Sideways popped up on IMDB (I think this month?) and I loaded it up, having never seen it before despite everyone thinking I should see it. My wife warned me that she didn’t like it, and didn’t expect I would either, so she passed on watching it. The impression I had was that it was a pinot oriented wine movie, so I pulled a bottle of the 2013 Fort Ross ‘Fort Ross Vineyard’ PN [Fort Ross Seaview Sonoma Coast] as well.
The wine is zippy, with lovely balanced acidity, and shows 13.8% abv on the label, which must be low for our ripe era, but must reflect their AVA’s cooler tendencies. We really enjoy the Sea Ranch area, but have never made it up to the estates tasting room, which is nearby. The color seems like a mature garnet to me, with maybe a touch of orange at the rim, but even over 3 days it doesn’t fade. So I would not let the color be too much of a signpost on the further ageability of the 2013 estate blend. On the nose I get some orange peel, nutmeg - it’s complex and interesting. The palate is fruity, but with a fine zippy balance to it, never growing cloying nor tiresome. I’d consider the fruit more on the red berry side. My bottle didn’t have any sediment so perhaps they only bottle up the top 90% of their tanks or something. Overall, I found this to be a wonderful Sonoma pinot, one that lets me stray beyond my safe space of the Russian River Valley: I’d give this an A-. The producer seems to be prospering, as their (untasted by me) entry level Sea Slopes PN has hit the big time, plentiful in Costco and local markets. After the first day, I pulled up a podcast from Jim Pisoni (winemaker here) to listen to him since I was so impressed, and he does suggest their vineyard designates are meant to age a bit. I had thought the 2009 I had a couple of years ago might have been a fluke or something, but their work is the real deal, and will be on my watch list going forward.
The movie Sideways baffled me, and I don’t understand how it is a cult movie, but I guess it explains why I see (untasted by me) Hitching Post PN bottlings all over the place. I suppose if I’d known better I would have found something from those AVA’s to drink with it … but if I’d known more about the movie (or listened to my better half) I would not have watched it to begin with. I thought it was terrible. Miles having a whole fit about merlot…and then drowning sorrows in a crushy styro cup of Cheval Blanc? For me, that was probably the worst part, but there were many to choose from. And I really dislike pretty much every actor in it too.
I’m a huge fan of Fort Ross Vineyards. Many of their wines are lovely and age quite nicely. Pinots and Chards are really good, and they even make a Pinotage that I like quite a bit (haven’t been a fan of S African versions myself). I have unsubscribed from all the wine clubs I was part of, but Fort Ross was the last one I hung onto. I appreciated that they sent wine with a few years of age on them, and I was never disappointed with the quality. I drank a 2010 Pinot reserve last year that was in perfect shape.
Also, their tasting room is simply spectacular. It is quite the experience driving up through cow pastures and redwood forests to get there, and it is perched up on top of a mountain, all by itself, surrounded by grape vines with a panorama of the Pacific. My ex-wife and I visited after a spring rain a few years ago and, walking out of the tasting room, we were greeted by literally hundreds of hummingbirds, all different colors, buzzing all around us. Absolutely magical…
Sideways isn’t really about wine, but it calls out so many details of wine culture in a way few others have done. So many great moments. Way better than any other “wine” movie. The book is more wine-oriented and even more on target in its depiction of wine culture.
I love the film but it is not really about wine. Miles is a loser and a poser. He, like so many, know enough about wine to pontificate. He doesn’t really even like wine, he’s just an alcoholic.I love the contrast between the glorious, bright views of the vineyards and the dark, broken souls of the men.
To a similar point, while I don’t think Miles character is an alcoholic… most of us who are serious about wine tend to make some sort of “if you intellectualize drinking, you’re not really doing it for the booze” type of argument. Whether this is done consciously or not, spoken out loud or kept to oneself, every aficionado I’ve met has been in this camp.
So in that respect, the movie nails “wine culture” — another spot on observation is the poorly appointed home, old average car, and horrible clothing worn by someone who is drinking wines that are often several hundred dollars a bottle. I was at a DC tasting a couple years ago and a group of three guys was discussing a get together and all the wines ($300-1000/bottle) and they had on horrific work through square toed shoes ($79 full retail). So I love wine and am absolutely jealous of their tasting event, but a $400 pair of shoes that lasts a lifetime and makes you look like less of a schlub is worth more than a bottle of anything you can get for $400.
And really in the end, the movie is about love and loss and suffering and joy and hope with equally but differentially flawed characters. Miles, the pseudo intellectual school teacher and Jack, the dipshit bro that’s too busy living to be self aware!
Yes, even his car was offensive to me. There is a house on my dog walking route which has two older Saab’s, which I have to avert my sensitive eyes when I walk by. My (dec’d) FiL grew up in Malmo and had nothing but bad things to say about them.
I thought it had some good parts but was badly in need of an editor (and an author willing to listen to their editor). But, as written, I’d call it closer to terrible than good. I’ve noted this before, but I don’t think the book had a publisher until after the Alexander Payne picked it up and made the movie (and Payne and Jim Taylor wrote the screenplay). The sequel was self-published (not sure about the third book in the series).
I have also seen the movie twice and was quite disappointed by it - perhaps because of expectations . . . but I just found it incredibly depressing. I know many of those in the movie - in fact, my first job out of UCD was working as enologist for Fess Parker Winery (aka Frass Canyon Winery in the movie) - and we had issues with folks stealing out spit buckets for quite a few years after the release of the movie.
Many point towards the movie being a major ‘boon’ for our wine growing area - it was, but not a long lasting one.
