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Russell Crowe's corked w(h)ine, bad wine or faulty tastebuds?
Oct 20, 2006, 10:51 GMT
New Zealand born actor Russell Crowe arrives for the premiere of his film \'A Good Year\' in Munich, Germany, Wednesday 11 October 2006. EPA/URSULA DUEREN
Russell Crowe complained in a top London restaurant because his £3,500 bottle of wine was corked.
The 'Gladiator' star was dining at Marco Pierre White's exclusive eatery Mirabelle when he sent back the wine, but the waiter stood up to him, insisting it was the actors palate that was at fault.
Crowe, 42, told BANG Showbiz: "I wanted to do something special so I ordered a bottle of Penfolds Grange Hermitage 1964, bottled the year I was born.
"It is an Australian wine that I have had a lot of experience with so when it was opened and brought to the table I could smell from two foot away that it had been corked, it had gone off.
"I let it breathe but when I took a sip I got a mouthful of mould.
"The sommelier spent about 45 minutes trying to convince us that it was the chestnut undertones and the wafts of blackberry.
"I just turned round and went, 'Mate. It's off.'
"He refused to accept it was corked but eventually he did replace it. Very nice it was too."
A spokesman for Mirabelle has not denied the incident, saying: "We are glad Russell was eventually satisfied."
(C) BANG Media International
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Older Talkback
page: 1
'corked' means the wine was tainted by a bad cork. It is one of the perils of using natural corks.
If I smelled 'taint' in the wine, I would't drink it either.
And FYI, it is standard restaurant policy to replace a tainted bottle...although they will usually do it kicking and screaming.
Spot on. It happens all the time here, in wine country. For $5,000 dollars, it had better taste right. Also, you can usually spot it on the cork, hence, opening it AT the table.
Crowe may be a spoiled child star, but the wine industry needs to wean itself from cork.
Of course this 'news' bit didn't originate at BANG, it came from a recent interview of Crowe's. BANG conveniently leaves out that this dinner took place nearly eight years ago when he and Connie Nielsen were just about to start filming Gladiator. Crowe is obviously correct in refusing the corked bottle and I'm a little surpised that an upscale restaurant gave him such a difficult time. Bad, bad sommelier.
Actually this is a rip-off of part of a newspaper article elsewhere and isn't at all accurate.
Russell Crowe didn't give an interview to BANG at all...despite the way they make it sound.
It was ripped-off, re-edited and embroidered by BANG to look like a whine when it was nothing of the kind. Then it gets picked up by other sites who do the same.
The original article printed this week was low-key and chatty and this has been used out of context completely. Knowing that people are happy to swallow it I suppose.
This took place back in 1999 when he was having dinner with Gladiator co-star Connie Nielson. The wine was the most expensive he'd ever bought to celebrate the start of filming. Russell Crowe told the story in a humourous fashion and was speaking about his love of wine. We have all had wine which tastes off from time to time...I think he was illustrating that even very expensive wines can be corked and undrinkable.
He didn't 'throw a tantrum'...just stood his ground to have the bottle changed.
This is an example of the sort of distortion that is rife in so-called Internet reporting.
page: 1
Heck! HeckOct 20th, 2006 - 15:02:40
Who does that poor excuse for a person thinks he is, he rude, abnoxious, ugly, and fat. Money does not give you the right to be impolite you arrogant fart.
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