Wine Blast PLUS with Susie and Peter

The Story of The Billionaire's Vinegar - Part 1


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Picture the scene. Christie's auction house, London, December 1985. A dapper auctioneer is expertly tantalising the stellar audience with a bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite engraved with the initials of US founding father Thomas Jefferson. It duly becomes the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold, going for £105,000 ($156,000). 

But it's what happens next that is the really intriguing bit...

Welcome to a new kind of narrative Wine Blast episode, where we're joined by best-selling author Benjamin Wallace, whose book The Billionaire's Vinegar is the inspiration for this compelling story. 

He brings to life the key protagonists, from Jefferson to Christie's auctioneer Michael Broadbent, US billionaire Bill Koch and German wine collector Hardy Rodenstock. All the while building the rich and eye-opening plot around what he calls, 'the mystery of the world's most expensive bottle of wine.'

And as for how the 'vinegar' comes into the story...you'll just have to listen to find out. And in the next and concluding part, we hear how the story ends - including what's happened since the book was published. Don't miss it!

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Wine Blast PLUS with Susie and PeterBy Susie and Peter, Masters of Wine