Blood Of The Vines - The Mills Family

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  This week, the Mills Family - John, Haley and Juliet.- not to be confused with the Mills Brothers.  How many holiday meals will have face masks as a side dish?

1959's Tiger Bay stars John Mills and daughter Hayley Mills, in her first movie role.  It's a tasty role for a young actress, as she gets to expose a killer while at the same time generating sympathy for him.  There is a murder - a crime of passion - committed by a sailor played by Horst Buchholz.  He returns from a sea voyage to find his girlfriend has taken up with a sportscaster.  Pause here for uproarious laughter, at the mere thought that a 1950s sportscaster was able to steal someone's girlfriend.  I knew plenty of sportscasters in my broadcast days and, let me tell you, none of them got the girl.  

Horst is drawn up as a pretty good guy when he jumps off a ship to save Haley, who fell overboard right in front of him.  The heroic move costs him a trip beyond the three-mile mark, his jurisdictional salvation.  It's great that he saved the girl, but we can only wish that his girlfriend had been so lucky.  

There is an $18 Chardonnay produced - or, at least labeled - by the Flagler Tiger Bay Club.  The outfit is based in Palm Coast, Florida, about halfway between Jacksonville and Orlando, but there may be as many as 20 other outposts in the state.  They claim to be a non-partisan political group, but we'll try not to hold that against them, since they hold civility as one of their guiding principles.  I suppose that means Citizen Trump won't be one of their guest speakers.

Avanti!, from 1972, stars another John Mills offspring - daughter Juliet - who shares the screen with Jack Lemmon.  The script for the romcom was written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, so there is a pedigree to be considered.  If you don't think it’s funny enough, welcome to the club.  Wilder reportedly didn't care for the finished product and claimed he didn't write it as a comedy in the first place.  So, there.

Wine plays a tangential role in the movie.  A deadly auto accident that serves as the film's linchpin happens at an Italian vineyard, and the owners prove to be unhappy that their vines were damaged by the crash.  Colorado's Avanti Winery comes to mind, but wouldn't you rather have a nice Ligurian Vermentino?  I thought so.  

Hayley Mills takes the lead in 1960’s Pollyanna, the first of six Disney films in which Mills would star.  This one was taken from a series of books, from which arose the term Pollyanna.  As her name indicates, Mills is an impossibly cheerful kid, an orphan, who is shipped off to live with her rich aunt.  The aunt turns out to be a bit on the mean side.  Through her actions, Pollyanna falls off the house and is paralyzed.  Predictably, that bums her out a bit.  But spirits soar before the end credits as there is a doctor who can fix everything.  Classic Disney - cue Rex Allen for the voiceover.

D’Arenberg's Pollyanna Polly is a sparkler from South Australia's Adelaide Hills.  You’ll find it hard to wipe that smile off your face when the bubbles start tickling your little nosey-wosey.

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Great White Wine From Santa Barbara County

California wine négociant Cameron Hughes owns no vineyards and has no official winery.  He sniffs out good wine which has already been produced by established makers, then buys it on the down low with an agreement not to reveal the source.  He then sells the wine online through his wine club - he calls it a wineocracy - bringing top-shelf wines to lower-shelf wallets.  Hughes says he keeps prices low by removing the middlemen, the distributor and retailer through which store-bought wines must pass.

Lot 676 White Blend Santa Barbara County 2016

This beautiful white wine consists of 49% Roussanne grapes, 27% Viognier and 24% Marsanne.  The fruit was harvested "from one of California’s iconic producers of Rhône varietals … in cool climate vineyards bathed in cold coastal breezes from the Pacific Coast, whole cluster pressed, and barrel aged ... before blending."

Hughes says, "there might not be any wine producing region in California that delivers better value per dollar than Santa Barbara."  Alcohol sits at 14.3% abv and the wine sells for $14.  Roussanne is my favorite white grape, and if you can find one at twice that price, please let me know.

The wine's nose is very expressive and full of apricot, almonds, anise and Meyer lemon.  The mouthfeel is weighty and the acidity is medium-vibrant.  Flavors like stone fruit and citrus leads the way, while the Roussanne's notes of nuts and salinity are balanced by the floral aspect of the Viognier.  This is a versatile white wine for pairing with food.  It will be a hit on your holiday table.

