Posted on 03/05/2005 7:34:56 PM PST by quidnunc
Los Angeles – Even in the hyperbole-driven world of Hollywood, few would have predicted that a low-budget comedy about an unhappily divorced teacher and an oversexed actor would move America’s $20 billion-a-year wine market.
Yet that is exactly what the Oscar-winning Sideways has done, much to the despair of vineyard owners who are growing the merlot grape.
The film’s hero, a schoolmaster and wine snob played by Paul Giamatti, loathes merlot, America’s most popular red wine for the past 15 years, and loves pinot noir, its hitherto less favoured rival.
On a tour of wineries near Los Angeles with his friend, he falls in love with a student, played by Virginia Madsen, telling her that the pinot’s flavours are “just the most haunting and brilliant and thrilling and subtle and … ancient on the planet”. He refuses to drink “any f****** merlot”.
Between October, when Sideways was released in America, and January, when it picked up its 81st award from film critics, merlot sales dipped by 2% in the western United States. Sales of pinot noir throughout the country rose by 16% and many drinkers have switched from French to Californian pinots.
The film has also brought tourists in record numbers to the Santa Ynez vineyards where it was made. ACNielsen, the business analysts, suspect that merlot may now see a bigger drop in popularity as film-goers seek out the “Sideways experience”.
Wine wholesalers are gathering their pinot bottles under posters of Californian wine country and offering guided tours of the wineries.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Pinot's better than Merlot any day. Dang it, now everyone's gonna be drinnking my wine, driving the price up...snarl.
Merlot is the grape of choice for people who know absolutely nothing about wine. I remember when it was all the rage around here, I got to laugh my rear off all the time.
Dang it. I've liked pinot noir for years and now I'm part of a trend.
Another unfortunate example of the Hollywood influence. On second thought--Merlot has been terribly overrated for a number of years as the chic red table wine.
Beaten by 20 seconds.
I've preferred California pinot noirs since '97. Gotta spend good bucks to get really special merlots. Looks like that may turn around.
Pinot noirs need a bit more care though.
Merlot is disgusting. It tastes like chalk.
Apropos to nothing, Paul Giamatti is the son of Bart Giamatti, ex baseball commissioner most famous for banning Pete Rose from baseball!
Ya, same with Zin.
Ya snooze, ya lose. I always hated going out to dinner with friends, and if I could talk them into a red, it always had to be a merlot. No one could appreciate a pinot, and forget about a big, fat cabernet. Now everyone will want to be trendy. Guess I'll have to switch to Petit Syrah or something.
You gotta love this :)
Neither Merlot nor Pinot is my favorite...but I don't think merlot can be categorized as 'chic' It is a good grape for a reliable wine. A 'safe choice' for people who don't know wine well enough to really know what they like...truly great Merlots are extremely rare. Pinot lacks that reliability...when it is good it is great, when it isn't...it really isn't.
Mad Dog.
Thunderbird for special occasions.
Does this mean wine drinkers are fickle? How can a movie make one stop drinking something they like?
Boone's Farm! Every time. (Sam Adams for serious drinkin' though.)
Philistine! Everyone knows Wild Irish Rose puts Thunderbird to shame...
How retarded would one have to be to take one's food/drink preferences not from personal experience but from Hollywood movie scripts, as alleged in the article?
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