A renowned wine dealer was convicted on Wednesday of defrauding some of the country’s wealthiest by selling bottles of purportedly rare and sought-after vintages that were counterfeit products of his own kitchen alchemy: mixing old bottles of wine and creating bogus labels.The dealer, Rudy Kurniawan, 37, was a fixture on the rare wine scene for years, after developing a reputation as a wine lover with an impeccable palate and unmatched cellar. At his peak, in the mid-2000s, he spent millions of dollars a year on wine and sold bottles for many millions more; prosecutors said Mr. Kurniawan used his counterfeit scheme to make millions of dollars.In an eight-day trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan, in which prosecutors showed jurors fake wine labels, new corks and other items that they said were tools of Mr. Kurniawan’s trade, the jurors returned a guilty verdict after less than two hours of deliberation. Mr. Kurniawan was also convicted of a second count of fraud, for securing a $3 million loan using his wine and art collections as collateral when he had already pledged them as collateral for another loan.Mr. Kurniawan displayed no reaction to hearing the verdict.

In a business where the product itself is shrouded in dark glass and doubts about authenticity are endemic, Mr. Kurniawan was able to convince the world’s leading wine enthusiasts, including the billionaire William I. Koch, that the bottles he peddled were genuine. He sold $35 million in wine in 2006 alone.best white wine not dry But prosecutors said his buyers started asking questions about the bottles’ provenance.how much does a small glass of wine costA 1947 Burgundy lacked the “unctuousness” one would expect from a great wine. the best red wine kitsAnd the 1961 Petrus seemed “a little young.” how much does new age wine cost

There was concern that the corks were a little too new and the sudden availability of such rare wines was a little too good to believe. Much of the evidence against Mr. Kurniawan came from a raid of his home outside of Los Angeles. Prosecutors said it was a winemaking factory, kept so cold that his mother, who lived with him, warmed her bedroom with a space heater. best wine tasting bars nycThere were bottles on a treadmill, bottles soaking in the sink, bottles stacked against the wall. beer and wine are fineHis computer contained files with scanned images of old wine labels.best books italian wine One prosecution witness, Aubert de Villaine, the head of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, a vineyard in Burgundy, France, that has been in his family for years, testified that he had never seen so many labels of old vintages from his vineyard. best wine to give as a present

He said there were only 600 bottles ever produced of 1945 Romanée-Conti. Prosecutors found a stack of new-looking labels for the vintage in Mr. Kurniawan’s home.A lawyer for Mr. Kurniawan, Jerome H. Mooney, said Mr. Kurniawan was disappointed by the verdict and planned to appeal. Mr. Mooney said throughout the trial that the fine wine market was rife with counterfeits, and that Mr. Kurniawan, a citizen of Indonesia born to Chinese parents, was singled out.“best wine in australia 2014It was almost a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ thing going on within the industry,” Mr. Mooney said. “I’m not sure that this sends a message to the contrary,” he added, referring to the verdict.Mr. Kurniawan, who faces up to 20 years in prison, is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24. Mr. Mooney said the calculation based on federal sentencing guidelines would depend largely on the valuation of the counterfeit wine Mr. Kurniawan sold.

“If it’s $30 million, that makes it look like one thing,” he said. “If it’s a million, that’s another.” Most orders are shipped within 24–48 hours of ordering Where do we ship? What are the shipping rates? Special Shipping Rates: Manhattan & New York State, California, Connecticut, New Jersey We ship wine accessories to all 50 states. We ship wine to all states except Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Washington State. We ship wine to the state of New Hampshire. New Hampshire imposes an 8% surcharge on all wine orders going into the state. This charge will be added to all New Hampshire orders. We ship spirits within New York State only. Express shipping is available on wine shipments to the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, We cannot deliver to P.O Boxes. For standard, non-scheduled delivery, shipping and handling rates will vary.

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