Wine and...The Superbowl - with Barefoot's winemaker, JEN WALL

Plus our fave American Football movies and which Barefoot wines we'd pair with them.

Watch the Superbowl FOR FREE this year on TUBI

Barefoot Wine Website

Follow Barefoot and Jen on Instagram:

Barefoot IG

Jen Wall IG

It's our SEASON 2 PREMIERE! So a special episode was called for.

We sit down with Barefoot Wine's winemaker, Jen Wall, to discuss how Barefoot became the official wine sponsor of the Superbowl, which Barefoot wines pair with which Sueprbowl party food, and of course we then pair with football movies a well.

Chapters

• 0:17 We're BACK!
• 3:12 Barefoot's winemaker, Jen Wall
• 9:03 Interview with Jen
• 34:50 Jen's Favorite American Football Movie + Barefoot Wine Pairing
• 36:04 The Last Boy Scout (1991) + Barefoot Wine Pairing
• 44:08 Necessary Roughness (1991) + Barefoot Wine Pairing
• 50:13 North Dallas Forty (1979) + Barefoot Wine Pairing
• 58:35 Wrap-up!

Transcript

0:16

Welcome back everybody and hey welcome back to us too. We are finally back with season 2 of wine and The show where we pair wine with entertainment, delude ourselves into thinking you want to hear what we have to say about different pieces of pop culture and art, but know for a fact that you need to hear what we have to say about wine, because man, who knows anything about wine. And that's a great place to mention that this show is very much geared towards those who don't necessarily know a lot about wine. And that isn't to say that wine nerds won't have a lot of fun with our wine and entertainment pairings, and we always drop lots of cool. tidbits about the wines we pair. And as every wine nerd knows, there is always something new to learn about wine, especially specific wines. So even if you're a wine nerd, you're likely going to learn something new now and again, and hopefully enjoy the format of this unique show. Now, if any of you really want to get your wine nerd on with us, or just hang out with us, get a little closer to us, see what we're doing behind the scenes from show between show to show, or your movie TV comic book, music nerd. on with us as well because we do articles on both wine and the entertainment that we pair with it. Our home base is sub stack wine and dot sub stack dot com. That's where we post weekly articles on additional wine and entertainment pairings, wine industry stuff, collab with other independent writers, winers. Well, yes, that too. We collab with other independent winers. We do do that as well. But collab with other independent writers of both wine and entertainment. And that's a place where you can also support us. Sorry, whiners and writers. I'm starting that subset. That's our spinoff. We've got that coming up. Or maybe the rebrand of this whole I'm totally doing that. And whiners, whiners and writers. Jeez. Oh my gosh. That's my world. no, nobody steal that. Nobody gets that. Don't listen to this episode. Nobody steal that. Sorry. We just stumbled upon that. Sorry. Go ahead. All No, that is really good. I'm doing the same thing. I'm like, that's awesome. Yes. All right. Anyway, anyway. Well, go find us. It's not whiners and writers dot subsec dot com yet, but go find us on one and dot subsec dot com. You can also become a paid subscriber of the subsec and support us and the show. And by becoming a paid subscriber, you will unlock paid only benefits like uncut interviews, pairing directories that track all the wine and whatever pairings we've done throughout the years. There's only been one year rolling on season two now this is year two, but eventually that will be years and it's going to keep track of absolutely everything. You can also rifle through the podcast episodes they are clicking into only one category or another. So for instance, if you just want to listen to the movie episodes or the comics episodes, you can do so there that is wine and dot sub stack. until it becomes winersandwriters.substack.com. We hope to see you there. Now folks, today to kick off Pun Intended Season Two, we have a very special guest who's going to be joining us, Jen Wall, the winemaker at Barefoot Wine, one of the biggest wine brands in North America. No doubt, whoever you are, whether you're a wine nerd or casual wine drinker or not a wine drinker at all, Whoever you are listening to this, you have heard of Barefoot before. And Barefoot is the official wine sponsor of the Super Bowl. So we will be talking to Jen about how that partnership came to be, the best Super Bowl food and wine pairings. And of course, we are a wine and entertainment pairing show. So we will be pairing a Barefoot wine with our favorite American football movies. Now let's talk a little bit about Jen before she gets here. Jen has been the winemaker at Barefoot for almost 30 years now. She's coming up on her 30th anniversary. started in 1995. So yes, fellow Zillennials and Gen Xers, 1995 was 30 years ago now. We just have to accept that as a fact of life, as reality. Now, Jen has a degree in biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz. And after earning that degree, she then took a winemaking harvest internship in Sonoma County. And that's where she discovered that winemaking was truly her inspiration in what she wanted to do with her life. So she took a knowledge classes at night and for you, that it's out there in knowledge is the study of wine, microbiology, chemistry, tasting and marketing. Yeah, it's a field of study all its own. And then Jen got real world practical knowledge by working in wine sellers and in knowledge labs. She joined Barefoot as mentioned before in 1995, where in her own words, quote, she found the perfect place to make varietally correct fruit forward wines that everyone can enjoy. It should also be noted that Barefoot is the most awarded winery in the world, by which I mean they've won a lot of awards. So quick caveat to that, to win as many awards as Barefoot has, you actually have to be able to submit to a ridiculous number of competitions. Most small wineries would never be able to keep up with what a brand like Barefoot could do in that regard. But that said, Barefoot is still in the class all its own amongst its own big brand peers. So in fact, Barefoot just won value winery of the year in a competition that I follow closely. Dan Berger's 43rd annual international wine competition that was staged just two months ago on December 13th, 2024 in Santa Rosa, California. Dan has been in the wine writing and judging business for even longer than Jen's been a winemaker. Dan goes all the way back to the seventies, I believe, possibly the sixties, but I think at least the seventies. And Dan is by no means an apologist for big brand wines. He is respected by everyone in the wine trade up and down the spectrum and Barefoot just won 31 total medals in this latest competition. All