UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Wine, Fraud and Expertise
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE Wine, Fraud and Expertise THESIS submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in Social Ecology by Valerie King Thesis Committee: Professor Simon Cole, Chair Assistant Professor Bryan Sykes Professor George Tita 2015 © 2019 Valerie King TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT iv INTRODUCTION 1 I. FINE WINE AND COLLECTOR FRAUD 4 II. WINE, SUBJECTIVITY AND SCIENCE 20 III. WHO IS A WINE FRAUD EXPERT? 23 CONCLUSION 28 REFERENCES 30 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my committee members, Professor Simon Cole, Assistant Professor Bryan Sykes and Professor George Tita. iii ABSTRACT Wine, Fraud and Expertise By Valerie King Master of Arts in Social Ecology University of California, Irvine, 2019 Professor Simon Cole, Chair While fraud has existed in various forms throughout the history of wine, the establishment of the fine and rare wine market generated increased opportunities and incentives for producing counterfeit wine. In the contemporary fine and rare wine market, wine fraud is a serious concern. The past several decades witnessed significant events of fine wine forgery, including the infamous Jefferson bottles and the more recent large-scale counterfeit operation orchestrated by Rudy Kurniawan. These events prompted and renewed market interest in wine authentication and fraud detection. Expertise in wine is characterized by the relationship between subjective and objective judgments. The development of the wine fraud expert draws attention to the emergence of expertise as an industry response to wine fraud and the relationship between expert judgment and modern science. iv INTRODUCTION In December 1985, at Christie’s of London, a single bottle of 1787 Château Lafitte Bordeaux, was auctioned for $156,000, setting a record for the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold (Wallace 2008).
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