I was just looking at the current Acker catalog. Does anyone who actually has the knowledge and experience (I do not) have an opinion on the picture of the 1959 DRC-RC lot #60? There is a full page pic of it here http://webdocs.ackerwines.com/219DE_FINAL_WEB.pdf
I don’t recall a wax closure like that on DRC.
btw, I know Acker is the company that the board loves to hate, but I will say they have made some good hires lately.
cheers
-paul
Yeah the yellow wax does look kind of funky. But I am certainly no expert. In the end it’s just wine porn anyway as most of these bottles will not be consumed, just re-traded like Picassos. Yawn! Fools and their money…
There might be a color-shift in the photo for the catalog as the glass looks dramatically yellowed where it should not be, but yes, the mustard color capsule seems highly suspect. Except for special orders for a few customers in Europe (mostly in Belgium I was told), there were no wax capsules on any 1959 DRC in 750s. There were definitely no mustard-yellow-colored capsules on DRC.
The interdiction stamp on the label would be consistent with a bottle sold in Europe in 1959. The font on the bottle number appears to match the font used in 1959 by the Domaine. This has a four digit bottle number while virtually all of the others I have seen or have photographs of had five, (but I have seen a set of 1959 La Tache sold at auction in the UK that had similar four digit bottle numbers.) The relatively flat bottom on the bottle matches the glass used by the Domaine in 1959.
Given the wax color issue, I would suggest asking Acker for high res photos with no color modification. You should also ask for photos of the back of the bottle to see the back label and any import strip labels.
ACKER MERRALL SELLS COUNTERFEIT 2002 DRC ROMANÉE CONTI 6 LITER BOTTLE FOR WORLD RECORD PRICE OF $398,400 …
and five weeks later, offered another counterfeit 2000 Romanée Conti 6L from the same consignor (and the same counterfeit source) for $160,000 to $240,000
On September 25, 2021 Acker Merrall sold a 6 Liter bottle of 2002 DRC Romanée Conti at an auction held in Hong Kong for the world record price of $398,400 (US). There’s just one problem – that world record Methuselah of 2002 Romanée Conti was, in my opinion, for the reasons explained below, clearly a counterfeit bottle. On November 6, 2021, Acker offered another 6 liter bottle of Romanée Conti from the 2000 vintage – from the very same consignor according to the catalog. Just like its predecessor, the 2000 vintage 6 Liter bottle shared the same defects and was also (in my opinion) clearly counterfeit. The real mystery here is how did these two bottles ever get offered in the first place?
Sotheby’s - France Nov. 2, 2021_______Acker Auction HK Nov. 6, 2021_____Acker Auction HK Sept. 25, 2021_____Sotheby’s Auction HK October 3, 2020
The first red flag, and to me it is always a major red flag with jeroboams and methuselahs of DRC, was that neither 6 liter bottle of DRC included the original wooden case. No collector buys DRC in jeroboams or methuselahs, discards the original wooden case and then tries to sell the bottle. Every auction house in the world knows that and the warning sirens should have been sounding as soon as the first bottle was offered to Acker on consignment. In this instance, the 2002 Romanée Conti six liter was included in a section of the Acker catalog from a large group of consignors. There was no description of the consignor, no indication as to which lots were his, and the Acker catalog referred only the bottles from the group of consignors as containing “an epic Methuselah of 2002 Romanée Conti.” Here, we can add the complication that the same consignor had not one, but two, 6 liter bottles of Romanée Conti without original wooden cases, and that Acker proceeded to offer a second one for sale.
But the lack of an original wooden case was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg here. Both bottles had a series of identical defects – including a hugely oversized neck labels with the word MONOPOLE printed on a flat line instead of on a curved line on an offset printer. Both of the Acker 6 Liter bottles had short wax capsules of mixed brown and violet color (with obvious dark mottling from the mixed wax) with a flat finish instead of the 3 plus inch long violet colored glossy wax finish on the original DRC 6 liter bottles from the 2000 and 2002 vintages. Both of the Acker bottles had significant printing and printing alignment errors which should have been obvious to anyone who regularly inspects DRC bottles, and in other instances would have been revealed by comparing the Acker bottles with other known authentic bottles from the vintages in question, as I did.
I compared the Acker 6 liter of 2002 Romanée Conti with the 2002 6 liter sold in the Joseph Lau Cellar sale at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on October 3, 2020. (See the photos below). In the case of the Sotheby’s Joseph Lau bottle, the same bottle had been authenticated at Zachy’s when it was originally purchased by Mr. Lau and had provenance traceable to the importer.