but one of the wines that won these medals selling for less than $10 US a bottle, which is obscene. So value winery of the year indeed. In fact, folks, I have with me here a 1.5 liter of barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon right here. I'm holding it next to my head. It's larger than my head. is. So this is it's this is an audio podcast, but we might put this up as a short on YouTube and Instagram reels and things like that. But you can see this is a huge bottle. I tried to find a normal sized bottle. I couldn't no one so they do sell half bottles of normal size bottles of almost all their wines, but everywhere just held the 1.5 liter of this Cabernet Sauvignon. I really wanted to try the Cabernet Sauvignon. And it was This 1.5 liter, and for fun fact, this is two normal size bottles of wine in one, right? That is how much liquid is inside this bottle. And this was $12.99 US. So that is obscene. That is, that's why I was like, well, F it. I guess I'm buying the 1.5. I can't drink it all, but I'm going to buy the 1.5 liter because this 12.99, I can afford that. So value winery of the year indeed. And I also wanted to mention the barefoot, you know, to me, It's been an impressive brand. have an anecdote with a Barefoot wine that occurred during my WCET level three studies last year, an anecdote that I'm going to share with Shen when we talk to her in just a few minutes here. And I just tried the Barefoot California Cabernet Sauvignon, the 1.5 liter bottle that I just held up next to my head for the first time in preparation for this episode. And man, it was everything I wanted the Snoop Dogg 19 crimes Callie read to be we just tasted all the Snoop Dogg 19 crimes wines in the season finale of season one So the episode right before this one so go back and listen to that if you want to hear our take on the Snoop Dogg wines We paired it with it great episode guys great episode go give that a listen We paired all those wines or we picked which ones to pair with snoops Christmas album from 2008 so we did a wine and music pairing there, but the Callie read was very disappointing to me. So the Barefoot Cabernet Sauvignon, it has this similar low acidity, this what wine nerds are definitely going to call a slight sweetness on the palate, very fruit forward. But this, the Barefoot Cab has some structure to it. It's got some body, it's got some depth, it's got some chewiness on it. It works really well as a whole. And this was the structure that Cali Red was missing from 19 Crimes. Everything I wanted and it was so disappointing without it. I just barefoot has been very impressive to me. But go take go listen to our thoughts on on the Snoop Dogg wines, then come back and listen to our thoughts on the barefoot wines here. Let's talk to Jen and get this Super Bowl pre pate started. Here we go. Welcome, Jen to wine and And I know you're dialing in from New Orleans or Nolens where the Super Bowl is going to be happening on Sunday the 9th. Yes. How's the city treating you? And when was the last time you were there? Have you ever been there before now? OK, so truth be told, New Orleans is my favorite city in the world. Right. starting off on a good note. So, yes, I was here in December and July of last year. So I have been here dozens of times. It's treating me well as it always does. I'm getting to enjoy a lot of good food, a lot of good music, fantastic people. And it's always a fantastic time in New Orleans. So I invite everybody to come and visit. Yes. Yes. I've never been. So I have to get down there sometime soon. know. I know. Every time I hear it. I'm a Harry Connick Jr. fan. I need to get down there. Yes, absolutely you do. Yes. So Jen, you've been with Barefoot. You are coming up on your 30th anniversary with the company, which is Nutter Butters. Right before you joined us, we pre-recorded a little intro to this episode where I was telling all my fellow Zillennials and Gen Xers that yes, 1995 was 30 years ago. We just have to accept that as a fact. So how does it feel to be coming up on a 30th anniversary with Barefoot? this is a bit of a multi part question, but what has changed in the wine industry since you began with them? And where do see Barefoot's place in the grander scheme of things here? Yeah, so that's a great question, actually. So first of all, it's been a phenomenal experience getting to make barefoot wines for 30 years and be a part of everybody's, not everybody's, but people who enjoy barefoot wine. They're intimate family occasions, they're everyday occasions. We get to be a part of weddings and baptisms and birthdays and graduations and really those moments that people love to enjoy with their family and friends. it's been a phenomenal experience for me. It has changed in the last 30 years and I'll tell about where we are now in we were 30 years ago is 30 weren't as approachable. more complicated and rea the wine industry liked it was a prestige thing and been our brand objective I've been with their foot f want to welcome people i been able to do that by h fun logo on the label and brand name to state happens to be the same as color coordinated. So peop wine is the, you know, pin yellow bottle and we just want to make it that w to wine each and every d wines so that they are app They're easy to enjoy and they're affordable. So it's been a phenomenal experience over the last 30 years. And I think that one of the things that I love most about it is that I like to say that we have something for everyone. So if you're a wine lover, I have something in the barefoot portfolio that I can find that you will love. So whether you like dry or sweet or red or white or pink, sparkling or still, I have something that you are gonna fall in love with and you can afford to enjoy it. and share it with your family and friends. it's been a really great 30 years and coming up on September 18th, it'll be actually 30 years. But yeah, it's been many years of sharing what I love to do with lots of people. That's awesome. Real quick there, Jen, is there a big celebration for the 30 year anniversary? Not yet, not yet. You know, actually there's a multitude of anniversaries this year, so it's not just mine. So This year in 19, or excuse me, 2025, we will be celebrating the 60 year anniversary of the brand that was started in 1965. My 30th anniversary, 1995. And then in 2005, Barefoot came into the ENJ Gallo Winery and the Gallo family. So now we're one of the ENJ Gallo Winery brands in their portfolio. So we have an entire year of celebrations coming up. I suspect there'll be a lot of celebrations and I feel fortunate to be a part of it. Fantastic. Yeah, that is fantastic. And I had a fun anecdote on the topic of barefoot wine, being something for everyone, being approachable, but also being like an incredible quality for the value, for the price