#2: Where in the world is Rudy Kurniawan?

Possible locations and endless theories!

Anyone knows me IRL knows that my absolutely favourite person in the entire wine industry (if he can be considered as such), is the infamous, convicted wine forger, Rudy Kurniawan. I learned about Rudy when I was working my first wine job at an auction house and the more I learned about it, a Pandora’s box of wine’s dirtiest secrets seemed to have been opened. Young, idealistic me got my little mind blown about how dark this industry could be. He has been released since 7 November 2020.¹

From the Drinks Business.

Who is Rudy?

To summarise, Rudy Kurniawan is an Indonesian national who was active in the American wine scene in the early 2000s, notorious for his obscene wine spending and his relative youth. He claimed to be supported by family money in Indonesia. He got close with a wine group of prominent collectors and industry figures called the Angry Men. He became increasingly well known through his major consignments with Acker, Merrill & Conduit in 2006. Doubts about the authenticity of his wines rose with his consignment of Le Pin 1982 magnums at Christies in 2007, where representatives of Le Pin said the bottles were fake and they were eventually withdrawn from sale. It all came to a head when he tried to auction historical vintages of Domaine Ponsot’s Clos St. Denis, which did not existed prior to 1982, leading to Lauren Ponsot, then head of the domaine, to come in person to NYC to stop the sale.²

His worst mistake was not sell fake wine but to fuck over a rich guy and sold him fake wine, by the name of William Koch. Bill Koch, as he is known, is the son of Fred C. Koch, founder of Koch Industries, and brother of David and Charles, who I know as funders the Tea Party. A.k.a. he is worth a shit ton of money, something to the tune of $1.6 billion USD.³ You and I both know, that if you fuck over the little peeple like you and me, you get at most a slap on the wrist fine (look at Epstein getting away with years of exploiting underage girls from the shit side of Palm Beach! Bernie Madoff stealing other rich people’s money? Immediate incarceration of 150 years!). Anyway you catch my drift, don’t fuck with people with unlimited resources because FBI will bother to catch you and land yourself a 10 year prison sentence at Texas’s Reeves County Detention Complex, rated one of the worst prisons in the U.S. by Mother Jones. Interestingly enough, I remember distinctly Maureen Downey, who had advised the FBI, said the DOJ had wanted Rudy to talk and take a plea deal, but he didn’t. Rudy is many things, but a snitch he ain’t!

For detailed full saga of Rudy, do check out Sour Grapes, which should still be on Netflix. You can also read the book, In Vino Duplicitas: The Rise and Fall of a Wine Forger Extraordinaire. Of course if you have still have some time to burn, I’ll direct you to the GOAT wine fraud thread on Wine-Beserkers, where Rudy’s first exploits were uncovered online by the formidable Don Cornwell.

From SCMP.

I love you, Rudy

You know how Ted Bundy had fan girls? Well I would count myself as a Rudy fan girl, except I haven’t gone so far as to write him letters in prison. I did, however, buy a t-shirt adorned with his face. Despite what he’s done and the continual damage he has wrought on sellers and consumers (I am 100% sure there are many of his wines still in circulation), he hasn’t caused any serious bodily harm that I know of, to anybody? He’s no serial killer!

If anything, he is something of an artist, a master blender, who created historical bottles that (allegedly, don’t want to get sued) fooled many prominent wine critics, such as Robert Parker and Allen Meadows, who then later wrote tasting notes based on his unicorn creations. I haven’t had enough DRC or Marcassin to know any better, but I take it at face value if they taste similar enough as a dupe.

Also unprecedented was the breadth and depth of his forgery, not only did he not concentrate on one region or time period but did it across Bordeaux and Burgundy, ranging from turn of the century vintages to late 20th century releases. I mean, most successful art forgers would focus on forging a single artist such as Lowry, not go from Rembrandt to Rothko, which is exactly what Rudy did. The scale of his fakes are also enormous, having created an estimated $550 million USD worth of fakes⁴, with an approximate 10,000 bottles still in circulation around the globe. So not only was he a hack, but an unbelievably industrious hack, if he is believed to have operated alone (I doubt it).

Other possible next steps (ranging from realistic to the hypothetical)

The internet speculates that upon his release, due to his status as an illegal alien in the US, he will be deported. Where will he go next?

1. Hong Kong: This is what the internet speculated he mostly likely be next, due to its proximity to home (Indonesia) and also one of the largest wine markets in the world (China). His alleged buddy John Kapon is still active here, so he has both legal and illegal means of distributing his fake wines if he decides to continue his operations. Can you imagine a quiet operation creating fake wines smuggled across the border into China, none the wiser? The border smuggling is getting stricter with large crackdowns by Xi, but it’s still porous. He would be even MORE successful that he was in the U.S.

2. Singapore: Another Asian wine hub, full of big collectors and flooded with South East Asian money. South East Asia is a lot bigger of a wine market compared to the early 2000s, with big spenders in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Philippines. However I think it will be most profitable and easiest to stick to the Chinese market, whose demand engulfs those of SE Asia by a mile.

3. Anywhere in Europe: most are surprised that high end fake fine wines are made mostly in Europe then circulated to Asia via Hong Kong. That’s why I highly doubt he would turn down the opportunity to reach the end consumer, after all I think that’s what most domaines and estates would kill to do themselves, if they could.

4. North America: highly unlikely. Once burnt, twice shy.

What may he do next:

• Resume wine fraud operations. He’s still young, he’s out free and his buddies are indebted to him for taking one for the team (if Downey is to be believed). So once you relocate to Asia, why the fuck not?

• Do a 180 and start his own Rudy Kurniawan authentication consulting business: sounds stranger than fiction but there has been similar stories in the art world, where ex-art forgers have started businesses to authenticate and consult on collections, based on their own expertise and handiwork. I think this a possible career path but it’s not nearly as profitable as resuming forgery.

• Prison reform activist: after ten years in one of U.S.’s worst prisons, he maybe have turned a new leaf and become an advocate for human rights for prisoners. Highly unlikely and completely implausible, but I’m a humanist and I believe in people’s power to change and better themselves. So why not? And then 10 years later, get a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Obama got one for less work (drone strikes anyone?). A great comeback story from fraud to world peace!

Wherever in the world he may be, whatever he may be doing or will be doing, Rudy Kurniawan has made his mark for better or for worse. That’s perhaps more than what I can say for you or myself. And Rudy, if you’re reading this once you’ve figured out how to google yourself, please do write to me, your most ardent fan, at labeldrinker (at) gmail (dot) com.

Very best, Label Drinker-in-Chief

1. https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/

2. https://www.winespectator.com/articles/domaine-ponsot-proprietor-halts-sale-of-fake-bottles-4131

3. https://www.forbes.com/profile/william-koch/?sh=66f6dec63d70

4. https://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2018/09/running-the-numbers-on-rudys-fake-wines#:~:text=Some%20of%20Rudy%20Kurniawan's%20counterfeits,Stuart%20George%20questions%20the%20amount.&text=Several%20months%20ago%2C%20the%20Wall,is%20still%20in%20the%20market.