Wine movies

Movies are a perfect way to pass the time while you’re enjoying a great bottle of wine. (Notice I said great. If it isn’t great then you shouldn’t be drinking it.)

I have this bad habit of paying attention to the wines people drink on television and in movies. Most of the time the bottle is turned around so we can’t see the label. But sometimes you can. If the label is visible then there are normally two reasons why: 1) The winery is paying to have their product advertised, or 2) Someone at the studio really, really likes the wine and wants you to know it.

My two favorite examples of these reasons are:

Forgetting Sarah Marshall. If you are approaching middle-age and you haven’t seen the Judd Apatow Trilogy: Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and This is 40, then you are missing out. (Throw in Superbad while you are at it!)
At the Luau the characters choose to not drink super flowery pina coladas but instead have some quality Napa Valley Clos du Val Cabernet. Judging by the empty bottles in the bowl they did more than drink a little. Clos du Val has also popped up in Sex in the City, the Sopranos and numerous other shows. Since the winery has a good relationship with Hollywood they are able to get some key product-placement. Definitely sponsored content.
Ghostbusters II. Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray) is trying to have a romantic dinner with Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver). What’s that bottle that just happens to be sitting in the middle of the table? Oh, it’s just Chateau Haut Brion, only one of the top five chateau’s in Bordeaux. No big deal! Haut Brion does not need to advertise in a movie. The producers wanted you, or at least some of you, to know this was a special date.

Then there are movies about wine. There aren’t a lot of them so when one comes around and it is good then you need to watch it. These are my top four wine in order you should watch them:
Bottle-Shock

Bottleshock. Bottleshock gives us a glimpse of Napa Valley in the mid-1970’s. It is a true story, but some liberties have been taken with the characters. An Englishman (the late Alan Rickman) wants to show that Napa can make world class wines, so he stages a blind tasting pitting Napa Cabernet against Bordeaux’s best and Napa Chardonnay against the great White Burgundies. The backdrop to the movie is the winery Chateau Montelena and the family that owns it. It’s an underdog and pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps kinda movie.
Recommended wines to drink while watching the movie: Chateau Montelena Chardonnay or Stag’s Leap Cabernet.
Sideways. Paul Giamatti at his awkward best. Paul and his old college roommate take a weekend trip to the wine country as a middle aged man’s tame last hoorah before getting married. The movie pokes fun at how many wineries have become amusement parks, but also shows how you can really form a relationship with a winery. The movie accidentally ruined Merlot for about a decade. Not all Merlot, just bad Merlot. Get ready to laugh.
Recommended wine to drink: Fiddlehead Pinot Noir.
Sour Grapes (not the 1998 movie, the 2016 one.) This is more documentary than it is a movie but I find it fascinating. There was this guy named Rudy Kurniawan and he got wrapped up in expensive, collectible wines. The top of the top in the wine world. A place where everyone knows each other and what wines each other has. He came out of nowhere and had an amazing collection. Turns out he was counterfeiting them and selling to other collectors. He bamboozled, and embarrassed, a lot of people. His buyers wanted so desperately to believe him and to think they were getting treasured, rare wines that they overlooked the obvious warning signs. My real job is selling some of these uber-expensive, rare, and collectible wines.
Recommended wine to drink: Domaine de la Romanee Conti. Any of their wines. Will set you back several hundred to several thousand dollars if you can find one at all.
Somm. Somm follows four sommeliers as they study to take the Master Sommelier (pronounced suh-muhl-yay) exam. The exam is three parts: tasting, theory, and service, and will make your career if you pass. It is very hard. Extremely hard. The preparation process totally engulfs your life and I can’t understand how some students balance jobs and families while studying. When my wife and I watched the movie she paused it, turned to me and told me I could never go through that process. I told her I wouldn’t. I lied. Now I’m not going to do the Master Sommelier program, but I am working towards the Master of wine certification. Give me a few more years.
Recommended wine to drink: high end German rieslings.