The Billionaire's Vinegar
Title | The Billionaire's Vinegar PDF eBook |
Author | Benjamin Wallace |
Publisher | Crown |
Total Pages | 338 |
Release | 2009-04-14 |
Genre | True Crime |
ISBN | 0307338789 |
The rivetingly strange story of the world's most expensive bottle of wine, and the even stranger characters whose lives have intersected with it. The New York Times bestseller, updated with a new epilogue, that tells the true story of a 1787 Château Lafite Bordeaux—supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson—that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives intersected with it. Was it truly entombed in a Paris cellar for two hundred years? Or did it come from a secret Nazi bunker? Or from the moldy basement of a devilishly brilliant con artist? As Benjamin Wallace unravels the mystery, we meet a gallery of intriguing players—from the bicycle-riding British auctioneer who speaks of wines as if they are women to the obsessive wine collector who discovered the bottle. Suspenseful and thrillingly strange, this is the vintage tale of what could be the most elaborate con since the Hitler diaries. “Part detective story, part wine history, this is one juicy tale, even for those with no interest in the fruit of the vine. . . . As delicious as a true vintage Lafite.” —BusinessWeek
A Wine Journey Along the Russian River
Title | A Wine Journey Along the Russian River PDF eBook |
Author | Steve Heimoff |
Publisher | Univ of California Press |
Total Pages | 298 |
Release | 2005-09 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 0520239857 |
In this travelogue of the Russian River area's geology and history as it pertains to winemaking in several Sonoma County appellations, Heimoff profiles the key players and winemakers who have established the region's reputation for excellent wine.
Wine and War
Title | Wine and War PDF eBook |
Author | Donald Kladstrup |
Publisher | Crown |
Total Pages | 306 |
Release | 2002-06-18 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0767913256 |
The remarkable untold story of France’s courageous, clever vinters who protected and rescued the country’s most treasured commodity from German plunder during World War II. "To be a Frenchman means to fight for your country and its wine." –Claude Terrail, owner, Restaurant La Tour d’Argent In 1940, France fell to the Nazis and almost immediately the German army began a campaign of pillaging one of the assets the French hold most dear: their wine. Like others in the French Resistance, winemakers mobilized to oppose their occupiers, but the tale of their extraordinary efforts has remained largely unknown–until now. This is the thrilling and harrowing story of the French wine producers who undertook ingenious, daring measures to save their cherished crops and bottles as the Germans closed in on them. Wine and War illuminates a compelling, little-known chapter of history, and stands as a tribute to extraordinary individuals who waged a battle that, in a very real way, saved the spirit of France.
In Vino Duplicitas
Title | In Vino Duplicitas PDF eBook |
Author | Peter Hellman |
Publisher | The Experiment |
Total Pages | 245 |
Release | 2017-07-31 |
Genre | True Crime |
ISBN | 1615193936 |
As seen on ABC’s The Con, an “engrossing account of wine fraud and forgery” that duped some of the biggest names in the elite world of wine collecting (Wall Street Journal) In 2002, Rudy Kurniawan, an unknown twentysomething, burst into the privileged world of ultrafine wines. Blessed with a virtuoso palate, and with a seemingly limitless supply of coveted bottles, Kurniawan quickly became the leading purveyor of rare wines to the American elite. But in April 2008, at a New York auction house, dozens of Kurniawan's trophy bottles were abruptly pulled from sale. Journalist Peter Hellman was there, and he began to investigate: Were the bottles fake? Were there others? And was Kurniawan himself duped by forgery...or had he ensnared the world's top winemakers, sellers, and drinkers in a web of deceit?
Stalin's Wine Cellar
Title | Stalin's Wine Cellar PDF eBook |
Author | John Baker |
Publisher | Random House Australia |
Total Pages | 338 |
Release | 2021-07-20 |
Genre | Georgia (Republic) |
ISBN | 1761043668 |
The adventure of a lifetime to buy Stalin's secret multimillion dollar wine cellar located in Georgia; it is the Raiders of the Lost Ark of wine. In the late 1990s, John Baker was known as a purveyor of quality rare and old wines. He was the perfect person for an occasional business partner to approach with a mysterious wine list that was different to anything John, or his second-in-command, Kevin Hopko, had ever come across. The list was discovered to be a comprehensive catalogue of the wine collection of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia. The wine had become the property of the state after the Russian Revolution of 1918, during which Nicholas and his entire family were executed. Now owned by Stalin, the wine was discreetly removed to a remote Georgian winery when Stalin was concerned the advancing Nazi army might overrun Russia. Half a century later, the wine was rumoured to be hidden underground and off any known map. John and Kevin embarked on an audacious, colourful and potentially dangerous journey to Georgia to discover if the wines actually existed; if the bottles were authentic and whether the entire collection could be bought and transported to a major London auction house for sale. Stalin's Wine Cellar is a wild, sometimes rough ride through the glamorous world of high-end wine.
Sonoma Wine and the Story of Buena Vista
Title | Sonoma Wine and the Story of Buena Vista PDF eBook |
Author | Charles L. Sullivan |
Publisher | Board and Bench Publishing |
Total Pages | 240 |
Release | 2013-10-01 |
Genre | Cooking |
ISBN | 1935879847 |
The beginning of history for California wine starts with 17th-century , but the industry and commercial powerhouse that commands 60 percent of the United States market was birthed 200 years later, the product of a Hungarian aristocrat, European grapes, and the Sonoma Valley. In this groundbreaking book by historian and bestselling author Charles L. Sullivan, the untold history of Sonoma wine serves as backdrop to the turbulent story of California s first commercial winery, Buena Vista, from its founding by brilliant but quixotic Agoston Haraszthy, through phyloxera plague and the dry years of prohibition to its present-day market prominence. Sonoma Wine and the Story of Buena Vista is a scholarly study of two centuries of California wine history, told in a riveting narrative that will engage and delight.
Thomas Jefferson on Wine
Title | Thomas Jefferson on Wine PDF eBook |
Author | John R. Hailman |
Publisher | Univ. Press of Mississippi |
Total Pages | 524 |
Release | 2006 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | 9781578068418 |
A connoisseur's compendium of a great American's passion for fine wine