A very expensive way to toast

October 22nd, 2007 | Published in Uncategorized

Back in 1985, a bottle of wine was sold at auction for 150,000 pounds. It was the priciest bottle ever put to the gavel because it was an 18th century vintage Thomas Jefferson once owned. Christopher Forbes, the successful bidder, said scoring the bottle was, “more fun than the opera glasses Lincoln was holding when he was shot. And we have those too.”

But only so much fun, because then some experts concluded that the bottles didn’t belong to Thomas Jefferson.

Of course.

This story was one of my favourites from the recent New Yorker Food Issue. The rest of the article is about Forbes trying to find out who stiffed him into buying these Jefferson knock-offs, so he can take them down. Some wine buffs take their plonk very very seriously.

Tags: New Yorker, wine

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About

Hi, I'm Lee Tran Lam. When not blogging with my mouth full, I'm usually writing, presenting Local Fidelity on FBi radio, making zines, producing podcasts or continually breaking promises about how I really am gonna get through my book pile one day.

All the good pictures on this blog are by photography ace (and patient boyfriend), Will Reichelt, (all the dodgy ones can be credited to me)!

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This is a blog I do for pure fun and zero influence – there's no sponsorship, sneaky advertorial or advertising. I pay for all the food mentioned, 'cos it seems the ethical thing to do.