SIDEWAYS (2004) Paired with Wines That Embody Its Characters

We did BOTTLE SHOCK, so we had to do the better of the two 00's wine movies - SIDEWAYS. 

We discuss "The Sideways Effect". "The French Paradox", how both dovetailed to alter the American wine industry, and why this movie still matters. And then pair wines to match certain characters.

THE WINES:

• Korbin Kameron 2021 Merlot, Moon Mountain District, Sonoma (Maya and Victoria)
• 2021 Testamatta Bibi Graetz Toscana (Miles)

Transcript

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Sideways was released October 22nd, 2004, by Fox Searchlight Pictures. It received widespread acclaim from critics and is now regarded as one of the greatest films of the 2000s. At the 77th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Thomas Hayden Church, Best Supporting Actress, Virginia Madsen, and Best Adapted Screenplay, the last of which it won. It is mildly surprising the Paul Giamatti's performance was not nominated, as it is the primary thing most people remember after seeing the movie. Case in point, Sideways' most significant contribution to the culture was the shockwaves it sent through the wine industry as consumer behavior changed seemingly overnight, thanks to one single exchange spoken by Paul Giamatti's Miles. Do not sabotage me. If you want to be a fucking lightweight, then that's your call, but do not sabotage me. Oh, aye aye, Captain, you got it. And if they want to drink Merlot, we're drinking Merlot. No, if anybody orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am not drinking any fucking Merlot! Okay, okay, relax, Miles. Jesus, no Merlot. With that melodramatic yet otherwise throwaway moment, American consumers started to abandon Merlot en masse. And Pinot Noir, the grape that Miles waxes poetic about numerous monologues throughout the movie, became a superstar while Merlot's sales plummeted. This became known as the Sideways Effect. But, in truth, there was a previous similar effect from a popular broadcast that led to Merleau's demise nearly 13 years earlier. In November of 1991, 60 Minutes aired a feature called The French Paradox. It effectively asks, If all the French consume are cheese, bread, and cigarettes, how the hell are their hearts still beating? The answer, investigators implied, was red wine. The effect on the industry was immediate and extreme, and it served as a kind of rough draft for what would come later with Sideways. Across California, vineyards expanded rapidly, and many white variations or varieties were replanted or grafted over to red to appease public demand. Madeleine Trafon, the first female American master somelier who had been working in wine since 1977, said, Quote, I was working the floor at the rattlesnake club in Detroit at the time, and it was like somebody hit a switch. Suddenly, people that never drank wine would plop down and say, No martini tonight, we want red wine, unquote. And she had to contend not only with an unexpected spike in wine sales, but a clientele that had no idea what they liked. Quote, Most people's concept of red wine was Cabernet, and they looked to me to give them a bottle that was like that, only softer, unquote. Merlot was the obvious fit. The sun demand for Merlot sent wineries scrambling for Merlot fruit, juice, wine, anything they could get their hands on. Planting swelled accordingly, and the tendency to plant Merlot in less than ideal places, places that were growing white grapes, not red, gained traction at both the macro state and the micro vineyard level. In the end, the market was flooded with a lot of Merlot grapes in the wrong places, and very rapidly people started turning their noses up at it. Meanwhile, in the wake of Sideways, Pinot plantings in California increased 170%. Which to put that put that into perspective, plantings overall have only increased seven to eight percent in that same timeframe. This is especially ironic as Pinot is, as Miles states in the movie. even more finicky and difficult to grow than Merlot, meaning Pinot now being in the same position as Merlot was in 2004, many bottom shelf and bulk bottlings of exceptionally poor quality Pinot abounded. And Pinot can rarely work as blends with other grapes, making its quality stand out even more than the easily blendable Merlot, where people could have blended in a little bit of something else to make low-quality Merlot seem like it was better quality than it actually was, and Pinot you could not do the same with. In retrospect, the sideways effect seems to have been the enormous surge in popularity for Pinot versus a comparatively modest decline in Merlot sales. Because at the end of the day, the smoothness, fruitiness, and overall easy drinking quality of Merlot is what makes it stand out. This entire saga is no better encapsulated than in the end of Sideways itself, when Miles drinks a legendary 1961 Chateau Chevroblanc out of a styrofoam cup in a fast food diner. This is a priceless bottling of Merlot from Bordeaux, a wine Miles was saving to celebrate his getting back together with his ex-wife. His hatred of Merlot was due to her loving it. And his finally re-embracing it, Miles unquestionably knew it was Merlot, or at least I say so, was him letting go of the past, moving forward into a new potential future. Just as we all should, perhaps, let go of TV talking heads and fictional narratives informing us what we should drink and why. So, folks, I'm here to drink some Merlot, look side-eyed at Pinot, and talk about this legendary character study dramedy cum wine movie sideways. Let's get to it. Ventertain. Yes sir! We'll have a real good time! He's Dave, and I'm Dallas, and this is Ventertainment. We have opinions on just about everything. Sometimes those opinions are spot on. Sometimes they go down easier with a glass of wine. This is Ventertainment, the Wine and Entertainment Pairing Podcast. Welcome back everyone. This is a podcast where we pair wine with entertainment. It is as simple as that. Now, before we hit our movie today, we first have to challenge Dallas with the line trivia question of the week. All right. All right. Yep, let's do it. Merlot is the primary grape in which Bordeaux regions? A, Madok, B, Saint Emilion, C, Pomerol, D, Margot, or E, all of the above. And once again for the listeners, Merlot is the primary grape in which Bordeaux regions? Medoc, Saint Emilion, Pomerol, Margot, or all of the above. uh man, uh it's definitely primary in Saint Emilian. Uh I believe yes. and uh hold on. Is it all of the above? No, it's B. That's my answer. Saint Emilian? Yeah. It can be any mix of them. You wanna throw any you wanna just gamble and throw one more in there? Or you wanna stick to your gun? Saint Emilion and D Margot. Completely wrong. Saint Amelion's right. Havrock St. Amelia is correct. Yes. All right. Margot is not though. It is Pomerol and Saint Emilian. Ah. Are the two. They're the two most prominent of the Merlot, and Merlot is coming from the right bank of Bordeaux, folks. And right bank, left bank, Bordeaux, there's a river that runs right down Merlot and it's divides it right into two halves. So you'll always hear left bank and right bank. Um, and the left and right are when you're looking at the map. So it's the left side of the map versus the right side of the map, not. when you're in any of these countries or anything like that, or which direction you're facing. It's literally when you're looking down at a map. It is the left and the right side of that map. Uh the left bank is Cabernet Sevillon heavy almost always. It's that in Cab Franc, predominantly some Merlot can be in there, but very little. cause Cab Sab just grows so much better in the soil there. It's granitic soil and Merlot needs clay rich soil. And that is the right bank where it is predominantly Merlot with a little bit of cab sab. Blend it in there with it to balance it out. Well if if uh I I will say this. Um I'm I'm great with general trivia and about very specified things. So I did win a television game trivia game show back in the day, but there was no wine. There was no wine. Well, and also you you like your your original selection was correct. It just wasn't complete. So exactly, exactly. I made it a little hard this time. All right, so now it's time, folks, let's get to our movie. The movie today is of course Sideways from 2004, directed by Alexander Payne and based on a novel written by Rex Pickett. this is going to be we're gonna start with the Elevage section of our episode. Elevage being when a wine is aging in a container like stainless steel, concrete, or oak. So this is part of the making of the film, kind of like as