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Wine From The Limestone Hills Of Paso Robles

Brecon Estate is a boutique winery in Paso Robles, in the rolling hills of the region's West Side, the Adelaida District.  Welsh winemaker Damian Grindley and Australian entrepreneur Simon Hackett combine their talents to produce small batches of wine which are produced through passion.  Grindley loves the limestone soil of the Central Coast and the wines which come from it.

The Brecon estate sports vines of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Mourvèdre, Petit Verdot, Malbec and more - some of which were planted years ago by a pioneer of the region.

The 2018 Brecon Estate Cabernet Franc Reserve was made from the grapes of Paso Robles’ Adelaida District, 89% Cab Franc and 11% Cabernet Sauvignon.  The winery says that both varieties are among the oldest planted in Paso.  Alcohol hits 15.2% abv and the wine sells for $73.

This wine has a medium-dark ruby tint to it.  The nose has dark fruit, a touch of bell pepper and other herbal scents.  Fruit plays large on the palate, and the acidity is refreshing while the tannins are razor sharp.  Herbal elements linger on the delightful finish.

The 2018 Brecon Estate Mourvèdre also hails from Paso's Adelaida District.  It is a single-vineyard hilltop wine which carries alcohol at 14.8% abv and retails for $64.

This wine shows a medium color in the glass with a little shading at the edge.  The nose is full of ripe blackberry, cassis, smoke, cigar box and clove.  The palate is rich and full, with dark fruit and sweet oak spice providing a counterpoint to the savory notes of minerality.  The acidity is fresh and the tannins are firm.

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Blood Of The Vines - C'est Paree

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  This week, it’s a virtual trip to France… or at least Texas.  Check your tickets before departing so you'll know how to respond when someone asks who got your vote in the election.

Jazz fans should remember 1961's Paris Blues, starring Sidney Poitier and Paul Newman.  Guest shots by Louis Armstrong and a soundtrack headed up by the Duke Ellington Orchestra lend strong jazz cred to the film.  The story - of two expat jazzmen in Paris - compares race relations in the U.S. with the more freewheeling French way.  Early drafts of the script reportedly focused on an interracial relationship, but then steered away from that angle, prompting Poitier to say later that he felt the studio "chickened out."  Maybe they chickened out, maybe they were just jive turkeys.  In the end, no one gets the girls.

What better to pair with a swingin', be-boppin' movie like Paris Blues than something from Jazz Cellars, due east of Lodi in the Sierra Foothills community of Murphys.  They have single-vineyard Grenache, Syrah and Zinfandel in the $35 range.

The 1984 Wim Wenders film, Paris, Texas, stars Harry Dean Stanton, Dean Stockwell and Nastassja Kinski.  Some scenes in the movie were shot in my home town of Port Arthur, Texas.  While Stanton and Stockwell fit well into the downtown surroundings, the locals got a pretty good buzz going from having Nastassja Kinski around.  She was definitely not your typical Texas gal.

After watching Stanton wander wordlessly through the dusty Texas backroads, you're going to want something wet to whistle down your throat pipe.  Try a New Zealand wine, Alexander Dusty Road Pinot Noir.  It's fruity, it's juicy and it's only $27.

The 1972 Bernardo Bertolucci film, Last Tango in Paris, was originally rated X due to its themes of sexual violence.  I feel that people who find Marlon Brando's sexual violence interesting fall into the category of "it takes all kinds."  After viewing one notorious scene, you'll never see butter the same way again.  The score by Gato Barbieri is a real treat.

JaM Cellars has a California Chardonnay called Butter, so let's pair that with Last Tango and avert our eyes.  Get the full Butter experience - well, the wine part, at least - for $16.

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A Pair Of Wines From L.A.'s Oldest Winery

The California wine industry got its start in 1833 by Jean-Louis Vignes, a winemaker who brought vines from Bordeaux to downtown L.A.  Within 50 years, the beautiful climate helped produce a thriving wine industry, one that was bigger than any in the U.S.  Southern California was known then for grapes, not gridlock.

The oldest winemaking outfit in Los Angeles is San Antonio Winery.  They started downtown, but now they own vineyards in Paso Robles, Monterey, and Napa Valley.  They even have an Italian branch on the family tree, which produces Stella Rosa wines.  That winery is located in Piedmont, in the Asti region.

