There is an interesting video interview of Maureen Downey on the Jancis Robinson site. Sometimes Jancis has allowed public access to content and sometimes not, so I am unsure if this link will work:
It raises some noteworthy topics including, but not limited to, Rudy Kurniawan possibly covering for co-conspirators and her new online subscription site to educate collectors, trade, vendors and enthusiasts on wine verification. The latter topic raises possible use by wine counterfeiters.
If someone has a better way of linking the video I would appreciate the help.
Thanks Todd! One of these days I’m going to have to take the time to learn how to do that.
Yeah I agree, but knowing the type of people she is talking about I can see some truth to the attitude. I am also sure that attitude isn’t universally held even in the ultra rich.
She is smart to take advantage of her well earned notoriety as a result of that case. But winefraud.com does, I think, bring up the specter of a school for wine counterfeiters.
Yes, I can 100% guarantee that if someone is looking to fake stuff they will be watching that site to know what mistakes not to make. Sometimes the internet is a bad thing as the bad people can find out very quickly what works and doesn’t and when and how to change up their game.
The symbol for vendors ides is interesting … they pay was it #2,000 and then they get a logo to display which she says is not saying their wines are authentic but that they care enough to check … or I guess to pay to view her site?
Do folks think vendors will buy into this? and would such a symbol be meaningful to you as a buyer?
Good question. If an auction house subscribed they could probably use that subscription as further proof of their due diligence, whether they caught the fakes or not, so it might be a legal tactic and make sense in that regard. Not that any of the auction houses took any responsibility in the Kurniawan case anyway.
Look, I have read some of her posts here and on Facebook and she does not seem like someone I would want as my best friend. But, if I were very wealthy and buying really expensive bottles where fraud was a real issue, she is someone I might look to for help.
After describing her pricing scheme, she somehow implies this will prevent counterfeiters from accessing the site. As though counterfeiters don’t have money?
When she was listing the prices “$500 for collectors, . . . $2000 for the trade” I thought she would just add “$5000 for counterfeiters”.
Maybe there will be a logo for counterfeiters too?
Outed only by the best!
I guess I’m just sensitive to these things since in my business, there are all these “certifications” that look impressive to potential clients but in fact only really mean someone wrote a check - not did the work - and this seems like purposefully setting up a scheme like that.