it's percolating before the release, so how it was made. Sideways was optioned to be developed as a movie before the novel Sideways had even been published. It does happen, it does happen, but It's because no one wanted to publish it. All right. So often movie studios, especially big studios, will get an advanced copy of a novel, especially when a publisher is already on board and they're like, Yes, Simon and Schuster are going to publish this novel in October of this year. Do you want first dibs, especially if it's a big name author? So it's they're next to Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so you know, studios will get on board and start developing the movie right away so they can claim the rights before the novel actually even lands. But in this case They found zero interest in the novel. So when novelist Rex Pickett came home to his rent-controlled Santa Monica apartment to find a flashing message from director Alexander Payne on his answering machine, he had just had his credit card declined for a $6 charge at Baja Fresh. Rex's publishing agent had become a film TV agent at William Morris, now William Morris Endeavor, but the novel was rejected soundly by every publisher, in many cases, scathingly so. And they were having equal bad luck with the film rights. Six months into the process, Rex's agent had a nervous breakdown and left the business entirely. So when Rex saw that flashing light on his message machine, he assumed it was creditors. To his eternal surprise, it was his new agent. Excitedly telling him that Alexander Payne, hot off of 1999's election, go check out our episode where we covered that movie, by the way. That will be in our archives. So go check out Election 1999 in the Ventertainment Archives. Had read the script and loved it. And the second message was Payne himself talking about it. His assistant, Brian Beery, read it and gave it a ringing endorsement, which is the only reason Payne read it. Don't forget, assistants are the secret to how anything happens in Hollywood. Piss off the assistant and things will die. Exactly. Don't don't treat the assistants poorly. It's a bad idea. Now, two months later, the film was greenlit with a $10 million budget by Artisan Entertainment and was announced in the trades. And Rex's agent still couldn't get the novel published after that news broke. A few months later, Payne called Rex ostensibly to get a recommendation on the wine, and then mentioned that, by the way, he was gonna do this other film with Jack Nicholson first. That film, of course, became about Schmidt, and Sideways was put on hold for three years. And Rex feared he wouldn't that Payne wouldn't return to it. The deal with Artisan fell through in the intervening years, a blessing in disguise, as that company would soon reveal financial issues that would send it under before Sideways was ever made. And in 2003, Fox Searchlight was able to secure the rights to Sideways from Artisan as Pain did, in fact, return to the project. With Paul Giamatti in tow as the lead. Now note this was before American Splendor had been released, and Rex had no idea who Paul Giamatti was. The world basically had no idea who Paul Giamatti was, but the casting was impeccable. The movie changed the character of Miles from a struggling screenwriter to an English teacher who wanted to write novels, so a struggling novelist. Though otherwise, the film remains largely faithful to the novel. Speaking of the novel, After more than 100 rejection letters, Pickett's new agent at Trident Media Group went back out with his still unpublished novel. And this is the resurgence when Payne is now back and doing sideways. And so it now has a $16 million budget and is going forward again. And Pickett's new agent uh what ended up selling it in a fire sale to St. Martin's Press for $5,000. It was published in June 2004, four months before the film was released. But note, the novel has since spawned three sequels, though Payne has stated he has no interest in making a filmic sequel to the movie. Sideways was made for 16 million and made over 100 million at the domestic box office and has brought in over half a billion dollars across all revenue streams, and led to all the lovely wine industry after effects we discussed in the opening of this episode. That is right. Um, so here guys, this is the part of the show where we break down the film act by act and then give our thoughts and why notions between act break. So there will be spoilers. If you are the three people who haven't seen this film or read a synopsis or seen someone review it, uh, I would go ahead and jump out now. Uh Not that there are spoilers to this movie. Let's let's let's let's be fair about that. Like there there are no twists or big reveals that are that are gonna happen. do it, it's no big reveals. But there are sp there are plot spoilers. There are plot spoilers. If you don't know what they're what they are, then then they will definitely be spoiled for you. But we will start with act one. Miles Raymond picks up his friend Jack Cole at the home of Cole's fiancee to begin a week together in advance of Cole's wedding that Saturday. Miles, a school teacher and unpublished author, starts the trip at his mother's house, ostensibly to wish her a happy birthday. But Miles steals money from her hidden supposedly secret stash before they leave. Miles wants to spend the week relaxing, playing golf and enjoying food and wine. However, Jack is interested in trying to cure Miles' depression over his professional failures and divorce by, you guessed it, getting him laid. Because getting laid cures everything. Jack is ambivalent over his pending marriage and the prospect of giving up his acting ambitions in favor of a job with his fiance's father. In the Santa Inez Valley, Miles and Oen Onophile. W a wine nerd, a wine geek, a wine nerd. Yes, no, that's that's just me um needing to wet my throat. No, no, I'm sure the audience. every once in a while I there could be film people listening to this that aren't wine people. And like Wienophile, it's like something like Cinephile. Everyone knows what a Cinephile is. To be honest, not many people know what a Wienophile is. true. Oenophile or Oenophile is a really good old friend of I became an arenaphile, I had no fucking idea that that word existed. So you know yeah, it's it's one of my old uh hobbies was looking up the old file um dictionary roots. There's some crazy ones out there, and we might do a couple of films inspired by them. Anyway, in the Santa Inez Valley, Miles, Anwinophile, teaches Jack how to taste wine. The pair dine at the hitching post, which is still there, by the way. Jack infers that Maya, a waitress with whom Miles is casually acquainted, is interested in him. Jack tells Maya that Miles' manuscript has been accepted for publication, although it is only being considered. The next morning, Jack announces his intention for the both of them to get laid during the trip. That night, he arranges a double date for himself and Miles with a wine pourer named Stephanie, who is also acquainted with Maya. All right, Dave. Act one what are we thinking? So first off, Dallas, uh how many times had you seen Sideways before? Or had you seen Sideways? about to tell you ask you that. I saw this film. Hmm. I saw this film the first time probably I want to say six months after it came out with no context. and there was something else that came out out of around the same time with Nicolas Cage. Uh it was a Nicolas Cage film and I saw them both on the same day and I can't remember what the fucking film is now, the Nick Cage film. um But I remember this film being wonderfully um forgettable um interesting at the time. I do recall enjoying the buddy road trip aspect. To be fair, this is two years after you fell in love with X versus Sever in the theater, so uh X versus Sever. Our brains were not i in the zone for this movie. You know what I'm saying? We thought it was a great movie. And by the way, guys, we're gonna revisit X vs Sever in just a couple of weeks. For the first time since we saw it in the theater in two thousand two, 'cause we both realized we have memories of it being amazing, and it has a zero percent unrotten tomatoes. So we are probably wrong, but we're gonna find out. Sidebar, I walked out of X versus I keep saying server, but X versus Sever thinking this is phenomenal and no one else in the lobby. So any Uh I never talked to anyone about it, but I was just like, yeah. You know, I'm I was, you know, young, young twenty young adult guy um at the time. And so yeah, I can see why Sideways was forgettable only two years later. Yeah, it was it