San Antonio Winery was founded in 1917 by Santo Cambianica, a young Italian immigrant who went straight from Ellis Island to L.A. to begin his foray into the American Dream.  In 1933, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles granted Cambianica permission to make sacramental wines.  That move spared San Antonio Winery the fate which befell the other hundred or so wineries in Southern California during Prohibition - a quick trip out of business.  Stefano Riboli soon came to work in the winery and the fourth generation of the family now operates the business.

San Simeon Pinot Noir Estate Reserve Monterey 2018

The Riboli family's Monterey vineyards - Loma Vista and Sarmento - overlook the Santa Lucia Highlands.  The family also has estate vineyards in the Arroyo Seco appellation.  This Pinot Noir has alcohol at 14.9% abv and a retail price of $19.

This wine is medium dark in the glass and gives up the telltale Pinot Noir aromas of black tea and cola.  There are also blackberry notes in the nose.  The palate comes on strong, with dark fruit, cola and a nice acidity.  The tannins are on the gentle side of firm.  It is a bit riper and brawnier than I like Pinot to be, but that's how it is so often in California wine.  

Stella Rosa Golden Honey Peach Il Conte 2017

Although they don't get too specific on the label, this wine was made from Italian grapes, likely from Piedmont's Asti region.  It's a semi-sweet style, leaning more towards the sweet than the semi.  Alcohol is quite low, at 5% abv, and the wine sells for $13.

This fun wine is not to be overthought.  It smells like stone fruit and honey, so it was aptly named.  Rather tastes like that, too, with some light effervescence on the pour.  While it is not a wine that shows much complexity, it is an affable quaff, one that could be welcome in a number of casual scenarios.  5% abv.

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Bordeaux Grapes From Paso Robles' West Side

Brecon Estate is a boutique winery in Paso Robles, in the rolling hills of the region's West Side, the Adelaida District.  Welsh winemaker Damian Grindley and Australian entrepreneur Simon Hackett combined their talents to produce small batches of wine which were produced through passion.  Grindley loves the limestone soil of the Central Coast and the wines which come from it.

The Brecon estate sports vines of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Mourvèdre, Petit Verdot, Malbec and more - some of which were planted years ago by a pioneer of the region.

The 2018 Brecon Estate Cabernet Franc Reserve was made from the grapes of Paso Robles' Adelaida District, 89% Cab Franc and 11% Cabernet Sauvignon.  The winery says that both varieties are among the oldest planted in Paso.  Alcohol hits 15.2% abv and the wine sells for $73.

This wine has a medium-dark ruby tint to it.  The nose has dark fruit, a touch of bell pepper and other herbal scents.  Fruit plays large on the palate, and the acidity is refreshing while the tannins are razor sharp.  Herbal elements linger on the delightful finish.

The 2018 Brecon Estate Mourvèdre also hails from Paso's Adelaida District.  It is a single-vineyard hilltop wine which carries alcohol at 14.8% abv and retails for $64.

This wine shows a medium color in the glass with a little shading at the edge.  The nose is full of ripe blackberry, cassis, smoke, cigar box and clove.  The palate is rich and full, with dark fruit and sweet oak spice providing a counterpoint to the savory notes of minerality.  The acidity is fresh and the tannins are firm.

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Blood Of The Vines - It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad... Housewife?

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  If the pandemic has turned your household upside down and inside out, don't get mad.  Get mad, mad, mad, mad.  For the soul of the country, y'all.

Of course, it was possible for anxiety to back up on you even in 1970.  Diary of a Mad Housewife has Carrie Snodgress in the title role.  She can't get satisfaction in her marriage, in her affair or in her therapy group.  It sounds like a job for Calgon, but life has gotten so bad for her that even a long, hot soak won't fix it.

Surely a Mad Housewife wine will pair with this film like it was born to do so.  It is a "mommy wine" aimed at a broader spectrum of women who are in sore need of drinking alone, kids or no kids.

1963's It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World was Stanley Kramer's first attempt at directing a comedy, and it was a big success.  The movie was nominated for six Oscars, but only won the one for best sound editing.

