Great point. I want to give kudos in this regard to Christie’s. I’m looking at a couple of lots in their upcoming online auction, one of which didn’t have a photo. I emailed them asking about getting one along with asking some questions about the lot. They gave me good answers, and a photo of one of the lots was put up on the website.
I actually said that, given how ‘new’ the labels looked, I’d want more info on the lots before bidding. I also have a lot of trust in Sotheby’s work…
I understand their problem with the picture quality in the pdf - a website is much better for that - the pdf was already over 60mb with just the low-res images. Provided they are available to answer any relevant questions and provide answers and higher-res photos, all good…
they can have a link in the pdf, using the low res picture if they choose, that you click to bring up a hi-res image. not rocket science here.
Much like Don does here in this thread.
… to the image(s) on their website - which is what I meant.
Can anyone shed some light on the 1976 Domaine Grivelet cuvée princess noura large formats in the Christie’s E Auction. Were they manipulated or counter fitted, and if so how can they sell them?
Lot 309 - 1976 Chambertin “cuvée noura” methuselah (think they should have labeled it “Longe Prospicio” based upon picture)
Lot 310 - 1976 CDB “cuvée noura” Salmanazar
Update: was sent this article when I emailed Christie’s. They seem to think the wine should be good based upon this article. Hmm…
Chris:
The short answer is that yes, 1976 Grivelet Chambertin and Chambertin Clos de Beze wines, including those two wines in large formats, were counterfeited by Bernard Grivelet. He plead guilty and was convicted in France in 1979. The bottles you refer to in the Christie’s auction, Lots 309 and 310, are US import bottles according to the photographs. Castleton Imports of Jericho NY brought in 30,000 bottles of the counterfeit Grivelet burgundies into the US which were distributed to 40 to 50 retailers in New York City and Long Island. Castleton Imports was charged by the Department of Justice with knowing and willful participation in the labeling fraud, including selling $4 a bottle rhone wines as Chambertin Clos de Beze, Chambolle Musigny and Morey St. Denis. https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/02/archives/wine-talk-the-burgundy-wine-scandal.html In December of 1982 the firm plead guilty. https://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/02/style/wine-importer-pleads-guilty-on-false-labels. As part of the plea agreement, the firm and its owner were forced to permanently exit the wine business. According to the press reports, all 70,000 bottles of Grivelet’s fakes were sent to and sold in the US market.
According to the Dallas Magazine article referred to in my 2014 post in this thread https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/1980/may/wine-fraud-of-the-vine, in addition to the 30,000 bottles imported in New York, an additional 40,000 counterfeit bottles were sold in the rest of the US. According to the articles describing the fraud, the fake burgundies made from rhone were variously labeled as being from Chambolle Musigny, Morey St. Denis and Chambertin. Some of the articles referred to the counterfeit Grivelet burgundies being sold in large format bottles, including magnums and jeroboams. Wine Frauds - Food Reference Beverage Information
So, my operative presumption would be that the two large format 1976 Grivelet burgundies are counterfeit. I have never understood why, but several auction houses, including Christie’s, Sotheby’s and even HDH (with 2007 apparently being the last HDH sale), continued to sell the 1976 Grivelet grand cru burgundies in large formats for many years. Several articles also refer to Grivelet having been involved in “another wine scandal” in the late 1950s which is also believed to have involved counterfeit wines.
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Thanks for the info.
Update: Christie’s took down both lots in question this morning.
Another win for Don Cornwell!!
I wish I knew as much about anything as Don knows about counterfeit wines.
Funny that Christie’s was relying on an article from 41 years ago, considering everything that’s been learned about counterfeit wine since then. Especially these particular counterfeits!
Win for the good guys! Great work gents.
FYI, yet another show to feature RK. ABC is producing a prime-time show called “The Con” not sure when it will air but they have started working on the Rudy story.
Rudy is due to get out of prison soon this year. It will be interesting to see if he cashes in on his infamy. I could see him giving Dave Phinney a run for his money on selling blended wines. Name the company Infamy or “Dr. Conti”. It would be some marketing to say this wine sold at auction as a… for x amount, it’s not that–but you can have the same wine that tricked Bill Koch for $54.99. I’m sure they would become collector items and in a few years Acker would have them at auction…
This is a really interesting idea. As long as 100% of the proceeds go to repaying all those injured, this would be a great wine geek gag gift.
He’ll be deported on release. There was already on old deportation order for him when he was arrested for faking wines. That will likely make it harder to cash in.
Some publicity-hungry producer should give him a run doing their blends, lol. He’s got the experience!
Yeah, I wouldn’t buy stock on Rudy’s post release business ventures.
-Al
Rudy is scheduled for release on November 7. You are correct that he is supposed to be deported on release. However, it is also true that Rudy was supposed to be deported in 2003 after losing his immigration appeal. So I’m a bit concerned about that.
I could be proven wrong, but I suspect that, at least for a while, Rudy will live a low profile life.
In tech, most black-hat hackers turn to white-hat after conviction; make a living selling their “secrets”. Not too far fetched for that and a tell-all. He’s tarnished goods for anything credible I would hope.