Noble Rot

France has dominated the wine industry for centuries but the bouquet is fading.<br /><br />The small old-world family-owned vineyards in France are struggling to survive pressed by the sophisticated know-how and slick marketing techniques of their huge new-world competitors. Many of these competitors have larger estates bigger budgets and products that are winning gold medals and international press.<br /><br />Count Pierre de Beaufremont has inherited an ancient and distinguished family vineyard Château Cluny in Burgundy. He is jealous of his largest American competitor who doesn't respect the long-cherished traditions of the old world but enjoys international acclaim. Resenting his competitor's success and envying it he orchestrates a devastating blow.<br /><br />The count hires a professional saboteur to strike a blow at his competition that will ruin their reputation cost them millions in lost revenues and alarm the entire California wine industry.<br /><br />A private investigator finds himself embroiled in murder and mayhem in a race against the clock to expose the count's plot before the cork is out of the bottle and a global industry is seriously disrupted.<br /><br />Your next glass may be your last gasp.