Labyrinth with Wine - Digbeth
- Tony Elvin
- 19 hours ago
- 5 min read
Thank you to the fine goblins of Birmingham for joining Goblin Prince Gareth, in Jareth's castle for Labyrinth with Wine.
As promised, please read on for details on the wines served from Jareth's cellar, the Labyrinth tower of trivia and our Goblin Gallery.
Jareth's splendid cuvees
Graham Beck Rosé, South Africa - Majestic £17.00 or £13 in a mixed case of six
The President’s cuvee, fitting, as I am now the president of the Labyrinth. This wine was served for both Nelson Mandela’s inauguration and Barack Obama’s presidential win, Jareth was of course invited to both.Hand picked pinot noir and chardonnay grapes. Creamy red fruit on the nose, tiny bubbles, strawberry and raspberry palate with a yeasty character from bottle aging. 98% of Majestic purchasers would buy it again.
Giacamo Monstresor Soave Classic, Veneto, Italy - Online £10.95
Undervalued by many this Italian classic from hilly vineyards at the heart of the Soave zone is highly prized by Jareth. Classico. Garganega and Trebbiano di Soave grapes, hand picked, and then fermented in stainless steel. Delicate aromas of honeysuckle and elderflower with a palate of ripe, honeyed fruit.
K Naia Verdejo Sauvignon Blanc, Rueda, Spain - online £13.99
Vibrant verdejo with a dash Sauvignon Blanc from the Cru region of Rueda, La Seca in North West Spain. Bursting with grapefruit, passion fruit, mandarin and herbaceous notes on the nose, the palate offers racy lime and stone fruits.
Emilliana, Adobe Reserva Rosé, Rapel Valley, Chile - online £10.95
Provence style rose without the price tag. Organic rosé from Rapel sub regions of Colchagua and Cachoploal. 40% Syrah, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 20% Merlot. Pacific Ocean to west, Andes Mountains to the east, vineyard cooled by Maritime breezes and Andes winds. Aromas of strawberry fruit and white flowers. Super fresh and juicy with red berry character and a dry refreshing finish.
Pasqua 'Desire, Lush & Zin' Primitivo, Puglia, Italy - Majestic £13.50 or £9.00 in a mixed case of six
Primitivo (Zinfandel) – juicy, earthy grape from the heel of Italy’s boot. Six months in oak for complexity and a silky texture. Notes of cherry, plum, coffee and cocoa, with hints of black pepper and vanilla spice.
Gareth's Goblin Tower of Trivia
Crystal balls. As you know, as a Prince, I’ve only got little ones. And I can’t move them about as well as Jareth .. but for good reason! Michael Moschen the juggler is David Bowie’s arm. Completely blind, behind The Bowie!
Can you imagine anyone else playing Jareth? Well Michael Jackson, Prince and Mick Jagger were all considered at the time, Jim Henson wanted the part to go to Sting, but his kids convinced him to go with Bowie.
The movie was such a flop at the box office that it became Henson’s last ever movie. However, it was a huge hit on video and developed a cult following.
Terry Jones, of Monty Python wrote the first draft script, and was called back to re write it and put all the jokes back in after Jim Henson felt the writing team took away some of it's original charm created by Terry Jones.
Hoggle an engineering feat, Shari Weiser was the actor inside, but was accompanied by four puppeteers led by Brian Henson with 18 motors in the face, mechanical mitts, a joystick for the lips and eyelids, a foot pedal for the eyes and and eyebrows ... all in sync!
One of reasons Hoggle was always groaning was because he needed his mouth open to see out of it.
The book of the movie says Hoggle is gnome but creator says he's ½ dwarf and ½ goblin.
‘Piece of cake’ – have you ever noticed that every time you hear that phrase, something bad happens. After filming Hoggle's puppet got lost on a plane and ended up in unclaimed baggage at Alabama airport in a bad condition. He was restored and is to this day in a display case at the airport’s entrance.
The first Ludo creation was too heavy so they had to rebuild. Even then he was still 35KG so two puppeteers had to split the performance. They had a mini video camera in one of the horns to help see where he was going.
George Lucas was heavily involved in production of the movie but would not give interviews due to his Star Wars fame. As one of Jim Henson’s best friends, he didn’t want to take any of the limelight.
The fantasy film Legend with Tom Cruise was being shot at the same time in the studio next door, the cast of the two crews would mingle on breaks where Brian Henson met with actress Mia Sara. Two years later they met again and eventually married.
Baby Toby cried a lot with Jareth. Fortunately a crew member had a Sooty puppet that was used to distract Toby.
In the beginning of the iconic Magic Dance scene Toby is seen crying amogst the goblins, in reality the goblins did not scare Toby and he would often laugh at their silly voices and faces. In this scene they waited until nap time so he’d cry. The scene involved 48 puppets, 52 puppeteers and 8 people in goblin outfits.
Originally going to be called Freddie but he only responded to his own name. He was actually the son of the conceptual designer. Toby was one year's old during filming, but two on release.
His sister Sarah was 14 when the movie was shot but 15 when released.
Jennifer Connelly plays the part of the Sarah but Ally Sheedy, Marisa Tomei, Sarah Jessica Parker and Helena Bonham Carter were all auditioned.
In 1986 two Labyrinth video games were released, one Japanese, one in English. Both gave the player 13 hours to solve the maze but were very different to the film. If like any other games in 1986, had really good cover but terrible graphics & gameplay!
The easiest scene to film was apparently the ballroom dance scene, purely because it was the only one with no animals, babies or puppets.
The script for the movie had been in the works for years and some of it made its way into The Dark Crystal. Including Jen the Gelfling.
Prince Gareth's Gregarious Goblin Gallery
On behalf of Prince Gareth, and The Wine Events Crew, we extend a huge thank you to everyone that joined us at Jareth's Castle for fine wine and a fantastic movie. We hope you found your way home again safely through the labyrinth.
Here are those official videos we mentioned:
Ballroom Scene music
From the final credits
Why not check out some of our upcoming events below and on our website:
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