Donald Pleasence credited as playing...
Adrian Carsini
- Karen Fielding: Do we really need it, Mr. Carsini?
- Adrian Carsini: Nobody really needs a $5000 bottle of wine, Karen. I just don't want anybody else to have it.
- Adrian Carsini: I think you're really gonna like this wine. It's a...
- Columbo: Oh, don't tell me. Let me guess.
- [sips wine]
- Columbo: Sensitive breeding. Rich bouquet. Strong vinosity. Well, it's a Burgundy; I'm just not sure whether it's a Pinot Noir or a Gamay.
- Adrian Carsini: You're an Italian, aren't you?
- Columbo: Uh, yes, sir, on both sides.
- Adrian Carsini: Well, you should know about good wine. It goes with the heritage.
- Columbo: Well, I guess I kind of messed up in that department. I'm gonna tell ya somethin' else - uh, I'm probably the only Italian in the world who can't sing either.
- Adrian Carsini: Titian would have gone mad trying to mix so beautiful a red. And he would have failed dismally in the attempt.
- Adrian Carsini: IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG? EVERYTHING is WRONG! An EXCITING MEAL has been RUINED by the presence of this... This..LIQUID FILTH!
- Adrian Carsini: The sixty-nine-cents-a-gallon Marino Brothers? They don't make wine! They don't even make good mouthwash!
- Columbo: [Become dizzy after standing up] Oh, boy!
- Adrian Carsini: You all right?
- Columbo: I didn't realize I drank that much. Whatta ya call that stuff?
- Adrian Carsini: Cabernet sauvignon.
- Columbo: I usually don't drink anything I can't pronounce, but I can see I got a lot to learn. First thing I gotta learn is how to hold my cabernet sauvignon.
- Adrian Carsini: Why were you assigned to the case? I mean, you're-you're in homicide, aren't you?
- Columbo: I just go where they tell me to, sir.
- Adrian Carsini: Well, doesn't look right to me. It looks like they, uh... they suspect someone of, uh, foul play.
- Columbo: Well, maybe they do, sir, but you certainly don't have anything to worry about. You were three thousand miles away at the time of his death, right?
- Adrian Carsini: Right.
- Adrian Carsini: Didn't your family ever drink wines at home?
- Columbo: I tell you, the closest we ever came to it was my father's job during prohibition.
- Adrian Carsini: Bootlegger?
- Columbo: No, he was a tail gunner on a beer truck.
- Adrian Carsini: Our father was a good man, a good Italian; he provided the wine. My mother was English; she provided the breeding. Your mother, on the other hand, appears to have been responsible for all the courser sides of your nature.
- Adrian Carsini: This is dreadful. Don't you realize that a great wine is like a great work of art? It has to be nurtured, it has to be taken care of. You have subjected this port to a temperature in excess of 150 degrees. Such disdain can not and must not be tolerated!
- Adrian Carsini: [to Karen] I dislike sending telegrams, or receiving them. There's something about a telegram that makes one feel that some kind of tragedy has occurred.
- Adrian Carsini: Would you care for a sip of the wine that made Carsini famous?
- Enrico Guiseppe Carsini: I'd rather have some wine that made Carsini rich.
- Adrian Carsini: You've learned very well, Lieutenant.
- Columbo: That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me.
- Adrian Carsini: Do you think I'm gonna sit by and let some muscle-bound hedonist throw me out of what is rightfully mine?
- Enrico Guiseppe Carsini: [laughing] Hey, come on. Don't worry. You'll be taken care of. I'm sure the Marino Brothers will let you lick the labels of their new carbonated rosé.
- Columbo: I thought wine was just to drink. Today I found out it's also an investment. Some bottles of wine sell for $100, can you believe that?
- Adrian Carsini: That's a fair medium. I have bought bottles of wine that cost, oh, $5,000.
- Columbo: $5,000 for a bottle of wine? You know, my father never made $5,000 in a year! Can you imagine drinking a year's salary in one night?
- Adrian Carsini: I'm afraid I don't know very much about motor-cars, Lieutenant. My life begins, and ends, with wine.
- Adrian Carsini: Good breeding. Interesting aftertaste. But they left the skins in too long. I'd say ... imported, of course. Vintage '69. No subtlety. Probably a Chateau Verite.
- Karen Fielding: That's incredible. Utterly fantastic. That's exactly what it is. How in the world did you do it?
- Adrian Carsini: Simplicity itself. While the rest of you were savoring the delicate bouquet, I was peeking at the label.