point. I recently took my WCET level three exam back in December. So, total wine nerd here. But thank you. And you do study groups where we all bring a bottle and we blind taste it and so on and so forth. And one of the bottles, you know, someone poured this white wine in a glass. I tasted it immediately. I was like, oh, OK, I'm pretty sure this is Sauvignon Blanc, but there's something interesting going on with this wine. And I suddenly and I started to second guess myself and I was like, I think this is bottle aged and there's all these these layers and a richness here that I wasn't expecting. And I just gave it top marks and high scores and like gave it all these in wine nerd circles. You give it tertiary notes. If you think there's bottle aging, I gave it tertiary notes. And then it was revealed it was the Barefoot Sauvignon Blanc, the latest, you know, the latest edition just bought off the shelf. So I was like, no, no bottle aging. OK, well, that was very impressive and impressed me quite a bit. Right after that wine, one of the other girls there was like, OK, now we have to pour this other white wine. They poured it. Immediately I was like, OK, this is more OK. This is a richer style. I'm getting this. And sure enough, it was a Pauille Fumé, which is one of the great Sauvignon Blanc wine regions of France. But I got to tell you, I liked the Barefoot better. Even though I recognized the difference in style, was like, you know? did. I did. came back to Dallas and I told him we mentioned this on the podcast actually last year. And so when this opportunity to have you on came and I was like, you know what? I am now a Barefoot believer. me, let's have you on. Let's talk to you because that was kind of eye opening to me. And I've been trying a lot of different Barefoot wines these past couple of weeks in preparation for this podcast. And yeah, I've been enjoying all of them. We're to talk more about that in just a bit. But first, let's get to, of course, we are here to talk about Barefoot's as the official wine sponsor of the Super Bowl. So how how did that come about and what about Barefoot and the Super Bowl made it seem like such a pairing? Yeah, exactly. So, you know, we have always wanted we meaning Barefoot to show up in moments that matter to people and football matters to people. Football is American tradition, family traditions. have generations of loyal fans of football leagues and teams. And we just thought it was a natural fit for Barefoot to partner with the NFL and work together to bring more people into wine, to bring more people into the NFL. And we've said already that we want to welcome new folks to wine. Of course, the NFL wants to welcome new users and new fans to the NFL franchise. It really gives us the opportunity to be there in those moments that matter and football tailgating and even preparing for the game, leading up to the game. People love to prepare their football food favorites. And what better way to celebrate with your family and friends and your favorite foods than to pair them with wines. that are affordable, are approachable, that are variety correct. And it just makes complete sense. So it's been a perfect partnership, a perfect pairing, if you would like to say. and we're so lucky. This is our third year with the NFL. It's our third year being the official wine sponsor of the Super Bowl leading into that. And it's funny because a lot of people don't realize that Barefoot is the official wine of the NFL, the official wine sponsor of the Super Bowl. And it's great because I've been down here in New Orleans, as you mentioned, and I've been in the retail market for the last couple of days and people are already preparing their meal planning, their appetizer planning, they're coming into the stores and like, oh, you know, I'm serving chicken wings or I'm serving, you know, in this market, a muffaletta sandwiches and what can I pair with it? And so... It's been really fun to help people prepare to tailgate for the Super Bowl. And it's going to be a fantastic time on February 9th. And we're just really glad that we get to be a part of it. Fantastic. I have a couple of friends who, of course, are in New Orleans. they are, anyone who is familiar with New Orleans knows that New Orleans takes its food very seriously. It also takes its celebratory food very seriously. So when these two things intersect, the Super Bowl and food. you can rest assured that the curated menus, in terms of the food and alcohol spirits, they're going to be interesting. And I think you're right, Barefoot fits right in that space. And I'm really excited to hear about what, and I have a couple of friends who are actually using the Barefoot kind of range to curate their menus as well. So hopefully I can get some images from the actual Super Bowl party. A quick question though, what has been your favorite thing? about that partnership in the past, what, three or four seasons, years. What's been the most sort of curious thing to come out of that, if you can share? So, you know, we get to do some really fun things with the partnership. So we've had the opportunity to go to the NFL headquarters a couple of times and work with Chef Mark, who's their executive chef, and pair Barefoot Wines and foods and, you know, have that experience where we get to share some different styles of foods and wines together and see how they perfectly come together. For example, last year we served mandarin orange chicken, which was spicy, with a barefoot Moscato. And the chilled Moscato with a hint of sweetness just balanced that spice on the palate so well. So we got to do things like that. And then we get to go out and share those menus and those food suggestions with all the people that love barefoot and love the NFL. We get to do in-person events, tailgating at games, which is really fun to share our wines with people that may not have tasted Barefoot Wine before, or didn't know that Barefoot's the official wine sponsor of the NFL. We have player appearances. There's just so many fun things about the partnership. I'm just in love with it. Last December, we did a community outreach event where we were reaching out to moms of young football players and kind of celebrating them because of all the sacrifices that parents make to allow their children to go to practices and go to special camps and getting up early in the morning and taking them to the weight room and their kids don't drive yet. So they're getting up at five in the morning and still packing the lunches and coming back and the breakfast and the school and the practice and the games. And so we worked with the saints and in practice, excuse me, and offered this really fantastic community outreach event. So we get to do those kind of things. So the partnership has been fantastic. We love it. And we're very thankful that