Wily wines

A 60-year-old whisky fetched a record price during its auction last month. The bottle of The Macallan 1926 became the most expensive whisky with a winning bid of $2.7 million, according to London-based Sotheby's.

The whisky was one of only 40 Macallan bottled in 1986 by the liquor maker of the same name, based in Moray, Scotland. Sotheby's head of whisky, Jonny Fowle, was allowed to sample the prized spirit before its sale.

"I tasted a tiny drop — a tiny drop — of this. It's very rich; it's got a lot of dried fruits as you would expect, a lot of spice, a lot of wood," he told Agence France-Presse. "It's not a whisky to take lightly. It's a rich, rich dram, but it is incredible."

Meanwhile, expensive wines from Bordeaux Cellars had left a bad taste in the mouths of some creditors.

Britons Stephen Burton, 58, and James Wellesley, 56, reportedly brokered $99 million worth of loans for wealthy wine collectors, with the vast wine inventory stored by Bordeaux Cellars as collateral.

'I tasted a tiny drop — a tiny drop — of this. It's very rich; it's got a lot of dried fruits as you would expect, a lot of spice, a lot of wood.'

From about June 2017 to February 2019, Burton and Wellesley allegedly convinced individuals from the United States and other countries to lend to their company, promising higher repayment from collectors of wines worth thousands of dollars from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in Burgundy and Château Lafleur in Bordeaux, both in France. Somehow, the lenders were never repaid and they sued the brokers.

Burton was arrested in Morocco last year, extradited to the US on Friday, and arraigned in a Brooklyn federal court on Saturday for allegedly defrauding investors.

He pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy, with his next court hearing set for 22 January, ABC News reported.

Wellesley is in the United Kingdom facing extradition proceedings, officials said, according to ABC News.

Based on the complaint of the lenders, prosecutors alleged that "the wealthy wine collectors did not exist, no loans were made, and Bordeaux Cellars did not have custody of the wine securing the loans," ABC News reported.

with AFP