Friday, May 5, 2023

Blood Of The Vines - Fantasy Worlds

Pairing‌ ‌wine‌ ‌with‌ ‌movies!‌  ‌See‌ ‌the‌ ‌trailers‌ ‌and‌ ‌hear‌ ‌the‌ ‌fascinating‌ ‌commentary‌ ‌for‌ ‌these‌ ‌movies‌ ‌and‌ ‌many‌ ‌more‌ ‌at‌ ‌Trailers‌ ‌From‌ ‌Hell.‌ This week, we examine three fantasy films that take us to their own special worlds.

Prehistoric Women  is a 1967 British film which debuted in the US, but it didn't hit movie screens in the UK for another year and a half - and with the new title of Slave Girls. A year and a half they had, and that was the winner of the New Title Contest. Some folks just don't deserve to be making movies.

Anyway, the main character has a thing with white rhinos, or they have a thing with him - it's hard to tell. He also has a thing with a beautiful - er - slave girl, from a million years ago. There's the leader of the dark-haired prehistoric women who wants him dead because he won't hook up with her. Yeah, there is a lot to process in this movie. 

If things look a bit familiar from time to time, it may be due to the fact that Hammer Films saved a few bucks by reusing the sets and costumes from the previous year's One Million Years B.C. It also may be due to the fact that if you've seen one cave, you've seen them all.

That is certainly not true in Sicily, where Scientific American details a cluster of caves where the oldest wine in the world was found. It's brutally hard to get inside these caves, and you are likely to die if you do, so let's just take a bottle from … well, this shelf right here. Duca di Salaparuta is the oldest winery in Sicily, and they make a white wine that smacks of volcanic earth. Get some. They make a red wine from Etna's slopes, as well.

Atlantis, the Lost Continent shows what can happen when you let your technologically advanced super continent get away from you. The 1961 sci-fi has submarines, magic crystals and a mad scientist, all rolled into a story of Greek fishermen unwittingly rescuing a princess from the lost continent. Before it was lost, of course.

There is some slavery involved here, and the princess will require a second rescue - because why shouldn't a princess be as much trouble as possible? The impending apocalypse seems to be a sure thing until … well, let's not spoil it for those who don't know how the story ends. The title really gives it away. It's not called a lost continent for nothing. As Donovan said, "Hail, Atlantis."

Go with Greece for this wine pairing, and we’ll make it a shorter trip to pick up a bottle. Georgós is wine made from Greek grapes and shipped halfway across the world, to be bottled in Sonoma County. The vintner says those Greek grapes save him the headaches he gets from other wines. 

The Witches came along in 1990, based on the book by Roald Dahl and directed by Nicolas Roeg. It is a darkly comic fantasy which isn't going to win any kudos at the local PTA meeting.

The witches in this film hate children, which doesn't necessarily make them bad people, if you were to ask me. They do, however, want to destroy the little tykes, and that really is out of bounds - even for kid-hating witches. Just look at poor Hansel, who could have been a witch's entrée except for sister Gretel's quick thinking. Let it be noted that in this fantasy world, the evil witches can ruin everything unless they are stopped by a boy and his granny. The world seems to be in a bit of trouble, trouble, toil and bubble, so let's find a sparkling wine from an appropriately named producer. 

San Diego County's Witch Creek Winery has a bubbly bottle called Cool Cat. While witches don't like kids, they do like cats - it's one of the great paradoxes of life. The winery also offers up Cat's Cauldron Chardonnay which features a witch as well as the cat on the label.


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