THE UPSIDE OF SIDEWAYS

By Robyn James, Proprietor

The Wine Cellar & Tasting Room

Downtown Southern Pines

winecellar@pinehurst.net

Every now and then there are events or incidents that occur in society that unintentionally change the course of an industry.

For the wine industry, the strongest impact I can recall was November, 1991 when Morley Safer discussed the French Paradox on 60 Minutes.

In the news magazine’s groundbreaking segment, correspondent Safer reported that the French live longer and suffer significantly fewer heart attacks than Americans despite smoking more, exercising less and eating just as much saturated fat. The answer to this riddle, according to several medical experts that Safer interviewed, had everything to do with France’s love for wine.

The French have the highest per-capita consumption of wine in the world. The experts opined that there was something in fermented grape juice—in red wine, in particular—that helped protect our Gallic friends from cardiovascular ruin.

I was in the wholesale wine business at the time and our company probably sold four times as much white as red in 1991.  Suddenly and dramatically, that gap closed to a 50/50 ratio of white to red, and overall sales of wine nearly doubled.  We were scrambling to supply the demand for red wine.

The industry has plodded quietly along for the last 14 years, until now, here comes the movie Sideways.

Wine is really just a backdrop for the real story of two pretty dysfunctional guys on a week long bachelor party.  But, it is educational about wine and the movie deftly blends wine and humor, two elements that are not blended enough in wine talk. 

Miles does wine appreciation no favors when he pretentiously trots out all sorts of strange aromas in a Rose’ wine (flutters of Edam cheese?).  Jack, by contrast is so easy to please that almost every winery visit has him throwing back his glass and saying “tastes good to me!”

Truly, the most memorable moment of the movie is the conversation between Miles and his love interest, Maya, about their obsession with wine.

Maya speaks passionately and optimistically about all wines in general.

“I started to appreciate the life of wine, that it's a living thing, that it connects you more to life. I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing. I like to think about how the sun was shining that summer and what the weather was like. I think about all those people who tended and picked the grapes. And if it's an old wine, how many of them must be dead by now. I love how wine continues to evolve, how if I open a bottle the wine will taste different than if I had uncorked it on any other day, or at any other moment. A bottle of wine is like life itself - it grows up, evolves and gains complexity. Then it tastes so good.”

Miles, on the other hand, obsesses specifically about Pinot Noir and metaphorically describes himself.

 “Um, it's a hard grape to grow, as you know. Right? It's uh, it's thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It's, you know, it's not a survivor like Cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and uh, thrive even when it's neglected. No, Pinot needs constant care and attention. You know? And in fact it can only grow in these really specific, little, tucked away corners of the world. And, and only the most patient and nurturing of growers can do it, really. Only somebody who really takes the time to understand Pinot's potential can then coax it into its fullest expression. Then, I mean, oh its flavors, they're just the most haunting and brilliant and thrilling and subtle and... ancient on the planet.”

Now who would have thought that this comment in this popular movie would suddenly cause a nationwide frenzy for Pinot Noir?

Suddenly, retailers are doubling the size of their Pinot Noir selections, wineries are planting Pinot like crazy and wholesalers can’t keep up with demand. 

Pinot is the hottest thing going thanks to insipid little Miles! He is very right on with his description of Pinot, it is very difficult to grow, the yield per acre is much smaller than other grapes and so, the American wine industry is struggling to throw as much Pinot out there as possible. 

I have some recommendations for great affordable Pinots, but first, for those of you who saw the movie, here is author Alexander Payne’s inside joke to Sideways.

The coveted bottle of 1961 Cheval Blanc that Miles cherishes and drinks out of a styrofoam cup in the end of the movie is a blend of the two grapes that earned his deepest condescension:  Cabernet Franc and Merlot.