Sour grapes indeed

“Sour Grapes” is a documentary about Rudy Kurniawan, a Chinese conman from Indonesia who took California by storm during the crazy 00's. Rudy soon became a fixture at the socialite heaven, and also made landfalls in New York City and elsewhere.

His business idea was simple: to pass off home-made blends as exclusive wines, manipulate the market to get the highest possible price, and sell the bottles to unsuspecting wine-lovers. Some of Rudy's victims still can't believe the charming young man was a sociopathic con artist. Apparently, Kurniawan's family are conmen of long standing in Indonesia, one of the family members being a bank owner who embezzled millions, the other being an actual bank robber! Kurniawan's luck run out when billionaire Bill Koch became suspicious of some of his rare vintages.

Personally, I was struck by two things watching “Sour Grapes”. First, that the cops and lawyers (real people) look just like the “rogue cop” or “corrupted lawyer” stereotypes á la Hollywood. The other was the bizarre character of the whole thing. Seriously, who would pay tens of thousands of dollars for a bottle of wine? But then, I'm an absolutist, so perhaps I just don't get it…