Rudy Kurniawan, an "all-star" in the world of incredibly expensive wine, is on trial for allegedly making millions of dollars selling counterfeit wine to rich people. Let's pull for this heroic political prisoner to beat his case.

I have no idea whether or not Rudy Kurniawan is guilty, nor of his motives. But as a licensed online opinion-haver, I strongly urge him to employ the following defense here: "All I did was to tell the type of people who will pay tens of thousands of dollars for a single bottle of old wine that the old wine I was selling them was some different kind of old wine than the old wine it actually was. They then proceeded to pay me huge sums of money for the old wine. They didn't know the difference, because wine connoisseurship is essentially bullshit."

This man is living the American dream: ripping off people with too much money by exploiting their own tendency to waste money in the most outrageous fashion. He should be applauded.

Here is how wine merchant Laurent Ponsot described the damage that Kurniawan may have caused:

Ponsot was haunted by the thought, he testified, "that someone will open these bottles, and they will be disappointed. But more than that, it will dirty the reputation of our wines. You don't have a word in English for terroir. But it's what gives this spirit, this unique thing that we have."

A rich person will pay an outrageous sum of money for a bottle of old booze. Then they will be disappointed in the taste of the old booze. They might not pay so much for old booze in the future. Regardless, they'll still be drunk, and rich.

I fail to see the problem.

[Photo of some old wine: AP]