Friday, October 12, 2007

GOOD ENOUGH TO FOOL MAURICE J. MINNIFIELD: Forgive me if someone already put this up, but frequent commentator Mr. Heger -- on an issue about which he is considerably more passionate than his interest in climate change, as noted in the comments to a thread below -- sent along this article from the New Yorker, about the provenance of certain Thomas Jefferson-owned wine, wine forgeries, and the world of really high-end tastings.

Also, this passage struck me as odd:

"There are two types of wine counterfeiters: those who do not tamper with what is inside the bottle and those who do. Because the price of a great vintage of fine wine often dwarfs the price of an indifferent one, many forgers will start with a genuine bottle of, say, 1980 Pétrus and simply replace the label with one from 1982. (The ’82 vintage is especially coveted and expensive.) With a good scanner and a color printer, labels are easy to replicate—one former auctioneer I spoke with called it “desktop publishing.” "

Note that the quotes there are in the original. "Desktop Publishing." WTF? It's as if desktop publishing is some secret thing here, previously unknown to the New Yorker audience. Or, perhaps, this is an editing tick at the New Yorker, like their consistent use of the diaresis? "I toured the pits of the Kane County Motor Speedway and found Jack Oliver fine tuning a machine that uses the exaust gases of the engine to help power the engine -- the fellow at the Kettle Corn booth called it a "turbocharger." "

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