Jancis on the fake Ponsots

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/8114887a-7260 ... abdc0.html

Interesting story, with a few more details than last year. No idea who the villain is, but I will say that I couldn't imagine spending even $50 on an older bottle of wine without knowing more about the seller than a phone number. I guess some people are more trusting than I am.

Fascinating Dale, although quite disturbing to read as well. Given the research done and the specialists hired by the big auction firms, I wouldn't have expected this sort of error in listing non-existent wines at a firm with the reputation of Acker. Even more distressing to see that a couple of the culprits here are people regularly involved with the big auctions and consignments from Acker and that big consignors/auction players like Rudy K will do so little to account for fraudulent bottles. Have to wonder at times where some of these big name wines that regularly keep popping up at such auctions and circling around big collectors/consignors' hands are just part of other Ponzi schemes.

Good to at least read about the effort people like Ponsot are putting into combating such fraud - hope there are more like him out there who'll take such steps.

well, there's certainly a scheme somewhere, though not a Ponzi. I really have trouble believing someone spent what had to be hundreds of thousands of dollars without having more than a couple of (now useless) phone numbers. I also think that an auction house offering up very expensive bottles should have asked for paper records of provenance.

I also think that an auction house offering up very expensive bottles should have asked for paper records of provenance.

What I also find quite fishy is the fact that the president of that particular auction house - John Kapon - is a friend and regular drinking buddy of both Rudy and Rob Rosania. Even without that connection I'd be wary if a firm as well established as Acker somehow managed to miss the fact that someone was selling a '45 of a wine that hasn't existed since '82 (and where presumably no - or very few - bottles from the three+ decades in between those years even existed). But given that the bottles are coming from good friends of John Kapon who're keeping their mouths shut on the source when asked, something seems rotten in Denmark.

[David M. Bueker]

Wait a minute - are you telling me that all this lumber was actually fiberboard?

The auction market for rare and collectible wine is still overheated to an almost disgusting degree, and in any situation like that there is a high potential for fraud at some level.

An update: http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/40637

Now more fraudulent wines sold through Acker have been traced back to Rudy K who's being sued.