was the I always enjoy the buddy road trip concept. Always, always, even when they fail. I j I do enjoy because it's kind of a you get to learn more about characters when they are essentially like bookends for one another. Um so you I I enjoy that trope whenever I see it. Again, even if it's done poorly. Um so I do remember that. And I also remember thinking this has potential. I've no idea what I meant at the time. But I was like, okay, there's something here. I'm not sure if I'm the right audience for this. well definitely wasn't at time. So so yeah, how about you? What's your history with? Yeah, I mean, I don't remember when I first saw it. It was not in the theater. I do know that. Um, I probably saw it shortly after it came out, probably rented it, probably I mean, there was a lot of hullabaloo around it. One N Academy Award. It got nominated for quite a few. Um, so I saw it and I remember kind of like Bottleshock. I remember enjoying it quite a bit, but then I remembered enjoying Bottleshock quite a bit, and that did not hold up to a rewatch. Whereas this one Absolutely does. You know, I can see Bottleshock, to be fair, was not nominated for any Academy Awards. And, you know, for once the Academy was onto something there in how they treated these two movies. Because I'm like, yeah, this one is much better made. The character arcs, the the characterization, the dialogue, how they treat everything. Like it works on so many different levels. I'm I've revealed on this podcast before that I'm not someone who re-watches films very often. So I do not know if. I rewatched this film at any given time. I probably have seen it at least twice. Um, but do not I do not know for sure. I could have only technically seen this movie once. What I do know is I have not watched this movie since becoming a wine nerd. Got it. So ever since falling into wine, which might have been roughly 10-ish years ago or so, um, somewhere between eight to ten years ago. I didn't go back to Bottle Shock. I didn't go back to this. I've kind of stayed away from wine media. I don't think it that's super conscious. because again, I don't rewatch things generally. Like it's just not something I really do. Um, but I think I have like Drops of God was something new that came out, and I have been watching that TV show because it's a new thing. Um, but even then, there there have been like one or two in like there was some movie that came out on Netflix, it was a my movie. I'm not gonna remember the name of it. I do want to see it, but I haven't been jumping. To see it. There is something interesting where you're almost like, I don't want to judge it harshly. And I feel like I will. Yeah, you will. You know what I mean? Yeah. And but sideways was something that I do think like Bottleshock, I knew was gonna be a 50 50 chance of whether that was gonna hold up. Because I remember it being kind of cheesy and kind of like, you know, overly broad in a lot of its characterization and humor. Whereas sideways, it's Alexander Payne, and I I when I saw the holdovers not too long ago, I was like, Yeah, I was like that. He when he's on, he's on. You know, it's very good. And when he pairs with Paul Giamatti, he is on. Um at least in my estimation. So I had a feeling I would like this again. I heard a a quote recently, I forget who the actor was, uh, but he said there was a film starring Paul Giamatti and um Paul Phil Philip Seymour Hoffman. And he's at the moment he saw the trailer, he thought, no, can't get a ticket to that. That is going to be the saddest film on the face of the planet because Giamatti does carry You get for that type of character and now they're together, right? Their look does like fifty percent of the work and then they're also very skilled on top of that. Yeah. Yes. You know, act one for me this time around, um, it struck me right away. Like it had been a while. I know it's been a while since I've seen this. So a lot of it was fresh to me, even though I knew the broad strokes. Um, and one thing that really struck me right away was how much even just the opening took me by surprise with like what a kind of dick and and and kind of uh pathological liar Miles is. You know, where it's like right away. They're both lying to their and him and Thomas Hayden Church as Jack. You know, they both lie to their loved ones, like almost uh as a par for the course. They do it in very different ways and in very distinct ways. And what they lie about are very distinct. But like Miles, right from the get-go, um, he parks like an asshole on the street, which is why, you know, his landlord is banging on his door first thing in the morning. He wakes up and he's like, God, you know, I I told you this was happening today. You gotta move your car. And he's like, fine. And then we see this great thing where he goes out. And he you know, he's parked right at this corner where he's kind of hanging out into the driveway, right? And that's why he's got to move. Yeah. And so he gets in the car, and this is kind of subtle. I love that the movie does this. He gets in the car and he drives past this perfectly open spot that would be not in the way of anything, goes around just around the corner and once again parks hanging out with his butt hanging out into a driveway. And I'm like, and it's only because it's easier to park that way, and he just didn't want to reverse. And like do the whole like you know, going back. Not it wouldn't even have reversed between two cars. It would have just been, you know, reversing it back. It was a huge space, but he was like, Nope. Going to the next thing where I hang out in front of a drive, like I hang into the driveway. And I'm like, wow, that was subtly done. Like, does not draw any attention to it. You either catch it or you don't, but it says so much about this character. Then he goes right into the apartment, calls Jack, and is like, I'm so sorry. You know, and blames this construction the landlord wants to do, which he had totally forgotten about, is why he's late and going to be late. He's like, but I'm walking out the door right now. And then we watch him take a shit and read a read a book, take a shower, floss, stops for breakfast somewhere, like in no rush whatsoever. And then like once he's made his ex his excuse, he's like done. And then just like la la la la la. And then he gets to Jack's place and you know, once again, like it. So, and then of course we see him steal from his mother on top of all of that. And the opposite is Jack seems to be he's much more of a straight shooter, except he's got infidelity on the mind, which is something that interestingly, Miles seems to be a bit of an incurable romantic, especially about his ex-relation, you know, his ex-wife in his previous relationship. And it's interesting because that's the thing that blow that blows Jack's mind or Miles' mind, that Jack would do this or even consider this or be so cavalier about it. And Jack would probably be like weirded out by Miles's like complete antisocial tendencies to just not show up on time and like give a quick fib and then like take more time and show up even later. So anyway. It's it's yeah, that is that is an interesting dynamic. You know, there's there's a quote that uh Jack says or Miles says later in reference to his relationship with Jack as, you know, we were freshman year roommates. And that kind of encapsulates you we'll we'll get to this later in act three guys, but it really does kind of encapsulate uh their bond and y you we get some clarity on why it is as sort of Polarized as it is, I suppose. So uh real quick for me, wanna get into some of the wines featured in act one, because this film does do some pretty interesting uh work in giving you some interesting wines, like some interesting labels at the time. So uh in act one we get uh a nineteen ninety-two sparkling wine from I think it's Byron, uh which Jack pops the cork in the car. And I believe it is when Jack says this is a white colored Pinot. Um and they have Blanc de Noir. yeah, it's a blanc de noir. and they have that little exchange and of course Miles is quote, doesn't the skin. Exactly. It's like it's like, I thought it was a red grape, you know. Right. But to be fair, most people don't know this. I always I taught a a wine class, very, very entry level wine class. And every time I would get to like the four color categories, which is red, white, rose, and orange, I'd get to white and be like, You can make a white wine out of any color grape because you're not using the skin. Three quarters of the room would just be like, I never thought of that before. And it's like, right, yeah. Yeah, that is one of those