it just really works well together. Fantastic. Yeah. And on that topic, this isn't exactly a question, just something I want our listeners to hear. And Jen, if you want to comment or add anything to this topic at the end, please do. But I wanted to mention that another thing to come out of this partnership are the two sweepstakes that Barefoot and the Super Bowl have done in the past two years. last year, I noticed that Barefoot had an amazing partnership with Donna Kelsey, mother to the Kelsey brothers, right? And by the way, I literally bought this this week. I didn't know it existed, but it is Kelsey mixed cereal. Yes. All right. this is this is literally a box of Reese's peanut butter puffs, cinnamon toast, crunch and Lucky Charms all just mixed together in the same box. I'm assuming it's like the two brothers favorite cereals just in a a suicide bowl kind of a thing where it's like everything kind of goes together. I haven't opened it yet, but I was like, yes, please. And I had to take that home. But you did a partnership with Donna Kelsey, their mother, and she had her quote unquote starting wine up. Adorable. And a lucky winner got to join Donna and you in the barefoot bandwagon box, which is a suite at the Super Bowl, where the winner got to watch the Super Bowl, ask questions about football and or wine without judgment. So like sticking to that topic of like you don't even have to be necessarily a football fan yet or a wine fan yet, but come and experience all this with us. And I stumbled across that sweepstake from last year first, and I was wondering, wait, that was last year. What are they gonna do this year? And then I stumbled upon what you did this year, which was you had a partnership with the Olympic gymnast, Simone Biles, offering an experience to come watch the Green Bay versus Chicago rivalry game that took place back on November 17th. That winner got to watch the game with Biles and you from that bandwagon box suite once again. And I have to ask, Do you have any idea how you're going to top Simone Biles going into next year? Do you have any idea what direction might be going from here? And what is the best place for listeners to follow Barefoot and whatever sweepstakes or event or opportunity comes next? Because I did not know these were even happening until I stumbled upon them. So I would love to let people know where to keep track of you guys for that. Yeah, so there's a lot of questions in there. So first of all. So I said it wasn't a question. There absolutely were tons of questions, weren't there? Welcome to our world here, So the first and most important thing is for folks to follow Barefoot and know where the opportunities are for sweepstakes such as the Donna Kelsey opportunity, which was actually at Arrowhead Stadium on November 20th. And that was when the Chiefs played the Eagles. So she had both of her sons. Hey, you know, wait, how do know who to root for? And she's like, I root for the offense, I root for the offense, because they're never both in game at the same time. So that was brilliant. But so we did that. And then we came, we came back last year, and we did Simone Biles, which was amazing. We were in Chicago, and we were rooting for the Bears. And she's amazing, by the way. So you know, what I can say is this is that people should follow Barefoot on Instagram, Barefoot Instagram. And I'm on Instagram also at Barefoot Jen and we're constantly sharing all of these opportunities, food pairing ideas, wine cocktail ideas, anything exciting that's going on with Barefoot, you're gonna find it on our Instagram page. And we also have Facebook as well. So, but first and foremost, Instagram is the place to go if you wanna be one of the considered contestants of whatever we come up with this year. which I cannot reveal to you, of course. of course, it's gonna be amazing and fun. And as you can imagine, hundreds and hundreds of people apply to have these opportunities with these fabulous women. And it's just such a special time to be there and share those experiences and share their football views, barefoot wine. Of course, there's great food and it's always a good time. So yeah, we're very excited. Go ahead, Dave. Sorry, I was just going to say we will have links to all their social media accounts down below in the description of this episode, folks. If you want a clickable link, just look down there. Absolutely. Perfect. And just real quick, Jen, when does the Jen Wall produced barefoot bowl happen? I'm just saying. There's a thing there. The Jen Wall produced The Jen Wall produced barefoot bowl. I'm just saying. That's funny. It would involve a lot of wine drinking, that's for Absolutely, absolutely. You can be on my team, Dallas. Please, let me know. We'll be here. being that this is an episode, of course, about the Super Bowl and barefoot wines, we come to the question that is on at least my mind, and I'm sure everyone else's as well. What are the best barefoot game day food pairings according to Jen Wall? You're curating the menu for the Super Bowl party. tailgating, what's on your menu and what are you pairing? Okay, so that's a great question. first and foremost, I will tell you out of the multitude of wines in the Barefoot portfolio, the most versatile wine that we have is our Barefoot Bubbly Brute Cuvée, which is a dry California champagne. you can pair, as you know, Dave, you're a very knowledgeable Psalm here. you compare a a brute with almost anything. So whether you're going for your football food favorites like fried chicken, or even popcorn, or even pizza, you compare Barefoot Bubbly, Brute Cuvée, Champagne, California Champagne with all your foods. So I think that is for me, a favorite that will always be chilled and ready to go. I always like to have a DIY like mimosas bar, using lots of different fruits, lots of different juices and spirits as well. So people can mix and mingle with the champagnes because what's better than champagne is champagne mixed into something creative that you made yourself. So that's always fun to do. And we have tons of barefoot inspired recipes on our website, which is barefootwine.com. So then I would say you want to have barefoot Pinot Grigio because barefoot Pinot Grigio is our number one wine. in our portfolio, but it's very expressive. It's very fruitful. There's a lot. There you go. was wondering if you had some. There's tons of tree fruit, lots of pear, lots of citrus as a really clean finish. It balances out very well. It cleans out. You just want that other sip, but it goes well with things like, bruschetta or again, like a, if you're going to have a new Orleans inspired tailgate. You can have that Creole chicken. any of those things, even a shrimp cocktail, those are the things that you would pair with the barefoot pinot grigio. And then I think you have to have