Wine
Taste-Testing Wine Seized from Bernie Madoff’s Private Collection
On the anniversary of Bernard Madoff's arrest, a selection of wines seized from his estate is presented for a tasting. Which do you choose?
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Drinking a Bordeaux from Bernard Madoff’s wine collection is a portentous event.
I’m in the Gramercy Park apartment of noted wine writer and educator Mark Oldman. On the counter in front of us is a selection of premium wines. Among them are a 1970 Chateau Palmer Margaux with an elegant, faded black-and-gold label; an imposing ’64 Cheval Blanc Grand Cru; and a pristine looking ’83 Taittinger Champagne. They’re pretty remarkable wines in and of themselves, but what grabs your attention are the labels tied around the bottles' necks. From a distance, they look like little gift cards. Look closer, and you see scribbled annotations such as, ‘Item 1, downstairs bedroom on right.’ Most telling are the initials that appear on each tag: FBI.