things. And so the quote is I I this is how I knew on this second watch, because I didn't catch this, of course, in the first watch. It didn't make it, it had no, you know, there was no context for it. uh But Miles says, um, you know, Blanche Noir exists because the pigment in red grapes comes entirely from the skins, not the juice. By gently pressing the grapes and immediately removing the dark skins, winemakers can ferment the clear pale juice into a white wine. And of course, his comp you know his compatriot Jack is response. Tasty. Tasty, right? Just few, just fantastic people. Um, so we also get in act one when they're in, I believe, their first tasting room, we get a Sanford Vingrie. Uh, this is the first wine tasted by Jack and Miles once they actually begin their tour. Um, and this was actually filmed on site in the old Sanford tasting room. Uh and the ponytailed uh Man in the cowboy hat, um, achieved a fair amount of fame from his feature in uh this film. and I think that is it for act wines in act one. Yeah. were your thoughts? So Act One, the movie. Um, I'll go first on this because this is where we give our like wine notions and whatnot. But you know, the thing that struck me about Act One, like both of these men are completely stuck in their own heads, their own desires, both only thinking of the other in terms of wanting to give their desires to the other. Jack wants to get Miles laid because Jack wants to get laid. And Miles, of course, wants to share his arenophileness, his wine knowledge, his wine passion, golfing, things that Jack are, you know, you can tell. Jack's not that into it. He's like, yeah, okay, fine. It's fine. It's like I like drinking. Um, but he's not that into it. But they pay little to no attention to what the other actually wants or needs. They project onto the other, but they don't really listen or observe. So, you know, Miles, Miles is a Pinot Noir. He's temperamental. He's difficult. He's laired and expressive. Wincoat, but not a crowd pleaser in his own right. and that could work well enough with this movie. Don't get me wrong. Like, like Miles is the centerpiece. He is the protagonist of this. You know, he's the POV that you're really watching this movie from. Um, we do in the novel, it is from Miles' POV. It's a first-person novel. and Payne, Rex, Rex, the novelist, is on On record as saying that like Payne actually stuck to that in filming this. We never leave Miles' POV in the whole movie. You know, we never go off with Jack and with Stephanie. We never go we never see Maya's POV on her own. It everything in this movie is all we stick, we stay with Miles wherever he goes, we never leave him. He is in every single scene of this movie. Yes, that's actually interesting. I I d you know, it's it's it's great filmmaking, but yeah, I I didn't that did not jump out to me. Right. it doesn't jump out. But it is literally because and apparently that was because Payne when when Rex asked why that was, like Payne was like, 'Cause you wrote it that way. And so he's like, okay. but we never actually go off with any of the other characters. We only see what those characters do while in Miles' presence. So Miles is 100% the protagonist. He is a Pinot Noir, but I don't think this movie is a Pinot Noir. This movie is easier, smoother, more assured of itself, more densely packed while also being very straightforward in what it's doing. Like it's not, you don't have to dig for the themes, you don't have to dig for the messages. The characters are very winsome in their dysfunctional ways. Like it's a very there's a reason it took off. There's a reason it struck a chord with audiences who weren't into wine necessarily, who weren't super into indie darling movies specifically. This movie is easy. It is a crowd pleaser and Pinot Noir is not. Um, so anyways, your thoughts uh after act one. you know, this film is weirdly even act one, s savory. There's nothing sweet about this film to me. Until until well there I should say there's nothing sweet about it until Act Three. Um it is And even then, even then, not not hugely. Not hugely. Um, it is a very sort of savory film to me. It doesn't require a whole lot from you. There are no great giant sort of leaps that it requires. You are, just as you stated earlier, following this sort of curmudgeon who is slightly judgmental of his friend's lies, but also has his own version that he's willing to tell. And so there's a sort of Um th there's an i a sharpness, I suppose, to it. So um I hate with a passion the character. If I knew him in real life, I wouldn't my god, so the but the bio protagonist, yeah, the least uh I would not want to spend five moments around this guy. and probably because he's slightly reminiscent of certain character traits that I have. Uh anyway. Do you think that Miles, even in this movie, he's like this? Like, you know, it's his knee-jerk reaction to to retreat to speaking eruditely about some subject or something. And he'll do that, but then if you just give him five minutes to unclench and relax, he will unclench and relax. And like and then only go back to that mode here and there, but it is definitely his initial shield and it's very prominent. And that that it that can be, I mean, that would be an initial turnoff. I think I would get past it, but yes, I would be turned off by him initially no matter what. All right, you're describing our relationship now, asshole. Anyway, also um there's lots of acid in this film. That's the only word I can come up with, right? So and I kind of equate that to sort of the lies and kind of the um even in Miles's, you know, what he's holding back. There's this character trait he has, and it might be attributed to Paul Giamatti's style, because there's always something going on behind his mask, and sometimes it reads as just pure anger. And vitriol and acid and then sometimes it reads as absolute pain and hurt. So there's lots of dynamics. That's what it all blends into. Like it's anger, it's it's uh it's anger, it's sadness, but then the core of it all is the frustration, which is both anger and sadness. Um and I think that's what fuels everything in him in this moment that we're watching him in this movie. It's his arc to get out of a state of pure frustration with himself and his life. Agree. And uh so I'm thinking something with a fair amount of uh acidity. uh you know, there's also this thing that happens in in act one for sure, because we're building this sort of profile of this character and kind of you know, presenting a sort of launch pad, so to speak. So structure wise, like in terms of like tannins, I suppose. I'm thinking something that's sort of firm because he is really firm. in who he is and what he wants to be and what he wants the world to be. He's still stuck on that ex-wife and he's still stuck on getting published and he's still s you know, so it's he's he's firm on these things. But it's also There's also a it's it's it's it's weirdly I may we may have to do a a a second viewing of this and come back because I want to watch this film again. Um I I really do. Uh because I want to pick apart the performances, but I may just have to do that on my own. Anyway, um so something way like like to to pick apart the performances in that they're that good or pick apart is in like nitpick them. I pick a part to see if what else I get from the performances because Giamatti specifically is one of those guys and he's often he's often termed a bit of a a a scene chewer, a scene stealer, you know, he chooses scenery sometimes. And I generally enjoy that from someone who can do it well. And he is one who can do it fucking well. So from a performance perspective, rather than just some overall sort of cinematic sort of perspective, I might take a second look and do a bit of an addendum where I'm ranting after I have a bottle of wine. But anyway, wine-wise for act one, I'm thinking something with a medium to sort of a high acidity, something that static structure is pretty firm. Um probably a pure because I think the characters are fairly pure in who they are. Like there's there's Very little pretense outside of the pretense that they are cultivating for the world. so yeah. Yeah. All right. right, brilliant. All right. All right. Moving on folks to act two. During the double date with Stephanie and Maya, Miles gets drunk, excuses himself, and telephones his ex-wife Victoria after learning from Jack that she is remarried and will be bringing her new husband to Jack's wedding. The couples go then to Stephanie's house, where Stephanie and Jack adjourn to Stephanie's bedroom, leaving Miles and Maya alone. The two connect through their