A Mystery in an Old Wine Bottle (Is it Hitler's Wine)

New York Times ^ | MAY 27, 2009 | CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY

[nickcarraway]

Alexander Autographs A bottle of wine from Adolf Hitler’s personal wine cellar at his mountain retreat, the Berghof.

It was supposed to be a straightforward news story: an auction house was finding that items believed to have belonged to Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun were in high demand, even in a recession. But a coincidence along the way led to a mystery.

It all began when the auctioneer, Alexander Autographs, in Stamford, Conn., announced the sale of possessions from the respected collector John K. Lattimer. Building on connections made during his time working at the Nuremburg war tribunals, Dr. Lattimer had collected a vast trove of memorabilia before his death in 2007, including a matchbox with Hitler’s initials, a powder compact with Eva Braun’s initials and a 1934 bottle of Bordeaux believed to from Hitler’s wine cellar at his mountain residence, the Berghof.

In a catalog of auctioned items, the bottle’s label stated that the wine was from St.-Émilion in France, and it featured the village’s church. But there was a problem: On the label, St.-Émilion was presented as a flat village with a Stalinist-style structure towering over the church. Having been married there just last October, I did not recall any structure that looked like that. That night, my husband and I pored through our wedding photos, but we found nothing of that scale near the church. Alexander Autographs said it had proof that the bottle was authentic: Mohawk Arms, an established auctioneer in Bouckville, N.Y, had vetted the bottle when it was sold to Dr. Lattimer in 1975, and it had the 1975 letter and invoice. Alexander Autographs also had the catalog from the 1975 auction, stating:

[nickcarraway]

I prefer Den Freiheits Wein

[ozzymandus]

Jeeze, who cares?

[JoeProBono]

[Charles Martel]

So they pored through wedding photographs, but didn't see any such structure near the church? Hmm. Maybe they were married in some other St. Emilion.

The label looks correct to me. At to whether ol' Adolf actually owned that bottle, who knows?

[SunkenCiv]

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