here’s Rudy back in 2002
when he bought the SQN HdR lot for something north of $250 a bottle. (pretty good price as it turns out)
I only buy it these days if it’s a full caseload.
It does seem odd to host in London.
Ive been to major auctions in London where there have been 5-6 people in the room, even the largest are a world away from (what I read about) the US ‘event’ auctions.
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I wonder how many of the 60 bottles produced of this, the 98 HdR, have been faked? There are nine logged into CT (including my three) and I’ve personally consumed six bottles which gives us 25% of the total production. Cultwine has another four bottles. That’s almost one third of the production in total. One must think that numerous bottles have been consumed. So…are there fakes of these out there? If none…than it’s a smaller world than I could have imagined.
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Just to reiterate the facts from my phone conversation with Don. Rudy is not a consignor in this auction and has not been a consignor with Spectrum since we have started. The London auction is made up of many consignors not just a single consignment and includes wines from all over the world.
All the wine in this auction went through an elevated inspection process by our experts before being placed into the sale.
The wine is also available to be inspected in London by prospective bidders.
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Great idea, Tom. Please report back. And do tell us what you bought!.
Let’s not be cute here, Mr. Boland. Are you prepared to state, categorically, that the indirect source of these wines is not Mr. Kurniawan? Unless you are prepared to make such a statement, you should be cognizant of the fact that there are gobs and gobs of lawyers on this BB who are perfectly adept at seeing through what we professionally refer to as “negative pregnants.” The words a person chooses to state, and the words that person chooses not to state, must be read together and are frequently better indications of the truth that the simple literal dictionary definition. I have no horse in this race, I am not a fan of Burgundy, I have never had DRC and I do not know any of the players in this drama. But I have known how to read for something like 55 years and, from my reading, your statement raises more questions than it answers.
Mr. Boland: Thank you for appearing in this thread to respond to the concerns. Three questions off the top of my head, if I may:
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Regardless of who the official “consignor” is, did any of the bottles in this auction ever have ANY connection at all to Rudy Kurniawan? For example, did he ever own, broker, or attempt to see any of these bottles, directly or indirectly?
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To your knowledge, were any of the bottles in this auction ever been turned down previously by other auction houses?
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Looking at the auction catalog, it appears that a striking number of lots (or groups of lots) have essentially no information about provenance–number of owners, where the wine was stored, how it was stored, etc. Is there some reason why the auction catalog omits such standard information about provenance?
Thanks in advance,
Bruce
Just saw Rudy at Bouchon in Beverly hills with a 3L of haut brion. Also some assorted mags and 3l’s of burg/champagne.
Curious that they came without corks 
But didn’t you know? Poor Mr. Kurniawan got duped on the Ponsot Clos St. Denis: http://www.latimesmagazine.com/2008/10/wine-fraud.html
Well, this response officially puts Spectrum on my list of places to never do business with. Unless you think we’re all morons, you couldn’t possibly think that a non-response response would be effective here. This response is now probably the single most convincing piece of evidence that the OPs assertions are true.
I was just about to post this link, Bob, and characterize it as a fluff piece. Here is my favorite part…
From the article… Kurniawan got duped. How? As the saying goes, lust makes you stupid. Was that it? Kurniawan tried to explain: “I tasted the wines with many experienced and respected collectors, as well as winemakers and the man who is in my opinion the best Burgundy critic and taster, Meadows. All of us thought the wines were exceptional and that they were what they claimed to be. I apologize for my ignorance, but I consider myself a collector and a drinker, not a wine historian. I had asked a couple of people who know a lot more than I do about Burgundy. The discrepancy even escaped those people.”
BTW, the endorsement of the wines by Allen meadows is not factual, according to Allen’s own detailed posts here. His name is being dragged through this sordid affair for the convenience of the others.
I know little of the market at this level but I am utterly bemused by the condition of the labels pictured in the catalogue. I’m very familiar though with Burgundy from all sorts of UK cellars from the Percy Fox era and I just don’t understand how they can be so new looking, but this could easily be my ignorance.
In my post above, I mentioned that Burghound had fully aired his involvement in the Ponsot debacle here on W/B. I now believe it was on eRP that he did so. In any event, he described his tasting with Rudy and others of the old Ponsot Clos Saint-Denis bottles, became suspicious of them, did some research, contacted the domaine, and this was how Laurent Ponsot learned the fakes were about to be auctioned.
Where is Rudy now, anyway?
Guy Accad got treated worse, it seems. He disappeared.
Rudy seemed to have tons of friends in his heyday…do any of them keep in touch? Some people who post here and have some publications, as I remember.
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Thanks for the PSA Don. This explains why I am so reluctant to buy wines at auction.
Dealers bought many of Rudy’s wines and offered them out for resale. Unfortunately many are still out there, and the provenance that they came originally from Rudy has disappeared.
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What do you mean?
Mark, do you think these would show up at retailers (including some of the top retailers mentioned on this board?
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