Slate.com does a bang up investigation into alleged wine counterfeiting. The short version reads like this; Flashy dirtbags befriend Robert Parker, who then talks up fake wines bought by gullible billionaires, so yeah, a pretty much victimless crime. Here’s a wine buying tip, if your purveyor refers to ‘61 Latour as “Kinky Juice!”, you should probably buy elsewhere. I for one fully support the redistribution of wealth from billionaire oilmen to dodgy characters straight out of a Mordecai Richler novel. If you need further proof, Bill Koch, the named victim is a dickhead extraordinaire due his support of The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. The irony of an oilman (oilmen, they’re the new bankers! Thanks BP.) supporting an environmental initiative is Carl Hiaasen-esque in it’s irony.
Read the full article here.
And a quick post script; the next time someone complains that the death of daily fishwrap being dropped at the front door also means an end to good investigative journalism, point them to this piece as proof of their Chicken Little thinking.
~KT
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“I’ve got magnums of Porny Juice for sale!” Hmmm, does not look like I’ve got a future in high end wine marketing in my future. It’s a great piece from Slate, but to be fair, it is not an example of the triumph of new media reporting. Slate is owned, and most likely, supported and subsidized by the venerable Washington Post.