Sour Grapes

450 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:20,600 and when I asked him about it, he said that he bought so much fake wine 451 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:22,880 that he'd had to become an expert on it. 452 00:28:23,360 --> 00:28:25,080 No, they won't tell you if there's something wrong with it, 453 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:27,480 but sometimes if they doubt the bottle, they put the picture of it, 454 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:28,760 -so you be the judge. -Okay. 455 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:31,760 Look at the picture, you want it, you take it, you know. 456 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,280 Is there anybody out there looking at conditions and... 457 00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:38,360 Tell them about Acker auctions. 458 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,200 Acker's great man, we love John. 459 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:49,040 He and John Kapon were meticulously going through all of his wines 460 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:51,600 to catalogue everything and sell some off. 461 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:59,840 John Kapon was the son of a very nice family-run wine store in Manhattan. 462 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,240 Shopping for anything during the holidays can be simply maddening, 463 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,640 and shopping for wine is no exception. 464 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,560 I'm here at Acker Merrall and Condit, 465 00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:11,440 the oldest wine store in America, located in New York City. 466 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:13,480 Acker Merrall wasn't a big house, 467 00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:17,640 they were a store that got into the auction world 468 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:19,720 and then Rudy really made them. 469 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:24,880 John really turned it into a fun thing. 470 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,240 He was the first one to like, break it out. 471 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:32,240 It was like a giant crazy party with an auction. 472 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:37,920 At the same time he was doing that, Rudy came along, with this incredible cellar 473 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,160 and they kind of helped each other. 474 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:51,280 When Rudy was drinking California Merlot, 475 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:54,640 Acker Merrall & Condit was in last place of all the auction houses. 476 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:59,840 When Rudy sold $35 million worth of wine through Acker Merrall & Condit 477 00:29:59,920 --> 00:30:02,080 in two sales in 2006, 478 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:05,320 Acker Merrall became the number one auction house in the world. 479 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,440 He is the CEO of Acker Merrall & Condit. 480 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:12,040 This year he has auctioned off more than $100 million, 481 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:14,360 the first wine house to do so. 482 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:18,200 John Kapon, joining me, so you can't whine about that revenue, right? 483 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:19,320 Get it, "whine." 484 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:20,960 John, you're going to leave now, aren't you? All right. 485 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:23,400 Well, it's been a pretty crazy year... 486 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:26,640 "There's not much that can be said about this collection 487 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:30,720 "outside of the fact, it is one of America's greatest. 488 00:30:30,800 --> 00:30:34,200 "This is a collector that actually inspects his wine." 489 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:37,280 To see all the magnificent wines in there, 490 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:41,240 I said, "Man, this is a wine collector's dream." 491 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:44,640 I felt like maybe I ought to buy the whole bloody cellar. 492 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:49,000 You know, the auction is a complex transaction. 493 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:51,400 I mean, you get a catalogue, it's 300 pages long 494 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:52,880 and you have two weeks to make up your mind. 495 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:54,960 You may win, you may not win. Some people... 496 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,280 They were selling massive amounts of wine, 497 00:30:57,360 --> 00:31:00,840 and, you know, I don't know how John could have inspected every single bottle 498 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:04,240 when he's selling $30 million worth of wine. 499 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:12,080 The fakers like to fake the very hard to find, 500 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:14,520 very old wines 'cause you give them a much higher price. 501 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:20,480 One night my bulldog investigator, Brad Goldstein, 502 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:26,520 found that I had just paid 25,000 for one 1921 magnum of Petrus. 503 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:31,520 In 1921 Petrus made no magnums. 504 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:33,400 You gotta go, big guy. 505 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:37,120 You gotta go. You wanna go, you wanna go get Mommy? 506 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:40,640 Come on. Come on. Come on. 507 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:47,520 Bill kept saying