Wine on screen

No wine at home? Here's a list film recommendations by wine consultant Alok Chandra on your favourite drink. Enjoy!

In this time of lockdown, among other activities, I’ve been catching up on my share of “wine movies” available online.

While I’ve been a subscriber to Amazon Prime Video for some time, I recently listed on Netflix and Hotstar Premium — both platforms have a huge inventory of A/V material.

Googling “wine movies” gives you more than 50 wine-centric titles, probably a bit too much for most — plus any number of sites extolling the virtues of their list of “the X Best Wine Movies”.

Here’s my list of recommended wine movies:

The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969): Anthony Quinn is the mayor of a small town in Italy (there’s actually a Santa Vittoria 200 km northeast of Rome) who strives to save their wines from the occupying Germans in WW II. The scene on the water tower was famously copied in the Dharmendra-Amitabh Bachchan blockbuster Sholay (1975). Available on YouTube.

A Walk in the Clouds (1995): A love story set in Napa California: demobilised WW I soldier Keanu Reeves comes to his girlfriend’s father’s vineyard to ultimately find acceptance by the traditional Italian family. Some beautiful shots of the vineyards, and of how they beat frost by fanning hot air. Available on YouTube.

Relatively inexpensive (Rs 2,368 in Bengaluru), the 2017 Lumo Pinot Grigio is fruity, crisp,fresh and almost rich — great for the summer.

 

Sideways (2004): The cult movie that prompted a 25 per cent spike in sales of Pinot Noir in the US (and a corresponding dip in that of Merlot). Two friends go on a road trip to Napa Valley before the upcoming marriage of one of them. Described by Wine Folly as “a sad, funny movie.” Available on YouTube.

A Good Year (2006): Russell Crowe is a London investment trader who inherits a vineyard in the south of France that changes his life — you may be prompted to try the same! Available 

on YouTube.

Bottle Shock (2008): About the famous “Judgement of Paris” blind wine tasting of 1973 organised by Steven Spurrier (comically and unfairly portrayed as a wine snob by actor Alan Rickman) when wines from Napa Valley were judged as good (if not better) than the best Burgundy and Bordeaux. Available on Amazon Prime Video. 

Somm (2012), Somm: Into the Bottle (2015), Somm 3 (2018): All about the demanding world of wine sommeliers and wine makers. Of the trio, I found Somm: Into the Bottle the best — it divides wine into 10 chapters, with inputs for each chapter by leading sommeliers and wine makers. Available on Amazon Prime Video. 

A Year in Burgundy (2013), A Year in Champagne (2014), A Year in Port (2016): Quasi-documentaries about specific wineries in each region, followed by the camera over a one-year period. Interesting from an educational perspective. Available on Amazon Prime Video. 

Sour Grapes (2016): A crime documentary on Rudy Kurniawan, an Indonesian who established himself in New York as a collector and supplier of fine wines in the early 2000s. He was ultimately convicted in 2014 and jailed for 10 years. A fascinating insight into the arcane world of fine wines. Available on Netflix.

There are, of course, many more: Mondovino (2004), Red Obsession (2013), Decanted (2016), Uncorked (2020) — no other beverage has generated as much virtual celluloid than wine, and for good reason: there’s passion, romance, lifestyle, high society, and a return-to-nature sort of thing all rolled into one.

Wines I’ve been drinking: I’m virtually down to the last few bottles of my pre-lockdown stash. Tried a 2017 Lumo Pinot Grigio from the Alto Adige area of Veneto in Northeast Italy made by the Colterenzio cooperative (300 grape growers). Relatively inexpensive (Rs 2,368 in Bengaluru), it’s fruity, crisp, fresh and almost rich — great for the summer.

CinCin, as the Italians say!

Alok Chandra is a Bengaluru-based wine consultant