|  Grapes turned sour forRudy Kurniawan when he was convicted by the 12-person jury last month in a trial that began twenty months after his arrest in March 2012 and lasted barely over a week. The jury returned the ‘guilty’ verdict on December 18 in two hours. Kurniawan faces up to 40 years in prison for making, selling and attempting to sell more than $1m worth of counterfeit wines and fraudulently securing a $3m loan. The trail and verdict was reported in delWine.
Kurniawan was known as 'Dr Conti' for his supposed in-depth knowledge of the renowned Burgundy estate, Domaine de la Romanée Conti (DRC). Co-owner of DRC, Auber de Villaine was of the Burgundy producers whose wines were counterfeited and had travelled to the US to depose against him.
The movie went into production even before the sentencing which has been fixed for 24 April (unless the defence lawyers manage a successful appeal before then, resulting in a retrial). One might have imagined that the producers planned to release the movie on the day of sentencing! But according to Screen Daily, it is expected to be completed by the end of the year only.
Production teams in the UK and France have joined forces for the film being directed by Jerry Rothwell who has previously made documentaries Deep Water and Town of Runners. The film unfolds as a heist thriller in the fine wine collectors market, following the rise and fall of wine fraudster Rudy Kurniawan from Los Angeles and aims to follow his footsteps throughout the wine world.
Rothwell who attended Kurniawan's trial in New York last December, said Sour Grapes is intended for a mainstream audience, despite the niche appeal of some wine-focused films. 'Everyone loves a con, and that side of this story is really compelling,' he said, according to a Report in Decanter. In portraying the rise of Kurniawan and his supposed 'magic cellar' of rare wines, the film aims to depict a 'collision of two worlds' by cutting between rural Burgundian vineyards and the high-rolling lifestyle of fine wine drinkers in New York.
Burgundy wine producer Laurent Ponsot has opened the doors of his winery for filming and has been actively involved in the process. Domaine Ponsot wines, such as its Clos de la Roche, were among those duplicated by Kurniawan in the kitchen sink of hisLos Angeles home often dubbed as the wine factory. Ponsot himself gave evidence in court that helped to convict the Indonesian national.
'My wine knowledge is limited but growing rapidly,' Rothwell says. He says he became interested in Kurniawan around the time of his arrest in March 2012.
It would be interesting to see who plays the role of Preet Bharara, the Indian- American U.S. Attorney for Manhattan who was behind the conviction and who also became infamous in India for his role in the ‘illegal’ arrest of Indian Diplomat Devyani Khobragade that resulted in strained relations between India and the US.
For the earlier story of the fraud being uncovered, please visit |