On December 5th, 1985, a record was broken at the Christie’s auction house in London. A dark green, hand blown bottle, hand etched bottle etched with the year 1787 and with the word “Lafitte” and the letters “TH.J.” was sold for $157,000.
Hardy Rodenstock had been the one to bring the bottles to Christies and to be credited with discovering this collection along with many other rarities throughout the years. This sale awarded him one of the most renowned names in premium wine and was the beginning of his lucrative career as a wine dealer. Hardy Rodenstock conducted numerous wine tastings throughout the years with members of the wine press, as well as with other well known figures in the wine trade, such as Christies wine auctioneer, Michael Broadbent, wine critic Robert Parker and wine writer Jancis Robinson.
He made a fortune over the years selling “one of a kind” bottles, but always kept his sources very close to his chest and always had an excuse as to why he could not disclose more about the sources of his bottles, such as wanting to protect tax evaders or protecting information from competitors. He also partnered with George Riedel to develop a series of Rodenstock glassware, and even put his name on a line of cigars. He became quite a celebrity.
The controversy began when a German friend of Rodenstock who had privately bought one of the Jefferson bottles became suspicious. He sent one of the bottles to lab and the results showed that some of the wine in the bottle was from 1963. Rodenstock denied the accusations. The press and wine experts stood by him.
Over time, the scandal may have been forgotten if it wasn’t for a billionaire named Bill Koch who had purchased four of the famous Jefferson bottles in the 1980’s. Koch ended spending over 1 million dollars on the investigation while uncovering lies about Rodenstock past and finding a basement that is believed to have been used to prepare bottles of wine. He also found that the engravings were made with a modern tool that would have not existed during Jefferson’s time.
Rodenstock dismissed the accusations and avoided the suit claiming the Koch did not have jurisdiction over him. The New York court initially agreed with him but Koch was now able to re open the law suit by making some additional legal arguments. This astonishing story remains a mystery although the truth about the Jefferson bottles has been uncovered. Since then, many questions about fake and precious bottles have come up. In May, 2008, Benjamin Wallace published “The Billionaires Vinegar” which also tells this story in great detail and paints a picture of how the events occurred and its characters. There is also a scheduled movie release about the story in 2010. By then, maybe we’ll have full closure! The irony of this is that if the owners of the bottles had never questioned its origins, they would have probably retained their value forever.
Click here for an in-depth article about the Jefferson wines, written by Patrick Radeen Keefe for the New Yorker Magazine. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/09/03/070903fa_fact_keefe?