mutual interest in wine, but Miles panics when Maya makes her interest in him clear. He retreats to the bathroom, girds himself, then returns and kisses her awkwardly. The moment had already passed, and Maya says she should get going. But as they part, Maya still expresses interest in reading a copy of Miles' manuscript, which he hands over to her, all four boxes of printer papers worth. The next morning, Jack claims to have fallen in love with Stephanie and tells Miles he wants to postpone the wedding and move to the Santa Inez Valley to be closer to her. Miles expresses that Jack is being an idiot, but is preoccupied with his own burgeoning romance with Maya. After a day of winery hopping and picnicking with Jack and Stephanie, Miles and Maya return to Maya's apartment and consummate the relationship. But then the next day, Miles accidentally reveals to Maya that Jack is getting married that Saturday. Disgusted with the men's d dishonesty, Maya storms off the good vibes between them plainly over. End of Act Two. Everything thickens. Everything thickens about this. So yes. The characters, how far each character is willing to go with all of this. Like it's one thing when Jack was having like a one-night stand, but then he's turning this into a relationship. Now he's like, I'm gonna turn like postpone the wedding and choose between these two women. And Miles is like, the fuck? and then Miles himself is you know so nervous and panicky about, you know, doing anything in a relationship. Like it when he's having a double date with Maya, he's like. I gotta go call my ex-wife. And then he does, which by the way, the call does not go well. Like, I mean, he's drunk, he's slightly a little too belligerent, which you know, the ex-wife is like, please don't call me when you're drunk, and like just hangs up. Um, she's very used to him plainly. Um, and this is where he's stuck. He's stuck in this, you know, the past and not being able to return to what he once was and what he thought his life was going to be. So the interesting thing about act two for me, Maya becomes the movie. To me in many ways. Agreed. In Act Two. Agreed. She's already on the other side of the journey that Miles is basically currently going through, right? Because she's been divorced as well. Um, she's try she he's trying to let go of the past. He encounters a version of a f a future version of himself, which is Right, exactly. Like she's now more assured, she's like, that was bad. I learned lessons from it, and now I have plans for the future. I'm working towards them. There's no necessary way this has to go, but I'm I'm I'm happy with where I am and you know where it's all going, kind of a thing. Stephanie is very much Maya's Jack, you know, the wilder friend, uh the one who Maya's kind of kind of humors, but also is very much not like. Stephanie and Jack very much are. It's interesting because they are very much alike, and Miles and Maya are very much alike. Like this is not these romances are not opposite attracts. Yeah. So Miles gives his monologue on Pinot Noir, a poetic yet stumbling and desperate narrative of his own existence. And then Maya talks about wine on the whole, the larger view, the ability to be deep and romantic in a more contemplative and collected way as compared to Miles. Fun fact, you know, Payne wanted to cut this monologue. Of Maya's from the movie desperately. He didn't want to film it originally, and then he filmed it, and then it took, I think it was um it was another old school director that he really I I'm forgetting which director it was, but he screened it for this other old school director. And the director, when the movie was over, the director was like, When she gives that speech, that's when your movie begins. Yeah. And Payne was like, All right, I guess I don't want to cut it. But Payne thought it was too sentimental. Hold on, let me think about this film without that monologue, huh? Yeah, yeah. So Payne thought it was too sentimental and that it would quote unquote date his movie. Um, which doesn't make a lot I don't understand that logic. I'm like, what does sentimentality have to do with the date? Right. like of of the era, maybe because era is like what sentimentality is in any given era is too specific. and how we, you know, like what we think we're supposed to like, you know, you go back to like movies from the sixties, like sentimentality is a very different, like it's a it's it feels clawing. From a modern sensibility, you know, so maybe he thought it would be something like that, but I don't think it's sentimental. It is literally showing her character the same way Miles' monologues show his character, and it gives her a character that she wouldn't really otherwise have without this monologue. She would be too much of a cipher without it.

And without this monologue, like Maya, technically, here's the fun fact: 41:31

she has, I think, 12 or 13 minutes of screen time in the whole movie. She's not actually in it that much. Stephanie, the one played by Sandra O, has eight minutes of screen time in the whole movie. cause again, we see this whole thing through Miles' perspective. We don't actually spend that much time with any of the other characters. It's all him. So I think it's so necessary. But yeah, go ahead. I'm I'm turning this over to you. You know, I think I see what that director means because her vantage point of wine is definitely top down, as opposed to Miles, whose approach to wine is from the glass out. At least that's how it sort of comes off. So I suppose that is a slightly more romantic approach to the concept of wine for the average viewer. rather than inside baseball language that the inside baseball language that Miles is using. So I could kind of see that. You know, the like we said, they're sort of uh she is slightly more advanced on that sort of trajectory than he is. So what we are seeing, I think, is him moving towards that, of course, by the end, that's kind of where he gets where that romanticism um sort of it it happens for him in a way that isn't He can't save himself the way Maya seems to have been able to save herself. Right. She's gotten out of, she's let go of the past without a specific romant new romantic partner or publishing a novel or whatever major accomplishment is going, she's going to school right now, but she hasn't achieved the thing yet. Right. And so she doesn't need the achievement to get away from it, but he kind of does. He is stuck and needs someone to like throw him the fucking life preserver. you know, ring to like get him out of the water. And it actually feels like yes, I agree with everything you're saying, but it actually feels like the romanticism she needed and found was the romanticism of why. Right? In Sure. In in that so I think that when she has that sort of Say that right, but I will say because he's got that too. And so the thing about wine is loving, I think and I think this is true for any inanimate object. A love of you love film, you love wine, you love whatever it is. Yeah, that really comes back to self-love. That's what it is. And if you don't have self-love, loving these things does not help you in any way, shape, or form. It's you're you're using it like a comforting blanket. But it's like uh it's kind of like how you would say getting laid fixes everything. And it's like momentarily. Yes. But then the sadness creeps back in once it's over. It's like a drug. It's like taking a Tylenol, and it's like it helps a little bit, but it doesn't heal the thing. The healing is something else. This is just like moderating the symptoms. So loving some an inanimate object or a thing is an alleviation in very momentary. measures. It's it it is like it it helps in the moment, but it does not heal. It does not move you forward. That is where all the self love has to come in. Agreed. It does not replace self love. It does not it is not a substitute for it. But sort of if you use it like the you know, sort of like a life like a like a a a life vest, right? It gives you a momentary it gives you a momentary reprieve. And kind of, kind of. I actually think it's what you sheave your self love in. So, my what I'm trying to say here is that the self-love, it's it's an empty blanket. There's nothing underneath it. It's or you're underneath it. Right. Right. And so, like loving wine, loving films, like I watch films because you know it makes me feel better in this moment of of despair. And it's like, yes, it will, but you're still under the blanket. There's nothing fucking else there. So at the end of the day, loving film will not help you go forward or find that stability. It can help in a sense of