The World of Counterfeit Wines

For wine sommelier Katie Stillwell being invited to taste a $19,000 bottle of wine is a once in a lifetime event. In Uncorking a Lie by Nadine Nettmann, the title lets you know where this book is going. With one taste Katie recognizes this wine is not what it is purported to be.

Her host Paul Rafferty has held the 1975 Chateau Clair Bleu wine in high esteem because of its sentimental value to him. With his motley assortment of guests surrounding the dinner table, Paul asks Katie to open and decant the bottle.  As Katie looks at the wine she realizes the color is different than what she expected. It is darker, stronger and does not taste the way it should. One thing she knows for sure, this is not a 1975 Chateau Clair Bleu. A wine that was over 40 years old would not be fruit forward and would probably be fading in the rim color.

Katie confides in Cooper, Rafferty's assistant, about the wine and

he says there is a second bottle from the same dealer in the wine cellar. When Katie discovers Cooper unconscious deep in the wine cellar, she fears this wasn't an accident. When Rafferty asks her to investigate the counterfeit wine and the death of Cooper, Katie dives in.

Here investigation leads to a web of counterfeit wines and murder.

I like the wine pairings suggestions at the top of each chapter heading and learning about wines from someone with more expertise has been fun. The counterfeiting of wines appears to be a widespread problem and if collectors are only collecting and not drinking, it becomes harder to discover the counterfeits.

For other books by Nadine Nettmann, click here.