RUDY KURNIAWAN & GLOBAL WINE AUCTION FRAUD THREAD (MERGED)

[Todd F r e n c h (Online)]

The greatest bottle of wine I’ve ever tasted was an 1865 La Romanee tasted at Louis Jadot in 2003. The bottle was brought up from their underground cellar and opened a few minutes later. And it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.

Last week in Beaune, during relaxed lunch with Jacques Lardiere, I asked him what was the greatest wine he ever had. He paused for few second and said without hesitation "1865 La Romanee"

I guess that must have been a really great bottle of wine.

Leo, if he paused then he must have had some hesitation.

He was pausing because Leo was in front of him, and he really, really wanted another hug from the Cuddler. He was distracted.

[Fred Brander]

Just saw this trailer on CNBC for a show they are premiering on Monday, July 30, entitled "Ripping off the Rich", which includes wine collectors. I believe this is the show that Eric LeVine was interviewed for as his post of two weeks ago suggests. Will Rudy make an appearance? Tune in this next Monday.

http://www.youtube.com/user/CNBCtv

Cheers,

Fred Brander
The Brander Vineyard

[Eric LeVine]

That sounds like the show. I hope they didn't take me way out of context...

[Mel Hill]

Is the show "American Greed". I sold them some photos of Rudy for an upcoming episode of American Greed.

[Tom Wheltle]

No, seriously, I think we're talking about a show called "Ripping Off the Rich" - I have the DVR queued up. I'm not sure Rudy is up in the first episode.

[Anthony Hall]

Ripping off the rich - photocopy label example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQuCxxZiS1g&feature=relmfu

[Glenn Gallup]

Well, it was and interesting show mostly about art theft. Clearly CNBC used the interest in wine faking to keep people watching the stories about some guy stealing art. So Eric, how were you treated? Well I hope, no reason not to.

[Don Cornwell]

Just saw this trailer on CNBC for a show they are premiering on Monday, July 30, entitled "Ripping off the Rich", which includes wine collectors. I believe this is the show that Eric LeVine was interviewed for as his post of two weeks ago suggests. Will Rudy make an appearance? Tune in this next Monday.

http://www.youtube.com/user/CNBCtv

Cheers,

Fred Brander
The Brander Vineyard

Fred

Thanks. I've spoken to a producer from CNBC who I believe was working on this series. There will likely be some very interesting material that will come out. I saw a brief clip with Jamie Ritchie from Sotheby's about photocopied labels, etc. I had wanted to watch the show(s), but I didn't know the schedule. Meanwhile I was watching beach volleyball from the Olympics.

[Todd F r e n c h (Online)]

Just saw this trailer on CNBC for a show they are premiering on Monday, July 30, entitled "Ripping off the Rich", which includes wine collectors. I believe this is the show that Eric LeVine was interviewed for as his post of two weeks ago suggests. Will Rudy make an appearance? Tune in this next Monday.

http://www.youtube.com/user/CNBCtv

Cheers,

Fred Brander
The Brander Vineyard

Fred

Thanks. I've spoken to a producer from CNBC who I believe was working on this series. There will likely be some very interesting material that will come out. I saw a brief clip with Jamie Ritchie from Sotheby's about photocopied labels, etc. I had wanted to watch the show(s), but I didn't know the schedule. Meanwhile I was watching beach volleyball from the Olympics.

Looking forward to it

[Mel Hill]

Just got an email from a producer for the American Greed TV show that will feature the Rudy K story
the air date is now scheduled to be September 13th

[Brian G r a f s t r o m]

Greenberg’s expert, Gil Lempert-Schwarz

PLEASE tell me that someone brought a Daubert motion.

Now that is funny!

[wendyrohm]

Hi Don,

Here is a link, if you have trouble finding it. 7-page feature article in Playboy, "The Talented Mr. K" that
starts on page 88 of the July/August double issue, currently on newstands.

A pdf for those who can not find it:

http://www.worldwidewendy.org/events.htm

Click on the pdf link at the top of the page that says "The Talented Mr. K"

Thanks for all the wisdom and fascinating exchange on this site.

Best regards,
Wendy

Kapon & Dr Conti "in bed together" literally, in Playboy Magazine: PRICELESS!!

A photo? A cartoon?

I honestly didn't know Playboy was still publishing.

Ken

Yes, they are still publishing. Its an article entitled "The Talented Mr. K" by Wendy Goldman Rohm in the July/August issue. If you search around you can find versions of the magazine that you can download in PDF and then extract the article which begins at page 88 (and jumps around a bit).

Maureen's reference is to some notes by John Kapon that were originally published on Kapon's blog, and are recounted in the article, where after one night of wine debauchery Kapon woke up the next day and found himself in the same bed with Rudy.

I also found a certain irony in the title of Wendy's article. There is a rather unflattering article about Eric Greenberg as a businessman entitled the "The Talented Mr. Greenberg," which was published in Business 2.0 in May of 2001. You can find it easily by using Google or any search engine. It certainly paints a different picture of Mr. Greenberg than his public persona as a successful entrepeneur.

[M Champney]

Wendy, thanks for the link, and welcome to Wine Berserkers!

