Thursday, May 19, 2011

Sommeliers Diss Madoff Wine Collecting Tastes

From DealBook:

At This Event, the Drinks Are on Bernie Madoff
...“It almost looks like he’s one of the fellows who know the price of everything and the value of nothing,” said Darrin Siegfried, president of Sommelier Society of America. “This was not a collector. This was an accumulator. That’s the sense I get when I look at this wine selection.”

Dan Amatuzzi, the beverage director at the gourmet grocer Eataly and winner of the Zagat 30 under 30 Award, concurred. He called the collection respectable, but somewhat limited in scope. Wines from 1997 appear throughout the list, which some consider to be one of the best years for wine in the last century. Mr. Madoff also had a strong French portfolio, Mr. Amatuzzi said.

“He was probably buying on name, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” Mr. Amatuzzi said. “It looks like he buys on value. He probably quantified these wines as he may a stock or bond.”...
Not that there's anything wrong with that.