Sour Grapes (documentary)
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''Sour Grapes'' is an American crime documentary about
wine fraud Wine fraud relates to the commercial aspects of wine. The most prevalent type of fraud is one where wines are adulterated, usually with the addition of cheaper products (e.g. juices) and sometimes with harmful chemicals and sweeteners (compensati ...
ster
Rudy Kurniawan Rudy Kurniawan (born 10 October 1976, in Jakarta, Indonesia) is an Indonesian convicted criminal and perpetrator of wine fraud. He was found to be offering more magnums of the limited edition 1947 Château Lafleur than had been produced, and h ...
. Filmmakers Jerry Rothwell and Reuben Atlas debuted the documentary at film festivals in October 2016 and on
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the following month.


Premise

A documentary about the fine and rare wine auction market centering around a counterfeiter who befriended the rich and powerful and sold millions of dollars of fraudulent wine through the top auction houses.


Cast

In alphabetical order; credits adapted from
IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, p ...
* Arthur Sarkissian * Bill Koch – businessman and collector * Brad Goldstein – Bill Koch's spokesperson * Corie Brown – food and wine writer, Zester Daily * David Fredston – private equity investor, Sole Source Capital * Don Cornwell – lawyer and burgundy wine expert * Eddie Tansil – wanted Indonesian embezzler (archive footage), Kurniawan's uncle. * James Wynne – FBI agent specialized in counterfeit goods (as Jim Wynne) * Jason Hernandez – prosecutor in the Rudy Kurniawan case *
Jay McInerney John Barrett "Jay" McInerney Jr. (; born January 13, 1955) is an American novelist, screenwriter, editor, and columnist. His novels include '' Bright Lights, Big City'', ''Ransom'', '' Story of My Life'', ''Brightness Falls'', and ''The Last of ...
– novelist and wine columnist *
Jefery Levy Jefery Levy (born May 21, 1958) is an American film and television director, producer, and writer, based in Beverly Hills, California. Career In 1985, while a graduate student at UCLA, Levy wrote and produced the low-budget hit ''Ghoulies'', a h ...
– Jef Levy * Jerome Mooney – Rudy Kurniawan's defense attorney (as Jerry Mooney) * John Kapon – wine merchant and auctioneer (archive footage) * Laurent Ponsot – wine producer in Burgundy, France * Maureen Downey – wine consultant * Rajat Parr – sommelier *
Rudy Kurniawan Rudy Kurniawan (born 10 October 1976, in Jakarta, Indonesia) is an Indonesian convicted criminal and perpetrator of wine fraud. He was found to be offering more magnums of the limited edition 1947 Château Lafleur than had been produced, and h ...
– convicted wine counterfeiter (archive footage) * Vincent Veridiamo – Rudy Kurniawan's defense attorney


Synopsis

Rudy Kurniawan Rudy Kurniawan (born 10 October 1976, in Jakarta, Indonesia) is an Indonesian convicted criminal and perpetrator of wine fraud. He was found to be offering more magnums of the limited edition 1947 Château Lafleur than had been produced, and h ...
was a rich Indonesian wine collector with a fascination for
Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The ...
, and he spent millions of dollars on wine and also sold countless bottles of fake wine. Acker Merrall & Condit, an auction company, broke records by selling worth of Kurniawan's wines in 2006 (equivalent to about $M in ). In 2008, the firm held a sale at a Manhattan restaurant, promising the wines would be authenticated by "some of Burgundy's most discerning connoisseurs." Included were alleged bottles of Domaine Ponsot Clos Saint-Denis from the years 1945, 1949 and 1966, but an estate proprietor revealed that that particular wine had not been produced until 1982. In 2012, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
raided Kurniawan's house in Arcadia, Los Angeles and discovered his
wine fraud Wine fraud relates to the commercial aspects of wine. The most prevalent type of fraud is one where wines are adulterated, usually with the addition of cheaper products (e.g. juices) and sometimes with harmful chemicals and sweeteners (compensati ...
, whereby he collected empty bottles and refilled them with cheaper wine and then forged the labels. In 2014, he became the first person in the United States to be convicted of the crime, and was given a ten-year sentence by a New York federal judge. Kurniawan declined to be interviewed for the documentary.


Reviews

''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...
'' stated the filmmakers "thoroughly and concisely detailed the progression of Kurniawan’s fraud in a style that merges an ''Antiques Roadshow''-style fascination with rare wines with a ''Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous''-type fixation on the spending habits of the overly affluent."


References

{{Reflist} 2016 films American documentary films Documentary films about wine 2010s English-language films 2010s American films