Who says Rudy can't fail?

originally posted by mlawton:
I'm 98 points on fake wines.

except on tonight's showing, where it tasted off, and i'm only 92 points on it.

this bottle had clearly been reconditioned in the past, and so i thought i'd fill the rest of this space by trotting out toned-down versions of the adjectives i use for other, better showings of fake wine bearing this label.

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originally posted by SFJoe:
In my email tonightJust in case anyone is free, a chance to sample the wines we've all been talking about:

HAMPTONS PÉTRUS RETROSPECTIVE
Led by James Suckling


at


SOCIÉTÉ DU VIN
204 Butter Lane
Bridgehampton, NY 11932


INDIVIDUAL SESSION PRICING NOW AVAILABLE


Please join us at Société du Vin a new, exclusive members-only wine facility located in Bridgehampton for a remarkable 57 vintage, once in a lifetime tasting of the legendary Pétrus.


This tremendous two-day event will include all of the historically significant post WWII vintages from a meticulously curated cellar in Europe. The event will be led by internationally-recognized wine critic James Suckling and will consist of two separate tasting sessions. Participants will have an opportunity to sample 57 vintages of Pétrus paired with both lunch and dinner crafted by master chef Mayan Axelrod.


All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Southampton Animal Shelter, the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons and The Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center.






Friday Dinner June 22nd, 7:00pm
Friday Single Session Price: $6,500 per seat


Vintages to be tasted:
2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994,
1993, 1992, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980


***


Saturday Lunch June 23rd, 12 noon
Saturday Single Session Price: $12,750 per seat


Vintages to be tasted:
1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966,
1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960, 1959, 1957, 1955, 1954, 1953, 1952, 1951, 1949, 1948, 1947, 1945


***


Both Friday & Saturday
Two Session Price: $17,500 per seat





Reservations will be confirmed with receipt of payment and accepted on a first come, first served basis. Refunds will not be permitted unless a replacement is identified.


TO RESERVE YOUR SEAT PLEASE CONTACT:


David Hamburger
The Wine Workshop
Dir. of Corporate Sales and Events
Phone: 212-875-0222
Fax: 212-799-1984
160 W 72ndStreet, Suite 2R
New York,NY 10023
Email:david@winewkshop.com

Apparently, the event didn't sell out.
 
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
originally posted by SFJoe:
Apparently, the event didn't sell out.
I don't understand why; a noted expert vouched for the wines.

"What made the Bridgehampton tasting especially exciting was the likelihood that we were drinking the real thing. According to John Kapon of Acker Merral & Condit, who auctioned the wines, they were purchased on release and remained in a single cellar in Switzerland until independent third-party inspectors employed by the auction house examined them and reviewed photographs of the bottles with the ch“teau."

Really. Honestly. No. Really.
 
For novels on art forgery, I'd recommend The Recognitions and, an easier read but not really in the same literary class, What's Bred in the Bone. Both of them are much more interesting about the line between forgery and art than this newspaper story. There are, by the way, people who concentrate on forging Renaissance and Dutch masters and some of their work at least has been on museum walls.

The question is really less interesting for wine because what one counterfeits (forgery is not really the right word) is the bottle, not the wine. If one could replicate expensive ones as well as artists like these replicate the style of masters, one would be happy to own them for a fraction of the price. Indeed, if one could replicate them, there would be no superior value to the original. Imagine a Star Trek machine in which one ordered up Rayas 78 at 20 years old from a 50 degree cellar (or whatever else)and got exactly that. It would change how we evaluate wine, but the wine wouldn't have changed in any identifiable way as an object.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
For novels on art forgery, I'd recommend The Recognitions and, an easier read but not really in the same literary class, What's Bred in the Bone. Both of them are much more interesting about the line between forgery and art than this newspaper story. There are, by the way, people who concentrate on forging Renaissance and Dutch masters and some of their work at least has been on museum walls.

Another good book on the subject that's an easy read is The Forger's Spell by Edward Dolnick. It's about the guy who generated phony Vermeers during WWII.
 
Not to dismiss interesting books, but I was proposing that Rudi and Hardy and so on could retire and concoct acknowledged reproductions of old wines at lower prices.

And then if we could get famous critics to say, "Well, yes, this does taste rather like '59 Clos St. Denis," the plan would be on its way.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
Not to dismiss interesting books, but I was proposing that Rudi and Hardy and so on could retire and concoct acknowledged reproductions of old wines at lower prices.

And then if we could get famous critics to say, "Well, yes, this does taste rather like '59 Clos St. Denis," the plan would be on its way.

That's why I said they were really counterfeiting bottles, not forging wines. For some critic to say, this wine tastes like a 59 Clos St. Denis, he would have had to have a real one side by side. Also, someone who did what a real forger does wouldn't copy existing wines, he'd create new ones that could pass as having been made by a genius winemaker in say a given region at a given time. With real art forgery, you don't forge known paintings. There's no money in it. No one's going to buy the Mona Lisa as long as they know where the real one is. You have to make new and different da Vincis that nevertheless pass as da Vincis.

I guess, upon reflection, you could say that Rodenstock was this kind of forger since he claimed to have found wines no one knew existed.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg...The Recognitions...

I started reading this about 10 years ago and found it very enjoyable and impressive. I made serious headway but then never had the fortitude to finish (or perhaps life got in the way, I forget).
 
originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg...The Recognitions...

I started reading this about 10 years ago and found it very enjoyable and impressive. I made serious headway but then never had the fortitude to finish (or perhaps life got in the way, I forget).

To me, William Gaddis stands above most of his "contemporaries" among post-WW II American novelists: great stylist and interesting themes to his books.

Mark Lipton
 
The Recognitions was his novel. It's a crime it took so long to be recognized itself. I liked JR too. Carpenter's Gothic lost me and I never read the other two--so maybe I'm not paying attention to an unknown masterwork. I actually was sort of forced into reading the Recognitions. In the mid 90s a student wanted to write his senior thesis on it and aesthetic theory. No one in the department knew the novel and at least I knew aesthetic theory. The student was brilliant and I was grateful to have been given the occasion to read Gaddis, who I had heard about in grad school. I've read it again since and will read it again before I die I expect.

And now thread drift is complete.
 
Gosh, Robertson Davies - I've read (and forgotten) about all of his books. "Fifth Business" was particularly great (I think).

I might need to reread these.
 
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