 2008-11-01 - Wine Sleuthing
Very well researched, well structured and reads like a detective story. Interest for Brits, Europeans and Americans as the story and the characters shuttle back and forth. Many gurus of the wine world play a part and the reader lives the narrative, its twists, turns and surprises, plus some wry humour. After much detailed case work, the story ends rather abruptly and readers will be curious to know what happened to the key players next. A post script to the second edition, perhaps?
2008-10-14 - Interesting peek inside the world of rare wines
This book provides a great look inside the very high end of wine collecting - the people, the history and of course the wines. The author offers up a fascinating portrait of the people whose trade or avocation is the finding, selling and drinking of 100+ year old fine wines; and in the process it tells a riveting tale of intrigue and fakery. The first 80% of this book is absolutely five-star material, but the last 20% kinda falls apart. Not the author's fault that there wasn't a satisfying denouement to the tale, but I can't help but think it might have been structured better to deliver a more satisfying ending.
 2008-10-14 - Poor vintage
The true conclusion of this book has yet to be resolved. So like other reviewers I was disappointed at the end of the Billionaires Vinegar when nothing is concluded. The author leaves the reader hanging with an incomplete resolution and a vague summary of where justice does or does not prevail.
A great deal of this book is filled with irrelevant names of obscure wines and people. It was difficult to remember these names let alone figure out how they fit in to the overall scheme of things.
More pages should have been devoted to describing how the price and quality of wines are determined. The author gives the impression that only people with more money than taste purchase expensive wines.
Overall, The Billionaires Vinegar and the mystery of the worlds most expensive wine, is still a mystery.
2008-10-09 - A Page Turner
I love history, antiques and wine. This book was the trifecta as far as I am concerned. It was a fascinating journey through the auction world with just enough historically based fiction blended in to make a great read. Unfortunately, while I can draw my own conclusions about whether the bottle is a fake or not, I would really like to know the true ending. The ending has me frustrated, but I still recommend this book. You will learn interesting facts about old wine while trying to solve a real mystery.
2008-10-07 - Too Much Unfinished Business
Wallace is a good and thorough writer. But the story is by no means over, and there are too many loose ends needing to be resolved.
I'm not sure if I would recommend this book to my friends because the characters are mostly wealthy, frivolous, status-seeking and pretentious. Imagine paying over $150,000 for a bottle of presumably undrinkable wine, that may have belonged to Thomas Jefferson! And thinking that that bottle is a part of history. Please.
I was shocked that Jeffersonian scholars at Monticello would be willing to research whether or not particular wine bottles could have been purchased by him. And that sophisticated scientific labs would try to determine the age of various wines gratis.
I think a great glass of wine is a treat. But there comes a point where one's priorities have to be examined. The millions of dollars you will see spent at wine auctions in the States and abroad could be so much better spent feeding the hungry, than buying trophies of arguable taste.
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