Give me all your money - or some good Bordeaux

Potential robber disarmed by taste of a fine bordeaux

Saturday July 14, 2007
The Guardian

It's a good thing it wasn't cheap plonk. The last guests at the barbecue in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood of Washington were savouring the remains of a very fine bottle of Chateau Malescot St Exupery when a robber appeared in their midst and held a gun to the head of a teenage girl.

"He said: 'Everyone give me your money or I am going to start shooting. I am very serious about this'," Michael Rabdau, the girl's father, said.

By that point in the evening only close friends were still left in the garden of the home, 13 city blocks from the great white dome of the US Capitol. Nobody saw the intruder slip in through the gate, which the home owner had left ajar while he took his dog for a walk. "He was like a shark. No one saw him coming," Mr Rabdau said.

The intruder, who had a hood pulled over his face, first levelled his gun at the head of Mr Rabdau's daughter, Khyber, 14, and demanded money. When she said she had none, he moved towards the other guests, handgun drawn.

In the following minutes the terrified party guests tried to calm the robber.

After what seemed an eternity another guest offered the robber a sip of the bordeaux they were drinking. "He tasted the wine, and said: 'Damn, that's really good wine.' And it really was," Mr Rabdau said. The guests offered him a glass, and then the entire bottle.

The would-be robber helped himself to a piece of camembert.

He put the gun away, and told the guests: "I think I must have come to the wrong house," and told them he was sorry. He asked for a hug, and each of the guests gave him a squeeze. The robber then asked for a group hug, and the party guests formed a circle to embrace him.

The robber then poured himself a full glass of wine and let himself out.

By the time the stunned party guests summoned the courage to go indoors and telephone the police, the robber was long gone. But nothing had been stolen, and nobody had been hurt.