2 (Second Quarter, 1991).
an assemblage of Pétrus “A Taste of History…,” Rarities 1, no. 1 (First Quarter, 1991).
old merchants’ catalogs “A Taste of Deception,” WS, May 31, 1998.
argued that all the skeptics Ibid.
“stupid assertion[s]” Fax from Rodenstock to author, July 22, 2005.
three pre-phylloxera vintages Lazarus, “A Taste of History…,” Rarities 1, no. 1 (First Quarter, 1991).
Four experienced tasters thought “Seemingly Ageless Latour Sparks Controversy,” WS, March 31, 1990.
The tasting notes of Givton “A Taste of History…,” Rarities 1, no. 1 (First Quarter, 1991).
“a Rolex bought in Hong Kong” “Seemingly Ageless Latour…,” WS, March 31, 1990.
“What are we to conclude from all this?” “A Taste of History…,” Rarities 1, no. 1 (First Quarter, 1991).
a recipe for how to fake Geoffrey Troy, “Another View,” Rarities 1, no. 1 (First Quarter, 1991).
Broadbent defended the German “Michael Broadbent of Christie’s Writes,” Rarities 1, no. 2 (Second Quarter, 1991).
“rarity following a burglary at the château” “Fine
wine prices remain firm,” Decanter, December 1987.
“red wine believed to have belonged to Julius Caesar” “Record Price for Caesar Bottle,” WS, April 1, 1989.
June 28, 1990, sale at Christie’s London “’61 Bordeaux Still Tops in London,” WS, August 31, 1990.
“He became Molyneux-Berry when he went to Sotheby’s” Molyneux-Berry says that he has always been called Molyneux-Berry.
Frericks had paid only “Streit um alte Flaschen,” Stern, April 18, 1991.
Rodenstock had sold eighty bottles to Frericks Ibid.
150,000 marks “400 000 Mark—beim teuersten Wein der Welthört die Freundschaft auf…,” MAZ, February 28, 1991.
They included, besides the two Jefferson bottles “The Mystery of the Lafite 1787,” Decanter, October 1992.
“significant doubt as to [the] origin” “Streit um alte Flaschen,” Stern, April 18, 1991.
13. RADIOACTIVE
A number of details from the GSF bottle opening and analyses came from the report “Weinprobe auf Wissenschanten-Art,” and accompanying photographs, published in the institute’s newsletter, gsf aktuell, vol. X, June/July 1992; and two GSF research reports: H. Y. Göksu, D. F. Regulla, and A. Vogenauer, “Age Determination of Wine Sediments by Thermoluminescence Method” (GSF-Forschungszentrum für Umwelt und Gesundheit, Neuherberg); and Manfred Wolf, “Datierung des Bordeaux ‘1787 Lafitte Th.J.’ durch Kohlenstoff-14-und Tritiumanalysen” (GSFHY 1/93 Neuherberg [1993]).
Broadbent had flown in December 7, 1991, letter from Broadbent to Rarities 1, no. 3.
“I am not particularly impressed” “‘Vintage’ wine,” Times (of London), December 15, 1990.
Wine Spectator had run a cover story March 15, 1991.
he insisted that he had sold “400 000 Mark—beim teuersten…,” MAZ, February 28, 1991.
“friendship price” “Rodenstocks 1787er Lafite,” VIF-Gourmet Journal, no. 3, 1993.
Frericks responded by obtaining a court order “400 000 Mark—beim teuersten…,” MAZ, February 28, 1991.
withdrew his appeal “400 000-Mark-Wein wird entkorkt: Leider fürs Labor,” MAZ, May 18, 1991.
pulled his bottles from Christie’s “400 000 Mark—beim teuersten…,” MAZ, February 28, 1991.
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