Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks

The “most expensive bottle of wine ever sold at auction” (1) was believed to be from the private collection of Thomas Jefferson, due to the initials carved on it. The wine expert at auction house Christie’s of London attested to the wine’s quality and age.

Bottles from Jefferson’s collection soon became important collectibles. One collector is Fred Koch, the son of the founder of Koch Industries, who became a wealthy businessman in his own right. When Koch sought more documentation of his putative 1787 Jefferson bottle prior to a public exhibition of his various material and cultural acquisitions, he consulted with the Monticello estate and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which were unable to verify the bottle’s provenance.

Keefe first meets Koch at his large mansion in West Palm Beach, Florida. Koch is an enthusiastic collector of art and cultural objects who became a wine devotee after health problems left him unable to consume other alcohol. Keefe notes that Koch is particularly fond of lawsuits to redress his grievances. Koch was outraged to discover his 1787 bottle was a scam, semi-angrily telling Keefe, “it’s a fun puzzle” (4) to understand how the fake wine came into being.

Koch’s mystery develops in a time when counterfeit vintages are increasing in prevalence. His investigations lead to German wine connoisseur Hardy Rodenstock, who presents himself as the scion of a wealthy family and a former academic specializing in old wines due to his devotion to older plant stocks that have not survived to the present. In addition to hosting private tastings, Rodenstock sets himself up as one of the industry’s great detectives, finding not only the Jefferson bottles, but also lost collections of the Russian tsars. The Christie’s wine expert frequently attends Rodenstock’s events, and Bill Koch recalls that they met briefly in 2000, though Rodenstock avoided a discussion of the Jefferson stock.

Koch enlists retired FBI agent Jim Elroy, who enjoys the prospect of an investigation with near-limitless resources. Elroy soon learns that Monticello historians expressed doubts about the wine collection prior to the 1985 Christie’s auction, since Rodenstock would not explain where the bottles were found, claiming to be affronted at Monticello’s request for evidence. When another collector, Hans Frericks, found that he could not resell his own Jefferson bottle for lack of proof of its origins, he sent it for scientific testing and sued Rodenstock when the wine was definitively shown to be modern, as it contained high levels of a radioactive isotope only found in significant quantity after 1945.

Elroy’s investigative team finds that Rodenstock’s biography is also an invention: He is not a German noble and had never held a university post, among other deceptions. Elroy begins to suspect that Rodenstock is an expert at creating his own forgeries. Keefe explains that some forgers simply create false bottles and labels, while others mix unique wine blends to pass off as genuine. They often succeed because collectors rarely open their finds. Some academic studies suggest that assessments of wine are strongly influenced by descriptions—a fine wine passed off as ordinary will be rated lower than a low-quality one that is labeled a sophisticated variety.

Elroy hopes that laboratory testing for a different radioactive isotope would yield the proof he needs, but the evidence is not sufficient. One day he realizes that the bottle he holds has “an engraving…a tool mark. This was done with a tool.” Laboratory testing proves that the bottle’s engraving was done with modern methods, not those of Jefferson’s time.

Based on this, Koch files a lawsuit against Rodenstock in August of 2006. Michael Broadbent, the Christie’s wine expert, maintains his original claim about the bottles’ age. Keefe views this as a maneuver to protect his reputation and that of his employer. The full extent of Rodenstock’s fraud is unknown, though his presence in the industry has been mentioned in other lawsuits. One wine expert who surveyed Koch’s collection was deeply skeptical about Rodenstock’s apparently magical ability to find rare bottles. Another admitted that Rodenstock’s wines he had previously vouched for taste “wonderful” (20), leading Keefe to speculate that Rodenstock’s mixing skills may explain why he went undetected.

In his denial of the allegations, Rodenstock focuses on small details rather than the essence of the problem: He disputes Koch’s own credibility and that of his experts rather than showing proof of the bottles’ provenance. Koch hopes that his criminal case might lead to further reforms and crackdowns on counterfeit vintages.

Keefe concludes by pondering the nature of passion—how could it lead so many to believe in a fraudulent wine cache? Koch admits that he has gained a kind of prize: His now-notorious fakes carry social cachet of their own. In a brief afterword, Keefe explains that Rodenstock died in 2018 and that Koch “happily” (24) continues his pursuit of wine fraudsters.