Films about wine range from romantic to chilling
Most movies about beer (Beerfest, Animal House and Old School) are one-note affairs: silly comedies, featuring overgrown boys.
But wine movies often are far more complex and sophisticated. Perhaps it’s because there’s a special passion and artistry to winemaking that takes years of farming and patience to get just right or that wine isn’t something you chug but sip. Here’s a quick look at some of the best big-screen uses of vino:
A Walk in the Clouds
Two strangers who pretend to be in love are ultimately drawn to each other against the backdrop of a gorgeous and remote winery. Keanu Reeves, a war veteran who has returned home to a broken marriage, meets a pregnant Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, who is terrified of returning home and facing her father after being abandoned by her lover. Reeves agrees to play pretend with Sanchez-Gijon, and their relationship develops amid her family’s rolling, misty winemaking oasis.
Sideways
Sales of merlot plummeted following the release of Sideways, in which a character goes off on a tirade about the beverage. Never mind that merlots are some of the finest wines — that was precisely the point when director Alexander Payne wrote this sad and conflicted script. On the surface, this is the tale of two grown men who carry themselves as wine connoisseurs. But as their weekend tour of Napa turns sour, devolving in to episodes of binge-drinking and self-deprecation, we realize wine disguises their despair; they aspire to be elitists but are really just alcoholics.
‘Bottle Shock’
Most wine movies focus on the drinkers, but this adorable independent film focused instead on winemakers. Traveling back to the year 1976, when a blind taste test was arranged between French and California wines, Bottle Shock lays out the road leading to that defining sip, when foreign judges picked Napa creations over those from Bordeaux. In an instant, the American wine industry was legitimized.
A Good Year
The romantic comedy set in London and Provence takes us on a tumultuous journey with London banker and bond trader Max Skinner (Russell Crowe). Skinner, who inherits a chateau and vineyard in Provence, returns to France intent on selling the property. Upon arriving, Skinner is faced with childhood memories, a love interest and family drama. Although wine isn’t the focus of the movie, the setting of the French vineyards is enough to make you want to uncork a bottle of your favorite red.
Silence of the Lambs
“I ate his liver with some fava beans and nice Chianti.” We don’t see much wine sipping in Lambs, but that one line of dialogue managed to take something refined and, for a brief instant, make it sinister.
Bearshead Napa Valley
For those who would instead prefer to learn a thing or two about winemaking and the mystique of Napa wineries, it doesn’t get much better than this DVD, which can be purchased for $39.95 at www.amazon.com