The all-star cast chases after $350,000 in stolen cash.  These days you likely couldn't sell a story about a group of people getting excited about such a paltry sum.  You'd have to have at least a billion-dollar payoff to make it believable.  See Mike Myers' Dr. Evil for a quick lesson on how much to ask.

The movie should attract viewers still today, since it is basically a car chase involving the six passers-by who learned of the "fortune."  Car chases capture attention like little else these days, especially with a "breaking news" graphic on the screen.

Since the mad, mad, mad, mad caper ends up under a "big W," let's grab a wine from Oregon's Willamette Valley Vineyards for pairing purposes.  The region is known for its lush Pinor Noir, like this one that sells for $20.

If you’re going to be exploring a mad, mad, mad, mad world, you'll have to spend some time with a mad, mad, mad, mad doctor.  The one-sheet for Universal's 1942 flick, Mad Doctor of Market Street, asks, "Genius or fiend?"  I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess "fiend" just based on the way Lionel Atwill is depicted on the poster - that pencil-thin moustache, those shifty eyes - he's got fiend written all over him.  Most critics - then and now - feel that the writing on the one-sheet was better than that of the script.

Australia's Dr. Tom Cullity is known in wine circles as the Mad Doctor from Perth.  The moniker settled on him in the 1960s when he first started planting grape vines in the Margaret River region on the continent's west side.  People thought he was nuts, and maybe he was - but the vines grew anyway.  A Chardonnay or Cab from Voyager Estates would be a nice pairing for a movie which may be tough to get through without some help.

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Livermore Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Wente Vineyards is the country's oldest continuously operated family-owned winery.  It is now run by the family's 4th and 5th-generations.  A French Chardonnay cutting planted in 1912 gave the world a new clone of the grape, which is now used to make 80% of America's Chardonnay.

Today, we are looking at what Wente has done with Cabernet Sauvignon.  The Wente 2018 Livermore Valley Cab is the wine we are tasting on this web page.  It is a single-vineyard Cabernet, from the Charles Wetmore Vineyard.  Wetmore was responsible for bringing many cuttings from Bordeaux to the Livermore Valley.   The wine was fermented in stainless steel tanks, then aged 18 months in French oak barrels, 40% of which were new.  Alcohol tips in at 14% abv and it retails for $35.

This wine is extremely dark in the glass and offers a nose to match.  Blackberry aromas are laced with cedar, vanilla, clove and tobacco.  The palate is dark, too, and rich.  The fruit flavors are in the front while savory notes complement them.  There is a rustic feel, and the tannins are firm.  

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Spanish Desert Wine Yields Nod To Actor

The wine known as El Gringo was named after an actor who worked as an extra in the many Western movies that were filmed in Spain's Tabernas desert.  The region picked up the nickname the Hollywood of Spain due to the many films shot there.  Hammeken Cellars has created an elaborate back story for this gentleman, which is told on their website.

The 100% Tempranillo wine was made from grapevines which have been in place for more than thirty years in the Castilla region.  Aging took only four months and the French oak barrels were previously used.  Alcohol hits only 14% abv and the wine sells for around $16.

This is a dark wine, with light able to show through only around the edges.  Bright red fruit appears on the nose, along with oak spices.  The palate bears the taste of ripe, red berries which dance around a lively acidity and firm tannins.  A smoky element also comes into play, benefiting a wine which is not extremely complex to begin with, but tasty nonetheless.

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Blood Of The Vines - R.I.P. Sean Connery

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell.  As if the pandemic isn’t bad enough news, we lost another movie great last week. Sean Connery passed away at the ripe old age of 90.  R.I.P, Mr. Connery.

Dr. No, directed by Terence Young in 1962, was the first film in the James Bond series, Connery played Bond, James Bond, opposite Ursula Andress.  Nice work if you can get it.  

Remember how you couldn't get away from spy shows in the '60s?  Dr. No is why.  After the film's success, the spies all came in from the cold.  The character Andress plays, by the way, is a shell diver.  That's right, she sells sea shells by the seashore.

The movie is set in Jamaica, so how about pairing it with Jamaican wine?  Magnum Tonic Wine is actually mead, and is drunk by the locals "for medicinal purposes" and is also considered a sexual stimulant.  That's all well and good, but you might find it easier to locate a Red Stripe beer, or a bottle of rum for your pairing pleasure.  Or a big, fat spliff, mon.

