Another authentication query

M

MLipton

Mark Lipton
I was hoping to present this conundrum in person when I was out in NYC, but alas.... My well-meaning wife decided to buy me a bottle of older Huet for my recently passed 60th birthday. Since we had previously had a transcendent bottle of ‘45 LHL Moelleux in the distant past, she went looking for another. Having struck out with CSW (her previous source) she found a bottle for sake from an unknown retailer in SF. Long story short: the bottle arrived and on opening Jean became suspicious that it was a fake. As I hope will be visible in the photo below, the label looks and feels like the real article, but is a) pristine and b) peeling off the bottle. More worrisome, the fill is impossibly high (up above the bottom of the capsule) and the capsule is creased, though not at all loose. There is also a back label stating that it was imported by Connoisseur Wines USA (Port Washington, NY) and “Obtained from a Private Collection”
0B04F1DF-22DA-4446-B2B1-4A74B3410FE4.jpeg
For comparison, the photo below shows the empty bottle from the previous ‘45 that Jean got from CSW:

E4AA581E-EE9E-4135-94BA-F9BF5CEDB7E6.jpg
We are out of our depths judging the authenticity of the new purchase. I’m going to contact the retailer and maybe the importer to see what I can learn of the wines provenance, but any guidance people can give me would be much appreciated.

Mark Lipton
 
Who knows? But I have seen library-release bottles from 1945 from SFJoe’s cellar that were in good shape like this. Could very well be a grey market / self-effectuated but real import.
 
Sommpicks has been getting some old Huet that they claim is straight from the Domaine (which I generally take to mean straight from the Domaine to an intermediary and then to Sommpicks, but who knows). I bought a few bottles (but nothing as nice as a 1945), so will be curious if you get any further information about this. As Keith said, there have been a lot of library releases over the years and some of the labels and fills have been pristine. I've also seen some unbranded corks on bottles that, after much discussion, were determined to be authentic as best as we could tell (and were so damn good and so consistent with other old Huet that if they were fake, I almost don't even care).

I could see fake 1947s and maybe 1945s being possible, but generally I don't think of Huet as prime fake territory.
 
Thanks, guys. I appreciate all of the information and feel somewhat reassured. I'll still do due diligence, though.

Mark Lipton
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top