[Herwig Janssen]

I remeber a story or 2 about Khaled .
1. I have a friend who is a merchant in old wine . He got to know Khaled . One day , I get an phone call from my friend who told me that Khaled had paid him a visit and had opened a bottle of Margaux 1900 . He exclaimed : man , this was so fresh for an old wine , it tasted like a wine made during the seventies !
2. I forgot the details but Khaled had brought Henri Bonneau to Belgium . They went to a restaurant in Holland to eat fish... and Khaled was arrested at the border because of an outstanding warrent....

[Lewis Dawson]

Thanks for the link, Wendy. Excellent article.

[Steve Ritchie]

Excellent article -- thanks! Very interesting. I really enjoyed the new (to me at least) insights into the FBI investigation and the reluctance AC&M showed to remove the faux Ponsots fron the auction.

[Don Cornwell]

Thanks Wendy.

By the way, I'm sure the readers here would be interested in the details you mentioned to me that got deleted in the editing

[paul hanna]

Nice work Wendy, a good read, thanks.

Didn't initially realize you were the author, thanks for coming and posting it here.

Any interesting extra bits as Don alludes to, then right here is the place to air them....

[Todd F r e n c h (Online)]

Thanks Wendy.

By the way, I'm sure the readers here would be interested in the details you mentioned to me that got deleted in the editing

[CJ Beazley]

Wendy thank you very much for the link, I was able to avoid telling my wife I was going to buy a Playboy, but it was just for the articles.

[B. Davis]

Saw the CNBC "Ripping off the Rich" episode last night (5:30p PST). Last segment of the show (+/-5 minutes) was about Rudy (Dr. Conti) and had some great interviews with Eric.

[Todd F r e n c h (Online)]

Saw the CNBC "Ripping off the Rich" episode last night (5:30p PST). Last segment of the show (+/-5 minutes) was about Rudy (Dr. Conti) and had some great interviews with Eric.

Was Don interviewed?

[Joel W]

Saw the CNBC "Ripping off the Rich" episode last night (5:30p PST). Last segment of the show (+/-5 minutes) was about Rudy (Dr. Conti) and had some great interviews with Eric.

I saw it as well... Too bad it was ony a few minutes. They could do a whole 22 minutes on this at the very least.


Nice view from Eric's deck though....

[B. Davis]

Saw the CNBC "Ripping off the Rich" episode last night (5:30p PST). Last segment of the show (+/-5 minutes) was about Rudy (Dr. Conti) and had some great interviews with Eric.

Was Don interviewed?

They briefly interviewed a gentleman from Sotheby's (not sure of his name). He was discussing how to tell the difference between an original label and one that has been copied. 99.9% of people wouldn't likely ever notice the difference unless it was pointed out to them.

[JKim (Online)]

Just finished reading your article, Wendy. Great read. Would also love to hear about the details that got edited out.

[wendyrohm]

Thanks for the link, Wendy. Excellent article.

you're welcome, lew..

[wendyrohm]

Just finished reading your article, Wendy. Great read. Would also love to hear about the details that got edited out.

They were things that were not of interest in the general public, technical things that only
wine insiders would appreciate. I will see if I can post some of that material.

[Kevin Shin]

They briefly interviewed a gentleman from Sotheby's (not sure of his name). He was discussing how to tell the difference between an original label and one that has been copied. 99.9% of people wouldn't likely ever notice the difference unless it was pointed out to them.

This is not true at all. The copied labels are usually quite obvious. It is more like some of the buyers didn’t really care to check the basics.

[SteveC]

They briefly interviewed a gentleman from Sotheby's (not sure of his name). He was discussing how to tell the difference between an original label and one that has been copied. 99.9% of people wouldn't likely ever notice the difference unless it was pointed out to them.

This is not true at all. The copied labels are usually quite obvious. It is more like some of the buyers didn’t really care to check the basics.

What should one look for?

[Kevin Shin]

They briefly interviewed a gentleman from Sotheby's (not sure of his name). He was discussing how to tell the difference between an original label and one that has been copied. 99.9% of people wouldn't likely ever notice the difference unless it was pointed out to them.

This is not true at all. The copied labels are usually quite obvious. It is more like some of the buyers didn’t really care to check the basics.

What should one look for?

A laser print label looks different than a press print label, also patina. One that I find tricky is Chateau Lafleur.

[Neal.Mollen]

Greenberg’s expert, Gil Lempert-Schwarz

PLEASE tell me that someone brought a Daubert motion.

Now that is funny!

Ha! Had me laughing out loud at my desk!

[SteveC]

I wish Maureen had told us the retailers to be wary of.

[David Glasser]

Steve, she listed those she trusts. Understandable that she wouldn't want to call out the bad apples in public. But if a shop isn't on her "good guys" list, I'd be wary.

[SteveC]

Agreed David. Maureen, Don and others are helping wine lovers tremendously. I just wish the scoundrels could be better identified and tried. Hopefully, the times they are a changin'

[Stephen Williams]

I've just been adding some Clos St Denis from Ponsot to my CT inventory and noticed listings for 1959, 1962 and 1971 vintages. 8-9 bottles of each. No mention of the source....