1965's The Hill was directed by Sidney Lumet.  The story centers around a British military prison in Libya where the guards get their jollies by running the prisoners ragged on a hill at the center of the desert camp.  Connery plays a soldier who refused an order to send his men on a suicide mission, so it's the British version of Gitmo for him.  

The role was a real departure for Connery, who by this time had become well known as Bond, James Bond.  He reportedly relished the idea of playing a character that was more or less a heavy, and who didn't have to say his name twice.

The Hill was shot in Almeria, Spain, where so many American movies were shot that the area became known as the Hollywood of Spain.  At least that's what they called it in Spain.  And why not take that as the cue for a wine pairing?

The wine known as El Gringo is a Tempranillo which was named after an actor who worked as an extra in those movies filmed in the Tabernas desert.  If you're in the mood, you can make it a double feature with a Spaghetti Western.

Wrong Is Right is a 1982 comedic thriller that centers on a suitcase full of nuclear explosives.  Man, have we been worrying about that scenario for almost forty years?  Will the pandemic stick around so long that it becomes second nature to us as well?  Scary thought.  

In Wrong Is Right, Connery plays a television news reporter who goes to an Arab country to interview the king.  Despite being an ol' buddy, the king gets him mixed up in the terrorist bomb escapade, which is not something one would expect from our ol' buddy the king.  The laughs in Wrong Is Right are wrung from a situation that is not so funny at all, as in M*A*S*H, S.O.B. or Ishtar.

The wine pairing for Wrong Is Right is a bottle from the Arab world by way of Paso Robles, DAOU Vineyards.  Brothers George and David Daou grew up in Lebanon, with bombs bursting outside the kitchen window.  They left Lebanon, got rich and bought a vineyard in Paso.  Their white Chemin de Fleur is a tasty blend of Viognier, Grenache Blanc and Roussanne.

 

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Winning Lodi Zinfandel At Half The Price

California wine négociant Cameron Hughes owns no vineyards and has no official winery.  He sniffs out good wine which has already been produced by established makers, then buys it on the down low with an agreement not to reveal the source.  He then sells the wine online through his wine club - he calls it a wineocracy - bringing top-shelf wines to lower-shelf wallets.  Hughes says he keeps prices low by removing the middleman, the distributor and retailer through which store-bought wines must pass.  Hughes has a nose for good wine, which makes his label a reliable source for such juice.

Lot 730 Zinfandel Lodi 2018

This Zinfandel was sourced "from an esteemed producer home to numerous parcels of Lodi's famous old vines," says Hughes.  The vintner promises it is everything you would expect from a Lodi Zin - fruity, spicy, nuanced - and more, because it sells for about half of its original price.  Alcohol rises to 15.5% abv and the sticker reads about $13.

This Lodi Zinfandel carries a medium tint in the glass and smells of red fruit and black pepper.  The palate is fruity with a savory note to go along with it.  A zippy acidity is fresh, while the tannins are quite firm.  My pork chop paired very well with it.

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Single-Vineyard California Pinot Noir

As part of a recent SommCon video tasting series, a single-vineyard Pinot Noir from Merry Edwards Vineyards was featured.  The segment was hosted by winemaker Heidi von der Mehden, only the second winemaker at the winery after Merry herself turned over the reins.

The 2017 Merry Edwards Russian River Valley Pinot Noir was made from grapes harvested from the Meredith Estate.  The Russian River flows east-west through the appellation, allowing the evening Pacific fog to roll in and cool things down by 40 to 50 degrees.  That's great for growing grapes, especially Pinot Noir.

The Meredith Estate vineyard is planted to the UC-Davis 37 clone of Pinot Noir, Merry's own personal clone.  Online tasters had high praise for this wine, citing its "stunning" and "intoxicating" nose and palate.  The alcohol content sits at 14.5% abv and the retail price is $68.

It is a dark wine, and the nose is very expressive.  Blackberry, cassis, vanilla, tea and a slight brambly note are present.  On the palate, savory cola and oak spice get into the act, while the tannins are firm, but not overly so.  The dark fruit is there, but the savory aspect of the flavor profile definitely leads the way.  Have a juicy filet with this one - they deserve each other. 

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