The Observer, March 28, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 22
News You Can't Use
Winemaker's nose insured for $8 million
According to a Lloyd's of London syndicate last week, Lloyd's is insuring the nose of winemaker Ilja Gort for $8 million.
The Dutch winemaker and taster took out the exorbitant policy after he read about a man who lost his sense of smell in a car accident.
"I thought it must be a horror to lose your smell," Gort said. "It would mean that you cannot taste wine anymore. Tasting wine is something you do with your nose, not your mouth."
Gort, 47, says his nose is crucial for him to produce top-notch wines at his Chateau de la Garde vineyard in the Bordeaux region of France.
The custom policy, which covers Gort for the loss of either his nose on sense of smell, has barred him from riding a motorcycle, working as a knife thrower's assistant, and working as a fire breather.
And he can't be a boxer. "I may not fight against Mike Tyson," Gort said.
Jonathan Thomas, lead underwriter for the Watkins Syndicate at the Lloyd's insurance market, also noticed Gort's long, curly beard in drafting the policy. A clause requires that the winemaker see only experienced barbers who can keep their razors steady near his nose.
This is only one of many Lloyd's body part insurance policies. Movie icon Marlene Dietrich had her legs insured and Rolling Stone guitarist Keith Richards received a check when he injured his finger on tour in the 1990s.
America Ferrara, star of ABC's "Ugly Betty," has her smile insured for $10 million.
"Let's face it, it's a Lloyd's speciality," Thomas said. "Lloyd's specializes in unusual risks."
But Gort isn't the first wine tester to get coverage from Thomas. He insured the sense of taste and smell for taster Angela Mount for $20.1 million in 2003 for her bosses at British supermarket chain Somerfield.
Man accused of going on naked rampage in Pa.
A hotel and grocery store are assessing the damage a naked man inflicted while on a rampage last week in Lancaster, Pa. The streaker running amok allegedly caused thousands of dollars' worth of damage.
The West Lampeter Township police were dispatched to the Willow Valley Resort and Darrenkamp's Market late last week amid reports of a nude man on a rampage.
At the resort, the man had trashed several office spaces and had run a forklift into an interior wall, damaging a sewer pipe in the process, authorities say.
After running through the resort, the suspect, identified as Nicholas Hadzick, 28, of Freeland, crossed the street and began anew at Darrenkamp's Market.
Company president Joe Darrenkamp said Hadzick threw chairs and knocked a 300-pound pizza oven to the floor, as well as three scales, valued at $7000 each. Hadzick also damaged a $90,000 meat wrapping machine, soda coolers, and a windshield of a delivery truck.
The incident was captured on the market's surveillance cameras, Darrenkamp said. The estimated cost of damage is around $40,000.
Hadzick, who had been a guest at the resort at the time, was charged with risking catastrophe, criminal mischief, open lewdness, public drunkenness, and related counts. The streaker is currently being held on a $200,000 bail.