something to hold on to, but then it is. It's the self-love is what is underneath, what is sheathed within. And Maya has the love of wine, but she is like she's found that way to be like, I am not horrible or a problem or exactly. Or even by wine. Like wine is something that's wonderful and like it's comforting and I love being a part of it, but that doesn't make me love myself or my life. Like that has to come from that's why Miles is is is flailing. He loves wine, he loves talking about it, he loves sipping it, he loves rolling in it and like, you know, and all the facts of it and all the yeah. But then he just gets drunk. And because he's drown he's trying to drown out the pain that is going nowhere. And I think that's the difference when I'm talking about the sort of romanticism, because she is definitely more it's a lyricism. I guess the other it's it's a lyricism that she has. Yeah, that she has with the connection of wine, which allows her to kind of stop and not just, you know, d didouse her pain uh in in wine because she's moved past it, put it in the proper place. And like you said, he starts with that idea of romanticism, but it quickly devolves into this you know, the substitution, I suppose, poor substitution for anything else. Um so real quick, one question for you. You say Miles is a Pinot. What is Maya in that case? Right. Mm Maya is something else, and she is the she is the key to the wine that I'm going to pair. Great. All right. Fantastic. Good. Good news. so real quick. no, go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. no, no, I was just gonna say so uh we'll we'll get there, but it definitely is like I said, she becomes the movie at this point. She does and explains Miles and what we're doing with Miles and where we're going with Miles. There are gonna be a few twists and turns still left for Act Three, but this is essentially where we're going. All right, so real quick, some of the wines featured in Act Two, which you can probably still find a few. Um, we have uh the Fox and Vineyards. Um, a couple of bottles mated on there on the film. The tasting room, I think, is currently closed, of course, but Fox and Vineyards is apparently still around. There's the Kalaira, Chardonnay, and Cap Franc. This is the tasting room where Jack and Miles first meet the flirtatious Stephanie, of course. And Fiddlehead Cellars, Sauve Blanc, Honeysuckle. This is the wine that sparked Miles' interest in Maya, and where he says that famous Merlot line, which I love and need to have on a t-shirt. ah And Fiddlehead, we actually feature one of their wines in an episode two or three weeks ago. it was it was one cut of the dead. Yes. It was one well yes. It was one cut of the dead. yeah we'll put it in the notes if it's wrong. and uh also the Witchcraft 2001 Pinot Noir. This is what served at the double date. And um finally there is the Sea Smoke Botella Pinot Noir. Uh and the winemaker Chris Coran was essentially the runner-up to San Francisco Chronicles winemaker of the year that year for this Pinot, which you can actually uh still find for about $70. All right, Dave. Let's move on to All right, bringing it home with a breakout. Act number three, that's right. So Jack and Miles go to a winery that Miles finds subpar. After hearing from his literary agent that his manuscript has been rejected with no prospects remaining for it to be published, Miles upturns and drinks directly from an overflowing spit bucket, creating a scene at a tasting. Jack intervenes and drives Miles back to the motel. Upon arrival, Stephanie, who has heard, who heard from Maya. about Jack's marital status, furiously beats Jack with her motorcycle helmet, breaking his nose while berating him for his dishonesty. Miles takes Jack to the ER and leaves Maya an apologetic voice message, admitting that his book will not be published like Jack had told him. told him. That night, despite Miles's protest, Jack goes home with a waitress named Cammy. Jack returns to the motel naked after Cammie's husband catches the two of them having sex. Jack begs Miles to help him retrieve his wallet from Cammy's place, which contains custom wedding rings for his nuptials on Saturday. Miles sneaks into the house where he finds Cammie and her husband having makeup sex. The couple plainly turned on by Cammy's probably regular infidelity. He grabs a wallet and runs, barely escaping Cammy's full, frontally nude and furious husband. On the drive back to San Diego, Jack intentionally drives Miles' car into a tree to support his alibi that he broke his nose and face in a car accident. The pair then return to Jack's fiancé, Christine's home, where Jack is warmly received by her family. But Miles doesn't leave until everyone in the house has seen the front of the car to further support the alibi. Now, following the wedding ceremony, Miles runs into Victoria and meets her new husband, Ken. Victoria says she is pregnant. And some of the greatest subtle face acting in the history of film in that one moment. Anyway, for once Miles controls himself, congratulates them both, and he's even plainly affected. Uh, Miles takes his leave before the reception and drives back to his San Diego apartment. Alone, he drinks his prized wine, one mentioned early on when he and Maya were getting to know one another. A 1961 Chateau Cheval Blanc, which he'd been saving for a reunion with Victoria. He drinks it from a disposable styrofoam soda, fast food restaurant. He eventually returns to his day job as a teacher, sitting, watching aimlessly through the window. And one day, a voicemail from Maya appears on his answering machine, saying she loved his manuscript, encouraging him to keep writing, even though this one isn't going to be published. And she invites him to visit someday. Miles immediately drives back to Wine Country and knocks on Maya's door. All right, Dave, talk to us. Act three. So another fun fact, uh Payne didn't want he wanted Miles to get the message on the answering machine and end it there. And not have him drive Okay. So he was again he thought it was too sentimental to go any further than that. huh. Okay. All right. I would have preferred the the the ending there, for sure. But I get it. I get why he wanted a little romantic sort of capstone. he didn't. I mean, pretty much everyone else. I think in the novel, it like it's more faithful to the novel to there might even in the novel, there might even have been like a full scene with Miles and Maya, like when he goes up there. But knocking on the door was kind of like the meeting them halfway. Where he's like, he'll knock on the door, but then we don't see anything else. Right. You know, kind of a thing. There had to be that moment of like the potential is there, but we don't know one way or the other. But to be fair, that's true in anything. Like even the happily ever after, it's never ever after. Right. Because never ever after, because it's just like there will be an after. And there's a lot of shit that could go down in in all that after. So there's always it's always just a possibility. I really like the knock on the door and then that ends. Okay. Because it shows, I think it shows that Miles, he is such, as a character, you're never sure when he's just gonna get wishy washy wimpy again. You know, so getting the answering machine, you're sort of like, is he just gonna is he not gonna do anything with that? Like, what is he gonna do? Then the fact that he's like, fuck this, gets in the car and goes. Yeah, I'm like, good on you, Miles, good on you. So I think it's the right amount of uplifting without being super schmalty about it. Okay. Anyway. All right. I'll go ahead and get us started. This is where we're gonna we're gonna wrap up with our with our ultimate wine pairing and talk a little bit about why and and what act three Did for us here. So what you know, when we meet Miles' ex-wife in in the flesh at the wedding, she has a similar poison assuredness as Maya does. Yeah. And so here, confronting his ex-wife with her new husband and and the coming baby, Miles finally finds a kind of a halfway point to the same kind of self-control. This is where you say the best face acting, right? Yeah. Where it's like he is like you can see is like you have this knee jerk. The kind of reaction he normally wants to do and what he's infamous for, at least in this part of his in the in this phase of his life where he just can't deal with anything. And he's like, I'm and he finds he just barely finds how to be more Maya like in that moment. And his ex-wife, it's funny because she's like, I I know you do this all the time, but she's got that poise. She's got because