Comparing the 2002 6 liter sold by Acker with the 2002 6 liter from the Sotheby’s Joseph Lau Cellar sale, the following discrepancies appear:
2002 Romanée Conti sold at Acker Hong Kong Sept. 25, 2021 - Discrepancies)____________________2002 Romanée Conti sold at Sotheby’s Nov. 2, 2021
Here is a link to an enlargeable pdf form of the discrepancies on the Acker bottle. Dropbox - 2002 RC 6L from Acker press release re world record price - defects.pdf - Simplify your life
2002 Romanée Conti sold at Sotheby’s Nov. 2, 2021 - Note the different alignment of the vintage and signature vs. Mis en bouteille au domaine
On November 6, 2021 Acker offered another 6 liter bottle of Romanée Conti, this time allegedly from the 2000 vintage, from the very same consignor. Once again the bottle was offered in the midst of offerings by other consignors. The Acker catalog stated “we culminate with a magnificent Methuselah of 2000 Romanée Conti, Romanée Conti from the same consignor who set the world record last month!!!” And yes, this bottle had the same obvious defects when compared with another 6 liter of 2000 Romanée Conti sold by Sotheby’s four days earlier, on November 2, 2021 in France. I was told that the Sotheby’s bottle had documented provenance back to the domaine. The Acker bottle of 2000 was offered in the auction with an estimate range of US$160,000 to $240,000, but I cannot find any record as to whether it was sold. It was not mentioned in the Acker post-auction press release.
While it is not possible to fully compare the main labels of the two bottles because the 6 liter bottle sold at Sotheby’s had a large portion of the main label obscured, the Acker Methuselah had had the following problems which in my opinion indicate it is counterfeit:
2000 Romanée Conti 6L from Acker HK Auction Nov. 6, 2021 - Discrepancies__________________________________________2000 Romanée Conti 6L from Sotheby’s France Nov. 2, 2021
Acker consistently claims to be the number one wine auction house in the world – even in years when they’re not. Acker claims that it holds more world records for prices obtained than anyone. But most importantly, Acker now unquestionably holds the world record for selling counterfeit wine.
Acker, Merrall & Condit – the company that brought you Rudy Kurniawan, admitted knowing seller of counterfeit wines Eric Greenberg, counterfeit Krug Champagne from Rob Rosania, counterfeit Buffalo Trace whisky and the world record price obtained for selling a single bottle (6 Liter) of counterfeit wine.
wow. You do amazing work, Don. The fact that this is still going is just…wow.
Thanks Dennis. It would be nice if some of the same bad actors got the message and cleaned up their act so that I could retire, but for some reason that doesn’t happen.
Really interesting. Shocking and appalling that a merchant would so blatantly disregard these obvious signs which aren’t a secret and have been known for a while.
I also observe that the top edge of the ‘Monopole’ neck label is much more curved on the authentic bottles but is straight on the ACM bottles. How is that not a clear discrepancy to any ‘expert’ who is auctioning these off?
Kapon should be in prison. Karma will get him eventually.
Yes, it should be. As you point out, the shape of the neck label is notably different, as well as the huge size of the neck label and the flat printing.
But, if Allen Meadows posts favorable tasting notes, who cares?
You’re like a broken record…repeat, repeat, repeat endlessly.
I can’t believe anybody still purchases huge dollar wines from this auction house and others like it that have been shown not to do due diligence. But I guess for them it’s probably more about the perception of owning something of such value whether or not the article is genuine. Kind of like buying an MS Paint of a gorilla for $100,000 because you have a digital stamp that says it’s one of 10 or whatever.
Don - I’ve forgotten what the relationship is today of Acker HK to Acker NY. I dimly recall that the NY company sold a majority stake in the HK auction operation a few years ago. Is that right?
Don, why don’t the DRC people get involved in this kind of thing to call our the counterfeits? It’s certainly not in their best interest to let fake bottles be sold. Is it because this is Hong Kong, and the Chinese pretty much don’t care?
Don’t forget that Rudy is now out of the country. It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s back in the counterfeiting business.
Also, if the bad actors weren’t getting paid they wouldn’t be doing this. People like Kapon should be punished by being banned from the wine business completely. Hit them in their wallets. If their is no financial incentive, they’ll stop.
Don, thanks for your tireless and relentless pursuit of the bad actors.
Do auction houses allow private, physical inspection of purchases of this size? Why, if you are going to spend this amount of money, would you not ask for that and trust the seller is insane especially given that fakes are so prevalent in this market.
This is, effectively, the raison d’etre for the auction houses and how they justify the buyers premium in 2021 — other than putting buyers in front of sellers, but in the age of the internet that could easily be obsoleted with a simple online marketplace. I don’t know who in their right mind would be WILLING to pay a buyers premium at an auction house with such a poor reputation for authentication.
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Not only do they allow - auction houses are obliged to make items available for inspection, no matter the value.
That more people don’t have wines inspected in advance of purchase baffles me.
MD
I know what causes a buyer of real estate to hire experts to complete pre-purchase due diligence. What would it cost a wine buyer? Asking for not me, as these far exceed my lifetime wine purchases.
Jancis has joined the chat…