Chardonnay. You have to have barefoot Chardonnay because Chardonnay is the most popular white grapes in the world. you can't, you would be remiss without including a Chardonnay. And Chardonnay goes with anything that has that creamy texture. So I love pairing Chardonnay with the texture versus the flavor. Cause you know, basically most Chardonnays have apple and pineapple aromas and flavors, and they have those nuances of oak that we talked about earlier. But anything that has that creamy flavor or that creamy texture, you want to pair that with the Chardonnay. And that's always a hit. It's a grand slam or a touchdown. Also, you want to have Cabernet Sauvignon because Cabernet Sauvignon is the most popular red wine varietals enjoyed across the world. And that's where when you go towards like the sliders or your meat pizza. Oh, you got it. Yep. so, Cabernet Sauvignon has that really rich, velvety texture. has really beautiful viscosity. It has integrated oak. It's big, dark fruit in the aromas and the flavor. And it's just a beautiful, silky and smooth, lingering It's silky, so all the things. It's so good. And so, and then lastly, what I would say is, For your sweet seekers, you wanna have Moscato. And Moscato is not only important because of the people who like sweet wines, but it's important if you're gonna have anything spicy in your repertoire of foods that you're going to be offering. So you wanna have that sweet wine to balance off any spice or heat in the foods that you're gonna be preparing or serving. So, and then also if you have sweet treats, Moscato always goes well with sweet treats as well. So those would be my focus wines, and they will be my focus wines at my celebration. Little random question here. You get the opportunity to turn someone with one, turn someone onto the barefoot range with one glass of a vintage of a bottle. What is that for you? So typically, If I'm talking to someone who's not familiar with barefoot, then they're a new friend to wine So if I'm talking to a new friend to wine I'm going to introduce them through Moscato because more new users come into the one category through Moscato Than any other wine because it's expressive. It has floral notes. It's fruity It's easy to drink and it pairs with a lot of foods and especially if you like spicy foods and even like The sweetness and the acidity will pair well with fried foods. So, Moscato is definitely that number one wine. And what we see is people come in through Moscato usually, and then they migrate through the Barefoot portfolio. Then they're more apt to try, I want Moscato. Then I'm gonna go to Pink Moscato. Then I'm gonna try a Rosé. Then I'm gonna try a Pinot Grigio. And of course we have all these offerings. And then they know, they understand that Barefoot has a distinct wine style. It's very fruit forward. All the chillable wines have our signature spritz, Hinta CO2 that lifts that fruit and provides that balance that you want on every single sip. So long-winded answer, but the answer would be this. So that's your one barefoot wine. So going in the opposite direction, if someone wanted to do a flight of barefoot wines, let's say they were going to pair it with the Super Bowl itself. It was going to be one wine per quarter of the game. Maybe even, let's say you have one, a fifth wine in reserve if it goes into overtime. So for that nail biting moment at the end. So what is that flight? What are those five wines for you? I love to call this an escalation flight where you're escalating with the game, you're escalating with whatever it is you're watching. I love doing this all the time. But for you on Super Bowl day, what are those five wines? Yeah, so that's a great question. I love that. Well, when I... share wines with folks, always go, I always taste them from dry to sweet. Because you don't want to serve a sweet wine and then a dry wine because then it will come off as acidic or it won't come off the way you intended it to be when you're crafting it. So I would always start with the tailgate with bubbly. And then I would go into first quarter with barefoot Pinot Grigio. Yeah, that because there's so many options with it with the tailgate foods the football food favorites as I call them and then I would move into Chardonnay because then you know, you're almost at halftime and you're getting into those more savory foods and then I would definitely move in the third quarter and I would move into Cabernet Sauvignon because at that point you're like, okay half times over I'm ready for a burger. I'm ready for a cheeseburger. I want some meatball a meatball sandwich or a or roast beef po' boy. I want to have that red wine. You want that rich red wine to pair with those foods. But then I think that as you move into the fourth quarter, you're getting excited, your team's about to win. You're like, okay, I want to be in that celebratory mood again. I'm gonna go back to bubbly, not to Brut Cuvée. I'm gonna go all the way to pink Moscato, California champagne. And I'm gonna pair it with King's cake, because there's no better way to celebrate the Super Bowl in New Orleans than a glass of bubbly. You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing. yeah. I'm shipping King's cake back for the Super Bowl. Absolutely. gosh. So yeah, that's my lineup. All right. Beautiful. the not order. Beautiful. I love that. Yeah. Yeah. Now I'm hungry. I need to, oh yeah. Sorry. Go on, No, no, no. Actually, why don't you bring us home, Oh, yeah. So let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it with the flourish here. Now this, course, is our Act Four here. Act Four. You can tell I have a theatrical cinematic background. With our fourth quarter here, we do wide entertainment pairings here, of course, in the podcast. We like to pair movie and television with wine. What's your favorite football movie or show and which barefoot wine would you drink or pair with it? Yeah, so that's a great question. by far my favorite football movie is The Blind Side because I love the character, the mom, Sandra Bullock and that mom character. Like it just pulls up my heartstrings and I have sons. So I feel it. in all the right places every time I'm like, So when I watch The Blind Side, I love to have popcorn and Chardonnay. Nice. Like a pottery popcorn and Chardonnay. Can't go wrong. It's a movie favorite. It's a movie staple. And I just sit there and enjoy both of them. Good call. Good pairing. Yeah. Excellent. That's going to satisfy every time. Well, thank you so much for being with us here, Jen. Enjoy New Orleans. Enjoy the Super Bowl. Thanks for having me. Let's do it again. All right, Dallas. So that was Jen's favorite American football movie and barefoot pairing. But now we got to do our own. So that's right. Now here's the thing, though, when we were discussing this in pre-production, you