Wednesday, June 22, 2011

BLOOD OF THE VINES: ROSEMARY'S BABY


Blood Of The Vines

Wine Goes To The Movies
with NowAndZin.com and TrailersFromHell.com
"Rosemary’s Baby" gives us a glimpse of just how far an actor will go to get a role.  Make a deal with the devil?  Okay.  Pimp out your wife to Satan?  Hey, residuals are residuals.  The conflict between God and the devil really boils down to artistic differences.  They're both directors, and they each want a different ending.  Considering all the devil-worshiping in "Rosemary's Baby," some may want to watch it while drinking sacramental wine - naked.

John Cassavetes as struggling actor Guy Woodhouse displays a lack of moral character usually reserved for agents, or so they say.  Mia Farrow as his wife, Rosemary, shows once and for all that it's not paranoia if they really are out to... well, you know, screw you.

There's a lot of drinking in the movie, so you should feel right at home uncorking a bottle and having a hell of a good time.  Raise a special toast when Hutch says, "Have some more wine," this movie's "Hi, Bob" moment.

The Swingin' Sixties tone of "Rosemary's Baby" is set with Mia Farrow's groovy fashions and Vidal Sassoon haircut, and it gets kicked up a notch when Roman Castevet brings out that tray of Vodka Blush cocktails.

It can be argued that no woman in movie history ever needed - or deserved - a drink more than Rosemary.  After all,  the devil got to know her - in the biblical sense.  She needed a real drink, not that homebrew made from tannis root that Minnie Castevet kept pushing on her.  Tannis root, by the way, is not to be confused with the tana leaves that brought The Mummy back to life.

On to the pairing. Napa Valley's Stone's Throw Winery has a Cabernet Sauvignon called Rosemary's Baby, but it doesn't even have any devil imagery on the label.  There's a Rosemary's Baby India Pale Ale, but I don't see a craft beer working, either.  There’s no sin in having a beverage with a head - but what’s wrong with its eyes!!

As long as we're dealing with the devil's apartment, how about going downstairs to the devil's cellar?  The Chilean winery Concho Y Toro makes a wine by that very name, albeit in Spanish.  Casillero del Diablo celebrates the legend of the winery's founder.  They say he discovered some of his primo wine missing from the cellar, so he put out the word that the devil lived there.  That kept everybody away, except the ambitious actor who sublet it.

7 Deadly Zins, though, is my choice of wine to pair with "Rosemary's Baby," for obvious reasons.  It's actually named for the seven Lodi vineyards from which the grapes were harvested, not the seven deadly sins which can probably be repeated - chapter and verse - by anyone with a Catholic school background.

Before we close the page to resume our sinnin' and movie watchin', let's have a little fun.  I have one more wine to suggest for "Rosemary's Baby" - Tell Tom Evil Revved.

"The name’s an anagram."

If you're stumped, or just hate puzzles, come back next Thursday for the answer in Blood Of The Vines.



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