she's moved on like Maya. She's like, I've found a new center. I don't love dealing with you when you're like this. Like, I'm not, I'm not gonna like, you know, never talk to you again or treat you poorly, but this is a, you know, you are, generally speaking, a problem and have been for a little while now. But this is what this movie is to me, is Maya, and and everything we see of his ex-wife here. It's Merlot. So it's a grape that seems so easy, easy to drink, easy to grow, but it isn't. It requires specific climates and practices to truly make a great wine, just like any grape, just like any person, in fact, requires like TLC and personal growth to reach maturity, self-confidence. Um, but this film is about finding that. So your purpose, yourself in the current moment, and what your future is meant to be. It's about finding your center as a person. And Merlot is the ultimate center of a wine. It's medium-bodied, medium acidity, medium fruit. Landing between black and red fruit. So for a red wine, those are kind of the two extremes. You get like really acidic red or really low acid sweet black. Um, it offers intense black cherry flavors, which is that perfect middle point. Medium tannins, so it's slightly dusty, but it's not too much. It's not an attack, it's not like just something you're like chewing on for too long. it retains acidity, but it's not like searing acidity. And the tannins to counter the otherwise fruit forwardness, and because tannins are going to be a little bitter, so you get more of a bitter sweet than a pure sweet. Merlot needs that clay-rich soil, as we were talking about when we talked about the the Bordeaux uh banks and whatnot, so the roots can stay cool and it retains moisture. So Merlot is a very uh early ripening grape, so you need uh the coolness and the moisture so it ripens slow. It doesn't try to go fast. Um, in the climate that is neither too hot or cold. With a little oak, it will adopt kind of extra cedar and spice notes. Um, but if it if it ripens slowly, it will retain that acidity. Ripening, it's not about how far it goes ripen ripening-wise or or how ripe it goes per se. You don't want it to go too ripe one way or the other, but it's about how quickly it gets there. And this is true for any grape. If it steadily and slowly ripens, acidity is retained. The sugars are develop nice and slowly. So it's like normally you think like the more sugar it has, the less acidity. That's true up to a point. But if it develops slowly, you'll have yet more acidity to go with that sugar. So it's more balanced. Okay. In the end. Um, and then with a little oak, you get those extra notes. It harmonizes gorgeously with the texture and those primary fruit flavors. Merlot is, of course, the primary grape of the right bank of Bordeaux, St. Amelia and Pomerole, two of the best regions for it. And it grows beautifully in parts of Argentina, California, and Washington. I chose a Cali Merlot in honor of the harm the movie Sideways caused to Cali Merlot market in particular. So I chose a Corbin Cameron. That's all with K's. Corbin Cameron 2021 Merlot from the Moon Mountain District on the far east side of Sonoma County. Sonoma being the place where Pinot exploded in the popularity following this movie's release. So a lot of Merlot was ripped up and Pinot was replanted in its place. But this winery is run by the Ming family of Chinese descent and named after their twin, uh, two twins, a son and a daughter, the son Corbin, and the daughter Cameron. The wine, and at this point, the son is the winemaker. And I believe Cameron runs their like wine club and hospitality program and whatnot at the winery. So they're kind of the two people running the show these days. And the wine is mid price point around $40 to $50, depending on where you buy it. I got mine for $42 from our sponsor, Curated Wine Shop. Find them at curated wines.com, baby. And this is its deep, rich, velvety, dusty, but not overwhelp, overbearing tannins. Uh, black cherry, sage, and cedar on the nose and palate. Truly beautiful. A contemplative wine, while not being challenging, a wine to sip and then savor for minutes, plural. To parse all those mini layers, yet it's also just a lovely deep red. It's easy enough, like this movie, but then has those layers for anyone who chooses to see them, taste them, and savor them. Uh, fun fact before I turn it back over to N to Dallas, in the novel, at the very end, when Miles is drinking that special wine he's been saving for a reunion with his ex-wife, it was supposed to be an 82 Chateau Latour, a left bank Bordeaux, so Cabernet Sauvignon heavy. But Chateau Latour wouldn't give the filmmakers the right to use their wine in the film. So Payne, who generally loves inside jokes and planting things in the frame that have to do with contradictions, especially as the movie is largely about lying to oneself and to others, had Miles Covet Miles' coveted bottle be a right bank Merlot heavy wine, the man who wouldn't drink any fucking Merlot. It was totally intentional by Payne once he was forced to change the wine from Latour to something else. All right, Dallas, what do you got? I like that. Actually I don't I definitely haven't tasted that at uh It it's relatively new there. Um, but I was I was there this weekend and they had a bottle open, so I got to taste a little bit and I was like, my goodness, that is perfect. Um so Corbin Cameron, guys, both with K's. Corbin Cameron, look that winery up in Snoma. If you're in California, you can get it easy. Some of it might be distributed over to the East Side or elsewhere, but look that one up. And if not, if you're in Europe, guys, right bank Bordeaux. Go get you some. All right. So, um, I took a slightly uh slight deviation in terms of pairing this time. I actually just paired with um with Miles, because Miles, while Maya becomes the film for sure, I think Miles is uh is also becoming the film for the reasons we stated earlier, in that Maya is sort of uh posited for us as the future of uh Miles. It's it's sort of the it's a future version of himself. The the version he's Possibly chasing, I suppose. and but before that we are introduced to Miles and I imagine his head is just swimming with contradiction and emotion and confusion and it's crazy making. And I think that's why he is such a perfect we gotta talk about casting. He is such a perfect get for this film. And so is Thomas Hayden Church. You know, uh he's always been a favorite so well. And it's like it's it's just effortless, you know. they they're it's it's just per perfect casting. And I tried to look around to see if I could find some info on the casting process, but I really couldn't. The only thing I know about it is that um Payne r tried hard to cast this role and found no one. Like it went on for a while and he almost left the project because he couldn't cast Miles. Well and if he couldn't cast Miles, he was like, There's no movie. Like I can't do this. And I don't know what brought Giamatti onto his radar. I know American Splendor was coming. He had Giamatti had filmed it, and that was his breakout role as a leading man. That's right. Um that came out just before, and it was a slightly smaller movie than this one. this was technically the most expensive at at sixteen million, it was the biggest budget movie Fox Searchlight had ever done up to that point. Which is really four. four. Yeah. Wow, okay. Yeah. I see that. which is interesting as well. But yeah, Giamatti uh for whatever reason at some point they found each other and then Payne was like, We're ready to go. And he brought he didn't want to green light the movie until he had Miles. Okay. So then he brought Miles, the script and everything to Searchlight, and away they went. Yeah. So um so the character, it just he's I'm sure he feels insane. And and you see it in in the performance. Like you can see those moments where he's clearly communicating, I'm on the edge here. There are times when I'm just on the edge of crashing completely out. and I so I so I think sort of crazy mind definitely sort of describes this, you know, tormented character. You know, he even has this hatred for the Merlot grape, which doesn't necessarily make logical sense, but it makes perfect emotional sense. Um, you know, there's a you know, there's a trauma that he's responded to and it's it's become the kind of avatar. And um and that moment when he makes that statement, really sort of a cute statement out of nowhere about Merlot is completely supported. you know, once we get to the end of this film and you're just like, oh, okay, that moment makes so much more sense now. And it stands out, it's perfect, it's