mentioned that you may have two. Two. Was that OK? So since you have two, you're going to go first. Fair, fair, fair, fair, So. My two and the reason I have two folks, mean what I always have to but the reason this time my excuse this time for having two is that my number one pick for my favorite movie, American football movie of all time is a little, it's a stretch to call it a football movie. I call it a football movie, it's kind of like Die Hard being a Christmas movie but more of a stretch than that because Die Hard is a Christmas movie but. It's one of those things where when you can argue whether a movie is a Christmas movie or not, this is going to be arguable if it's a football movie or not. Football is a piece of the movie, no question. It takes place kind of sorta in the realm of football, but it is an action thriller movie written by Shane Black, directed by RIP Tony Scott, starring Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans from 1991. The last Boy Scout. Great movie, great movie. It's a great movie. Well, you know what? It's funny. More and more, I think as time goes on, it holds up a little bit less and less. It's very much of its time. But there are elements of the movie that do hold up the direction. Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans are amazing together, which is really cool because apparently they hated each other. during the filming of this. And they could not be in the same room with each other. They started to film, they did stand-ins when they had to be in the same scene together. And then they would film each other's parts respectively alone with the stand-in and they would just cut between. And I was like, man, that's too bad because seemingly they have great chemistry. There's some great interviews with Wayans who discusses it's just a difference in style on set. Yes. And Willis was so on the ascendant in this time. This was post. Die Hard, which made him an action star. Die Hard 2 was 90, so I think this was right after Die Hard 2 even. So he was a blockbuster star. I don't know when his marriage troubles with Demi Moore really began. I don't know if it was around this time, but probably like everyone who has this meteoric rise, you wind up just having, you you've never had that before. You've never lived that life. You've never had those kind of accolades. You never had that kind of pressure on you either and It's funny because in the movie they're kind of supposed to they kind of get along but they also kind of don't they also kind of hate each other they're from two very different worlds So it were I think the dynamic works really well for the movie But I I rewatched the movie most of it really does still hold up. Although the gender politics got awful He has, oh my God. So Bruce Willis' character is just like a dick. And he's now, I mean, he's become a dick because he's so depressed and, you know, he was more, he's called the last Boy Scout because he was moral at one point and lost everything because of it. Or he lost his career because of it. And then he still has a family who he just kind of ignores and shits on. And secondary to everything. Oh, and he blames them. So the wife has an affair. And at the end of the movie, the wife is like, I'm so sorry, please forgive me. Bruce Willis never says I'm so sorry. So he's basically absent in their lives, like completely, which is why she has an affair. And the movie makes no qualms about that. Like that is why it happens. And he's a dick of a father and he's a dick of a husband. And yet at the end of the movie, he just gets to, he never has to apologize for anything. He is just the last Boy Scout who is right about everything. So there are elements of the movie where you're like, oh, no, that, okay, I'm not on board that. But the action and the manly action part of it outside of some of the gender politics, oh, and his daughter actually does totally save the day at one point, played by, oh no, oh no, Scream Queen, she became a Scream Queen. She was on Halloween five, she was the kid. And she was the kid in this one too. And I forgot she was the kid in this. She was, I gotta look up her name, hold on. Last Boy Scout. Neve Campbell was too old by that point, but Danielle Harris. Danielle Harris. So yeah, she plays the kid, the teenage daughter in this one, amazing. She is great. There is an absurd scene where she's able to pawn off a gun to her dad in the middle of a Mexican standoff. And it's just like, what is happening? She just shows up with this stuffed animal. Anyway, you have to see this movie. It's very Shane It's bonkers, but it is good. Yes. And Shane Black, for those who are unaware, he did Lethal Weapon back in the day, Predator. And then he's kind of come into his own. He's very blackly comedic. I don't think people really understood the black comedy in his early movies. But eventually he went on to do Last Action Hero with Schwarzenegger, which is hugely blackly comedic and very much a satire of the entire genre. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which really cemented his style. Iron Man 3. So The Long Kiss Good Night with Gina Davis and Samuel L. Jackson. Great film. If you haven't seen that film, go watch it immediately. Yes. So this is very much him. But during a time where people were taking him very seriously, can tell Tony Scott is taking it very seriously as well. Like the direction, the acting, it's funny, but not funny. I don't think anyone quite gets the satirical elements in the Black Humor elements. Anyway, it takes place in its corruption in football that is kind of behind the scenes. It opens. in a big football scene and kind of closes in a big football scene. There's no football all throughout the rest of it though. So it's kind of a stretch to call it a football movie, but it would be my favorite. And I would say this movie is so dirty. So, oh, oh, by the way, young Halle Berry, young, young Halle Berry in one of very first lead roles. She dies kind of early on, but it's when she shows up and her voice is so young and high pitch, you're just like, what? What is happening? I'm so used to you being like adult Halle Berry and this is almost teenage Halle Berry. She's so young. So yeah, amazing cast, great cast. But this movie is so dirty, so grimy. Everyone in the movie has their issues, both emotional and physical. So it's funny, at one point Damon Waynes takes a shower in the middle of the movie. he doesn't get to, he goes to start the shower. Then he gets punched by Bruce Willis and kicked out. But nobody takes a shower in this movie. Everyone is so dirty, so filthy that I would pair this with Barefoot Sevillon Blanc because it is like a shower for your mouth where it has this- heard it here first, Dave just said, unironically, a shower for your mouth. Go on, go on. It has this wonderful bracing