Benjamin Wallace Savors the “Vinegar”

While reading wine writer Jancis Robinson's memoir, “Tasting Pleasure: Confessions of a Wine Lover” in 2000, Benjamin Wallace found himself returning to the same few pages. They described a mystery surrounding the bottle of wine that supposedly once belonged to Thomas Jefferson and sold at auction in 1985 for $156,000.
There were questions surrounding the wine’s authenticity, and many major players in the rare wine industry were involved, yet Wallace, a journalist, had never heard the story. Intrigued both by the mystery and by the fact that no one had written about it at length, Wallace realized he'd found the subject for his first book.
Three years after submitting his proposal, Wallace sold the idea to a publisher and spent the next year and a half researching and writing around the world.
Many of the characters central to the story were open to meeting with him. The interviews gave Wallace a glimpse at the glamorous world of rare wines. He recalled a meeting with one of his favorite people connected to the mystery, Christie's of London auctioneer and wine taster/writer Michael Broadbent.
"He took me to his private club for lunch. Now, he drinks champagne every morning for breakfast. I do not. Over the course of the lunch we had champagne, white wine, red wine and a digestif. He was perfectly fine, but as we were leaving I walked into an electric utility box."
“The Billionaire’s Vinegar” was published last May to great acclaim and Wallace has been referred to as a "young writer on the rise."
One unexpected bonus of the book's success is that he's been forced to work through his public speaking phobia at readings. A second, more exciting result is that the film rights for “The Billionaire's Vinegar” have been optioned by a group of producers that includes actor Will Smith.
Parts of Wallace's own life story could be movie-worthy. While a student at Georgetown, he joined Students for Czechoslovakia just after the revolution and collapse of the Communist government there. Through the group he traveled to Czechoslovakia in 1990 and ended up working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, proofing documents translated into English. "At the time, it was such a frontier place, if you came from the West you were treated like a celebrity," Wallace said. “I had friends who were barely out of college and were hired as advisors to Finance officials. People with no qualifications got great jobs. It was great for us, but probably not for the government."
Wallace, who just turned 40, isn't resting on his laurels. He's currently freelancing for GQ magazine, hoping one of his stories will become his next great book idea.
Benjamin Wallace will discuss the mystery, and read from “The Billionaire's Vinegar” Friday, October 3, at 7:30 p.m. at The Rye Free Reading Room.