beautiful. Um, so the wine I chose is known for uh its medium uh to full body sort of palette, I suppose. it we talked about earlier is sort of the tannins are kind of grippy, and with Miles, he his gripping to um you know, his view of the world, his trauma, whatever, you know, he's established or connected to, even if it's painful, you know, he's gripped to it. He's hanging the fuck on to it. Even if it doesn't make sense, he's hanging on to it because he's defined himself by it. Um, with the writing, you know, with that goal, with the relationship with his his ex, um, with his connection to Merlot. Um The acidity, I suppose, is the thing I want to talk about next because and it's the reason I'm probably gonna rewatch this film again, is because he there's a w an alter universe, there's some fanfic I write about this film where he's a serial killer in wine country, a secret serial killer on the weekends in the wine. As long as he and my are doing it together. Hold on. Hold on. No no no keep keep going. We gotta wrap it up. Yeah do. All right anyway. Yeah, the wheel by the way, if you guys don't know this happens occasionally time to time. know. I gotta he doesn't look at the time, so I gotta I gotta push him. That's true. We'll start world building. We'd be here for three hours. Anyway, um so I went uh I found a Sangiovese. uh a 100% Sangiovese Super Tuscan. uh term Super Tuscan. Uh it is from old vines, 30 to 50 years, um, and it is from the top of the hills, characterized by soils rich in stones. Um, it is known as a bit of a jewel because of a really bright, brilliant sort of um ruby color. Uh the it's called the test tomata. And this is the test tomata, no one's gonna be able to see this, but this is the testomata, and it quite literally means crazy head in Italian. and that describes you know our our lead character to a fucking T because I do think there's so much more back behind. the mask. aroma-wise, you're gonna get these hints of strawberry and orange zest. By the way, the orange zest and orange blossom is really um what's that liqueur? Frangelica? I think it's called frangelica. but it or yeah, but it's a really sort of deep frangelica, yeah. really deep, sort of orangey kind of um flavor. Um it is there's no mud to this. It is very perfumed, um, it's medium-bodied with intense tannins and fine. in texture and I think that describes yeah uh you know not only this film but also uh specifically Miles. Well again, I think I see I I describe that as the sort of acid, like there's something else there. This guy's just that maybe anyway. So you see, we're getting into the thing the the world building. Don't do this, Dave. You've got to be quiet when I go on one of my tangents. No The wine it is it is uh also characterized as salty, which I I'm still working on finding that in my own experience with wine. That's salty characteristic is not something I generally am have the experience with yet. So that's something maybe you and I will dig into trying to sort of find. uh Yeah, it's a salinity, but it's it's even I I suppose yeah. Anyway, that's a that's a Yeah, that I that that is the word it for all saltiness. It's Of course, it is the salinity, but it is it is it is when it comes to wine in terms of the palate and notes and things, it's the thing I probably have the most at Interesting. Okay. Uh anyway, that is my guy. I think it's fantastic. You can pick this up in a number of places, but for a limited time, you can also get it. This is a 2021, by the way, at your local Costco. you can get this at your local Costco. I actually picked it up today. Full name with the year. It's a twenty twenty one one. is a testamata from BB GREATES. It is Toscama Super Tuscan twenty twenty one. Yeah, it is a lovely, lovely and I've already gone through three quarters of the bottle, which is why I'm so Goodness. All right. And by the way, guys, if you ever want to, this I I mentioned earlier the Pinot rarely gets blended with anything. But if you ever want to look to the Veneto region of Italy, they do grow a lot of what they call Pinot Nero. It's just Pinot Noir, that's what call it. But Pinot Nero and Merlot. And there are some Pinot Nero Merlot blends out there coming out of the Venito. uh I have not tried any of them, so I did not pair any, but Maybe that could be an amazing pairing for a movie like this is actually put the two damn grapes together. It's a rare thing to find because again, Pinot does not normally work in blends. but see if you can find some. That could be fun. Just give it a try. See how it goes. eh I'm gonna go ahead and put a bullet point here. At some point, Dave and I are actually going to do a blending episode in real time. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe he's got to explain how that's gonna work. Don't worry, I got somebody. We'll see. All right. Well, thanks so much for listening, everyone. Be sure to join us in the upcoming weeks as we tackle the farcical sort of sequel to Sideways that just dropped last month. It's called Napa Boys. We're gonna be doing that with returning guest Decarceration, the man who spent 10 years locked away in an American prison and now watches and reviews. All the movies he missed while away. And then we will be revisiting a movie both Dallas and myself loved as teens. We mentioned this earlier, but we haven't seen it since. And which sits with a holy shit, 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. So how bad or good is this movie really? We're going to find out with another returning guest, Nick Langdon, who was last on when we covered Miracle Mile from 1989. And this time it'll be ballistic. X vs Sever from 2002 starring Antonio Banderas and Lucy Liu. Now, before we go, if you love what we do here, we ask only one thing, broken down into about 12 sub things. But the main thing is follow and subscribe to us. That helps us grow, gets us in tight with the algorithms. But then also, hey, tell a friend or fellow Cinephile or a Wienophile, that's a wine lover again, about us, especially if they're both. There's gotta like what, a few dozen of us crazy bastards in the world. So for fuck's sake, they should be listening to the one and only wine and movie pairing podcast in existence. And then even better, and to endear yourself even more to our completely self-obsessed hearts, go follow us on Substack. Just go to Vintertainment Studios.com where you can interact with us, find bonus wine and movie pairings, and also make sure to check out Wine Cellar Cinema, our new microcinema built inside a wine shop here in mid-city Los Angeles. Our first night of short films, each paired with a wine, was just last Friday, Juneteenth. And it was five short films, four wines, three filmmakers present for a QA afterward. It happened during World Cup Mania in another part of the wine shop. So it was pure chaos in all the right ways, just sheer jubilation, camaraderie, and community with all with wine and movies. We're already planning our July event. This will continue roughly once per month until we die. So hey, hard part over. Keep up with all our upcoming wine cellar cinema events by heading to winesellersinema.substack dot com and also follow us on the gram at wine cellarcinema la. And many thanks to our sponsor, the place where wine cellar cinema takes place, curated wine shop. No idea where to begin finding a wine that pairs with your movie? That's okay. Almost literally no one does. But Curated is here to help. They accept every entertainment-inspired challenge and will curate the selection to match your palette. Just tell them what you're trying to pair with, your budget, your preferences, and they will show you the way. Curated is a boutique wine shop on LeBray Avenue, mid-city Los Angeles, founded and operated by Peeps currently and previously part of the entertainment ecosystem. We're talking Kelly. Johnny, Allison, Mia, they're all fantastic. Go meet them. They carry an ever-changing, wide-ranging selection of small art artisanal wines from the known and comforting to the completely unique reds, whites, roses, oranges, sparkling, dry wines, sweet wines, everything in between. Go check them out if you're in the LA area. You will find them online, curated dash wines.com. They do ship. So go go place in order. Support. The people who support us. Hey, that's another way to support us. Curated dash wines.com for them, vintertainmentstudios.com for us, vintertainment bros, wine cellar cinema. Substack.com for all things wine cellar cinema. Thanks ya so much for listening. We will be back in one week with another wine and entertainment pairing for your vintertainment. Ciao for now. Gun.