acidity, which Sevillon Blanc can be known for. It's bright, it's fresh, it's lively, it's got a little bit of depth and complexity to go with some of the depth and complexity of the movie. But I sipped this while watching The Last Boy Scout and it was like, cleansed you, it kept you feeling clean while you watched this movie. It counterbalanced it perfectly. So that is my pairing. I thought that was perfect for The Last Boy Scout. Now, if I had to pick a true blue football movie. And I picked this without realizing it was from the exact same year, 1991. And so apparently this was a formative year for me without without even quite realizing it, or at least as far as football is concerned. And that is a movie called Necessary Roughness. If anyone remembers Necessary Roughness starring Scott Bakula, Robert Lagia, Sinbad, Hector, Hector Elizondo. and a very young Jason Bateman, who is like so, so baby faced. It's not even funny. He doesn't have a lot to do in the first half, but he actually is kind of one of the leads in the second half. And this movie, I saw it in the theater, and Cathy Ireland. Okay, boyhood crush Cathy Ireland. She was, and this movie is why. Lots of posters, Cathy Lots of posters, and this movie was why she became a boyhood crush for me. Now, Sad but true these days, she is an ultra Christian, ultra conservative person. So oops, not not that kind of ruins my boyhood crush. Damn it. But at the time, she was definitely a boyhood crush. and Rob Schneider as as the football announcer, a very young Rob Schneider, who also is totally baby faced in this movie. It's crazy. But this movie is I saw who I think also has become pretty conservative individual. I have that. yes, Rob Schneider. Actually, yes, yes, yes. This is this is true or has said some very troubling things on social media, I believe. So, yeah, he's not a beloved figure anymore. Kathy Ireland, think, is still doing fine. Like she's not. But but unfortunately, she is great. Yeah, yeah, I kind of when when prepping for this podcast, I looked her up on Instagram or just did a quick Google. I'm like, what is she up to? I haven't even heard from her and like massive furniture. Right, right, right. And she's she's doing her thing. But I was like, oopsie, oopsie. She's let's just say she's very happy with everything in the country right now. So, yeah. Now, this is a movie that is directed by Stan Drogati. Stan Drogati, I do want to ask that we always say like film, film, Twitter, film, Instagram. We're not on anything in particular. We're everywhere. So film, Internet film people out there. Does anyone know why this was the final Stan Drogati movie in 1991? He never directed anything after Necessary Roughness and Necessary Roughness broke even. It basically made its money back. It was not a huge bomb by any stretch and he didn't pass away until 2018. And Hollywood Reporter, everyone announced his death. He passed away at the age of 85 in Los Angeles in 2018. but he just never, and no, there's nowhere. I've searched high and low and cannot figure out why he stopped directing things or what happened to him after 1991, but he is the director. Mr. Mom? Not Mr. Mom. Yep, Mr. Mom. Yep. Mr. Mom. He did Love at First Bite, he did Mr. Mom, the Tom Hanks movie, The Man with One Red Shoe, She's Out of Control with Tony Danza, and then Necessary Roughness, and then nothing. And I'm so curious because that is an enormous gap. He was also married to a model, think. A huge He was married twice. Yeah, he was married to someone they divorced. And then he got married. I think he remarried later and stayed with that person for a while. But yeah, I can find nothing as to why he just he just fucked off out of a professional film career. The wine mystery guys the well another wine mystery another movie movie What did we just call it? We did we called him. yeah, you know what then I may put this in our new whiners writers a whiners and writers mystery So if anyone knows why Stan Drogati stopped directing after that I'd love to know because this sir roughness was not it wasn't a runaway smash success but it had a $13.5 million budget and made $26.3 million in the US, which is almost exactly breaking even. And that's just domestic theatrical. So it did fine. But anyway, this is college football, and it is just a charming, charming football movie. I can't recommend it enough. Don't expect anything groundbreaking. It's a comedy, so it's lighthearted. It's fluffy, but it is serious about its football. And it is about a loser team that has to, they're not even trying to win like the championship or anything. No, this movie is about them finding a way to win one game at all. It's just their meteoric attempt, rise to winning one single game. That is what the goal is in this thing. So very low stakes in that regard. But it is absolutely charming. The cast is incredible. I like this. I love this movie a lot. It's my favorite football movie. And I would for necessary roughness, I would actually go with the Pinot Grigio of Barefoot Wine because it doesn't need that bracing acidity of the Semi-Homme Blanc. It's much more level in its acidity and sweetness factor. It's not sweet at all. It's a very dry wine, but it's clean. It's ever so slightly crisp without being too crisp. It has that gentleness, fluffiness, lightness, just easy drinkingness that this movie is as well. It is easy viewing. And I think that Pinot Grigio and this necessary roughness, they're just a little match made in heaven. So that's my pair in man. I dig it. I dig it. I like both of those for sure. Yeah. Now, when we first started this, whole idea of doing this barefoot episode pairing it with their Super Bowl sponsorship. I was excited because I come from a football family, football background. I played football, all this stuff. Nobody knows that, but I played football, played lots of football. And it was almost fated. I had no choice in the matter. My dad basically dropped me off it. His dad was like, look at you. You're playing football. Yeah, 100%. And your name. Don't forget the name. So football has always been a constant in my life and I remember seeing this film. I was probably 15 the first time I saw it and it had such a such a sort of gorilla, even a gorilla, it was early days gorilla filmmaking, at least the style because it had this sort of embedded quality to it. The film itself was released in I believe 79. date right here because I know it was filmed two years prior to the release but the film itself stars some amazing characters, actors, stars Nick Nolte in what I think is his best role ever. It stars Charles Durning, who is easily one of my favorite actors of all time. As a writer. loved him in Home for the Holidays last year. my God, I've written for this man and he's... You know, there's no way he's gonna ever be in anything I'm