Watches for Wine: Magrez Gives Wine Journalists Cartier Presents

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Apr 24th 2008 at 7:02AM

Wine tycoon Bernard Magrez has run afoul of journalists by offering them what looks to be a classic bribe. Decanter reports that Magrez and his partner in wine, French actor Gerard Depardieu hosted journalists at a press lunch at the Alain Ducasse restaurant at the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris on March 26. At the end of the lunch, journalists were giving a press kit and a box that contained a Cartier watch worth $2,641.

After what must have been some interesting moments of desire versus ethics, many of the journalists decided to either donate or return the watches. Magrez told Decanter he wasn't trying to buy good press, he was just using the watch as a way to commemorate the special occasion. The French website Backchich certainly isn't buying that. In their article titled The Advantages of Being a Wine Journalist, they feature a cartoon of a woman dressed in sparkling jewelry with a note pad and a glass of wine. My French is a bit rusty but I the caption roughly translates to this wine is rich and generous just like Mr. Depardieu.

Tags: bernard magrez, cartier, gerard depardieu

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches, Wine

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rob Apr 24th 2008 11:20AM

That's more or less exactly what the caption says.

Martin Demierre (10hs10 watch portal) Apr 27th 2008 4:30AM

Cartier will be unhappy, they and other brands do not want we at www.10hs10.com distribute a watch per month for free to all our newsletter's subscribers.

Martin

Arjun Dhall May 10th 2008 10:07AM

Mr. Magrez definitely should keep us in mind too when he is giving the cartier watches. I have been selling his best selling wines in India now for over 3 years.

It would be very kind of him to send me a watch too.

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