Laywheeler
A homeowner in China is hoping that the “finders keepers” law is real after discovering 10,000 bottles of Chateau Lafite Rothschild in the long abandoned house. The value of the find could be near $16 million.
The owner of the house has no clue how the wine got there. Likely story, but unfortunately the police suspect things aren’t on the up and up.
there are only 50,000 bottles of genuine Chateau Lafite Rothschild imported into China each year, police believe it may be a fake stash and are now searching for the illicit workshop where it may have been produced.
You don’t say! You mean people don’t just leave $16 mil in wine lying around the house? I’m shocked. Sure, you occasionally hear about some insane whiskey discovery, but it’s usually a couple cases hidden in some secret underground cellar of a rich and powerful person. 833 cases seems a bit extreme to just happen upon in the hall closet.
My question is, what happens to the wine? If it truly is counterfeit, it’s probably still pretty decent. You’d figure you couldn’t just put swill in a bottle because the jig would be up before you could sell enough to turn a profit. If they determine it is fake, hopefully the owner can convince them to just destroy the labels and keep the wine intact. That’s enough stomped grape to last a lifetime.
10,000 bottles of red wine found [Telegraph UK]