playing, clearly. You're short on time, probably. Yeah, tell me about it. So real quick, I'll you the premise. It's a society in which Major League sporting events have replaced Sunday worship as the religion of choice. North Dallas 40, that's name of the film, appears like a desecration at the altar. The film is directed by Ted. Kachaf, who also did the apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. It was written by a former Dallas Cowboy player who, after retirement, wrote this novelization of the reality of himself and the players. It is so gritty. It is so dynamic. It stars professional football players, some professional football players who've never acted before who do these amazing turns in these roles. It just blew my mind when I first saw this film. And again, I was like 15 years old. And it's one of my dad's favorite films. And I didn't see it again until I was probably 35, so 20 years. And I remember sitting in silence for about an hour after I watched the film for the second time. That's how potent and powerful it was for me. So again, the film is called North Dallas 40. You're going to see some very familiar faces in this film. As I said, it is directed by Ted Kocheth. The screenplay and the original novel is by Peter Ghent, who was a professional football player with the Dallas Cowboys and I think a few other teams. It stars Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, Charles Durning, Dale Haddon, name you guys recognize, Bo Svensson, and John Matuszak. For those of you who don't know, don't remember. You probably remember his face. John Matuszak was a football player who got the ad who was bitten by the acting bug. And he started in this film and a few others. But his most famous role is in the film Goonies. And if you don't know who he is, he played the deformed sloth in the Goonies. And You know, I always used to wonder who that actor was. Years later, I realized who he was. But he was such a gregarious personality. He was a giant by all intents and for all intents and purposes. Six-eight, which is crazy for an actor. And almost 300 pounds, bitten by the acting bug. He was phenomenal in North Dallas 40. The film is so dynamic and it's so... real and the characters are so, I mean, they sort of jump off the screen at you. It's basically about the fight of these actors who are these professional athletes who have to decide how long they can take this abuse from a league that seems to just sort of eat them up without any compensation. Remember, this was in the 60s and 70s when, you know, we didn't necessarily give too much thought to the long lasting effects of the abuse on the bodies and minds of these athletes. which this mirrored what was actually happening at the time because if anyone knows there was a couple of massive football professional athlete NFL strikes at the time for this very reason. So the film is phenomenal. It is by far the greatest sports film ever made in my opinion. Nick Nolte. has a turn in this film that is, it's difficult to describe because all the characters are so accessible and they're so real and they're so pitiful in certain ways. And when you're watching the film, you know what their reality is likely going to be after they leave this league, after they leave this team. There are two of the final scenes. I think the greatest sort of punctuations in cinema history in terms of the narrative It just kicks my butt all around and If I'm pairing this film with a barefoot Offering its pre its it's going to be the reasoning. I tried it with the saw and the cab and And it quite fit But Barefoot's California Riesling is, it has a refreshingly kind of sweet quality about it. Not nearly as sweet as the Moscato or, you know. But there's an un-oaked kind of very expressive sweetness that is very clear in the mid-palate. And this film has a sweetness to it because these characters really just They want to play their favorite sport. That's what they want to do. They just want to play their favorite sport. And unfortunately, everyone else wants them to be a cog in the machine and a part of the business. And so there's sort of sweetness in terms of their, that sort of desire to just do the thing that they always were good at or wanted to do. It mirrors what's happening in the Riesling, I think. Yeah, that's my pairing. Go see North Dallas 40. Go stream North Dallas 40. I'm playing anywhere. It should, David. Art House, maybe an Art House. It should be. It is so great. North Dallas, and I'm just going to take a hut second to North. North... What's the full title? North Dallas 40. North Dallas 40. Okay, yep, you can get it. Fandango at Home has it for streaming to buy or rent. Rent for $3.99, so hey, yeah, it's out there. I don't know if it's streaming for free anywhere, but it is available for digital purchase or Pay for it, people. Pay for it. Pay for it. Yeah, of course. One way or the other. All right, folks. This has been season two premiere of wine and we are going to see you again very shortly here. Next episode is going to be a special Valentine's Day episode where we tackle our two favorite romantic movies. One for each of us and bring our wine pairings to the table for that. So expect that coming next week and then we have quite a year lined up for you. We will check you then. Until then, once again, winand.substack.com. Go check us out there. That's our home base online. And you can keep up with us, support us, read the other things, the other articles and other blah, blah, blah that we love to you. love to blah, blah. We have an epic non-alcoholic wine tasting coming up on this podcast as well. So we have so much. But we will check you then. Join us next time for the Valentine's Day episode and we'll have more on the rest of it at the end. Ciao for now, guys. Take care. Later guys. you you I'm glad she mentioned the Gallup thing. That's good. Well, it's because the original owners don't own it anymore. Like they sold sold it. But I don't know if you listen to the to that podcast story of barefoot that I sent you last year. But like the story of the original founders is fascinating as well. And how they it's cool because they were business people that came into wine. And so they didn't really understand wine. But at the same time, they didn't understand the wine business either. So they had lots of but they figured shit out in ways that they there was a market they just need to get to. Right. And they but they were so laser focused on like, okay, and they took everything from a business perspective. And usually that said in a very negative way, like, you you would say that and you're like, so don't give a shit about the product. And it wasn't that it was but they problem solved things in ways that were fascinating to listen to from someone like you or me who are so not business minded. What so fucking ever.