Though I rarely spend more than $15 on a bottle of wine (which would be complete and utter swill to these guys), I really enjoyed this look into the world of rare and old wines. The story centers around a cache of bottles found somewhere (exact origins are rather vague) in Europe that have the initials Th.J on them. Eureka! Bottles owned by Thomas Jefferson. Doubt is almost immediately raised, and yet, no one can prove definitively one way or the other, and it seems that folks are attracted more to the could be side than the definitely not. The book that follows is a character study of the man who discovered the bottles, the people that buy them, and those that continue to question if they're real. It's also an exploration of the old/rare wine market and how common forgery is. But no one wants to know for sure, since for years, any scientific testing would destroy the wine.

I did get tired of the many lists of wines, since these aren't exactly wines I'm familiar with. And how am I supposed to remember that one of these old wines is considered terrible and the other great? I honestly kept thinking of Sark in Alias ordering a Chateau Petrus and giggling a little. The ending is less than satisfying, but I think much of that is because the master con man in all of this has still not really confessed and people are still defending him. Definitely not a neat little package, but then real life rarely is.

Highly recommended, especially for people who like wine or crazy collectors.