Associative cf. of the Week #1: Beyond Reproach

A new series? Perhaps. This week, we note two people who appeared to be above reproach, until they (in one case, I must add allegedly) committed a crime of far-reaching effects.

1

The first, described in an article in the New Yorker, is Hardy Rodenstock, finder of some of the world’s rarest (and still drinkable) wine artifacts. He claims to have found—and over the years has sold at auction—hundreds of bottles of 18th- and 19th-century wine. He seemed to have a magic touch for finding priceless wines that many believed to be authentic, and that tasted divine.

There’s an interesting side-story to Herr Rodenstock. If he’s a fraud: yes, he’s sold bottles of recent-vintage wine for outrageous amounts. However, they’re fantastic. Says Robert Parker of Wine Spectator, regarding a magnum of 100-point 1921 Pétrus he tasted at a party hosted by Rodenstock:

“If that was a fake, he should be a mixer,” Parker said. “It was wonderful.”

Was it a fake? Pétrus’ current cellarmaster has said in an interview that he, “[has] never heard of a magnum of 1921 Pétrus and [does] not believe that any were bottled at the vineyard,” in 1921.

2

Person number two is an army officer in the Special Services Group of the Pakistani army officer who blew himself up during in the SSG’s headquarters’ mess on September 13th. Bruce Schneier says, rather pithily:

There probably isn’t any practicable way to prevent these sorts of attacks by trusted insiders.

Update

cf. on tfd