The Auswine Forum

I'm sure there's another thread on wine books but i thought id share this one.
I'm currently reading 'Stalin's wine cellar' and it's pretty eye opening/hilarious to say the least.
Maybe some forumites have some background on this story and can perhaps shed some light.
It really is quite astonishing thus far.....

See below recent interview with the author.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K8zEv3n5X4

I was given the book on a bit of a whim and started reading. Struggling to put it down.
If some of you have read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Couldn't agree more - it's the most unputdownable book I've read in yonks - and all wine lovers will swoon for it!

Max Allen's just released book is apparently a cracker too - it's on the bedside table ready to go.

I've just ordered that. Sounds like a pretty wild tale.

I've read Max's book and a couple of others in the past too. It wasn't quite what I expected but it was a really interesting and enjoyable.

There's a new book on Musar. Could be interesting.

There's a new book on Musar. Could be interesting.

Scotty vino wrote:I'm sure there's another thread on wine books but i thought id share this one.
I'm currently reading 'Stalin's wine cellar' and it's pretty eye opening/hilarious to say the least.
Maybe some forumites have some background on this story and can perhaps shed some light.
It really is quite astonishing thus far.....

See below recent interview with the author.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K8zEv3n5X4

I was given the book on a bit of a whim and started reading. Struggling to put it down.
If some of you have read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I got this one for Fathers Day. Haven't delved in yet but looks good. I love books about the great old wine collections - all gone now I suspect.

-- George Krashos

JamieBahrain wrote:There's a new book on Musar. Could be interesting.

Thanks Jamie. Just bought it from the winery website.

via collins wrote:Couldn't agree more - it's the most unputdownable book I've read in yonks - and all wine lovers will swoon for it!

Max Allen's just released book is apparently a cracker too - it's on the bedside table ready to go.

Agree. It arrived on Saturday and I'm 2/3 the way through. Thanks for the recommendation guys!

All these positive responses had me intrigued and I have just ordered the book.
Cheers guys!

But a most unsatisfying ending!

WAwineguy wrote:But a most unsatisfying ending!

Hmm without spoiling it .... i liked the ending.
Looking at how many pages were left against the progress of the story i knew what was coming.
I was waiting for the 'true story' part to come with an asterisk.

Let a few of you catch up and I'll share more of my thoughts on it...

If you were unsatisfied, imagine how John and Kev felt!

I suspect the ending was impinged upon by reality - it does feel like you're in a very wild novel for 90% of the time, reality always a bit of a shock.

Hmmmm. Seems the ending has been given away? Hoax, fraud or myth.

Not in the mood reading about Stalin anyways. Bit close to home at the moment.

Ending not given away at all.

And for a book with Stalin in the title, you'll get next-to-nothing about the big man of evil. You will get lots of Georgian business, ahem, protocols. And some warmth towards Tbilisi.

It's an excellent constructed story that absolutely drips authenticity for wine buffs.

the story about the 187??? chateau d'yquem is worth reading. You can't make this stuff up.
Oh its the real the deal, verified by the Chateau themselves when the author pays them a visit with bottle (kind of) in hand.
The ending is irrelevant if im honest. It's more the story, the wines and the crazy stuff that happens in between.

Just finished the book. Thoroughly enjoyed it – “a rollicking good read”!

I also recommend:

The Billionaire's Vinegar
he Billionaire's Vinegar, now a New York Times bestseller, tells the true story of a 1787 ChOteau Lafite Bordeaux-supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson-that sold for $156,000 at auction and of the eccentrics whose lives intersected with it. Was it truly entombed in a Paris cellar for two hundred years? Or did it come from a secret Nazi bunker? Or from the moldy basement of a devilishly brilliant con artist? As Benjamin Wallace unravels the mystery, we meet a gallery of intriguing players-from the bicycle-riding British auctioneer who speaks of wines as if they are women to the obsessive wine collector who discovered the bottle. Suspenseful and thrillingly strange, this is the vintage tale of what could be the most elaborate con since the Hitler diaries.


And I think the following (the title doesn’t sound familiar – but I know I have read a book about Rudy Kurniawan so it must be this one….)

In Vino Duplicitas: The Rise and Fall of a Wine Forger Extraordinaire
In 2002, Rudy Kurniawan, an unknown twentysomething, burst into the privileged world of ultrafine wines. Blessed with a virtuoso palate, and with a seemingly limitless supply of coveted bottles, Kurniawan quickly became the leading purveyor of rare wines to the American elite. But in April 2008, at a New York auction house, dozens of Kurniawan's trophy bottles were abruptly pulled from sale. Journalist Peter Hellman was there, and he began to investigate: Were the bottles fake? Were there others? And was Kurniawan himself a dupe . . . or had he ensnared the world's top winemakers, sellers, and drinks in a web of deceit?

OK I'm sold. Will download now. I'm in 48 hour quarantine so I'll have a read.




Soldiers stripped their tanks and trucks of everything that was not essential, tossing out clothes, tools, even extra ammunition, to make room for the new cargo. Some of the men emptied their canteens and refilled them with such legendary greats as Latour ’29, Mouton ’34 and Lafite ’37.

I do love fine wine in history. I visited Eagle's Nest where Goering kept his stolen cellar. Half a million bottle of fine wine ( stolen of course ).

I’m a bit late to the party, but ordered Stalin’s Wine Cellar last week - it arrived on Sat morning & I finished it that night (with some help from a Teusner Shiraz).

It’s a great read, and there’s enough photos in the book & online to show that most of it actually happened... but I’d love to have some more detail from anyone who knows further!

JamieBahrain wrote:There's a new book on Musar. Could be interesting.

JamieBahrain wrote:There's a new book on Musar. Could be interesting.

Thanks Jamie, you made me buy it twice.

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conver ... e/12768100

abbreviated version of the story...

Have a copy of Stalin's Wine Cellar that I'm planning to get into over Christmas, along with A Beer in the Loire.

There's a new(ish) podcast which is part of the Somm franchise called "Reading and Drinking". Finding the host a little irritating, but overall the content is pretty interesting. I'm 2 episodes in - Covered Flawless (by Jamie Goode) and 99 Bottles (by Andre Mack) so far, neither of which I have ready yet.

Noble Rot Book: Wine From Another Galaxy.

JamieBahrain wrote:There's a new book on Musar. Could be interesting.

Santa delivered a copy. Well put together. It’s a must for any Musar fan.

my first crack at Kermit Lynch's book 'Adventures on the Wine Route'.
Amazing to find this book refreshing considering I'm reading the 25th anni. edition.
Love his take on blind tasting early on.

Just started “Wine Reads”by Jay McInerney.

I like the opening line where Quintarelli recommends drinking his Amarone in isolation, without food interfering in its appreciation. Bravo! Been saying this for years and copped the odd dressing down in presenting some of the great wines of the world without food.

Anyways. Looking good so far this book. If anyone wants it happy to post it on free of charge.

[quote="Benchmark"]Noble Rot Book: Wine From Another Galaxy.[/quote]

It's a beautiful book, I enjoy the magazine, and I used to eat / drink at their restaurant back in London.

But I cannot get over how annoying I find the fact that their recipes don't include lists of ingredients - almost as if they don't expect anyone to actually ever cook them!

[quote="Scotty vino"]my first crack at Kermit Lynch's book 'Adventures on the Wine Route'.
Amazing to find this book refreshing considering I'm reading the 25th anni. edition.
Love his take on blind tasting early on.[/quote]

Loved this book - and also worth reading Neal Rosenthal's book, in a similar vein (I've sought out wines he wrote about them, and mostly have been incredible).