Blood Of The Vines - Nightmare Cinema

Pairing wine with movies!  See the trailers and hear the fascinating commentary for these movies and many more at Trailers From Hell. This week, your worst nightmares get wine pairings. 

Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker was released in 1981 the first time around. You may have caught it in re-release, retitled as Night Warning. 

William Asher directed, and you may recognize his name from the early days of television. He directed Our Miss Brooks, I Love Lucy, and many other seminal series. He had a hand in Bewitched, too, on the TV screen. By the way, he was married to Elizabeth Montgomery at the time, everyone's favorite witch. Considering his sitcom beginnings, it's more than a little strange to see his talents go to a movie which features murder, incest, and homosexuality.

Jimmy McNichol got the starring role of Billy, the nice teenager who is gifted by the universe with some really terrible luck. Susan Tyrrell played the role of Billy's Aunt Cheryl, and she Baby Jane'd the hell out of it. There's a twist in the film, and as a result of it, you probably don't want to put Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker or Night Warning on your Mother's Day viewing card.

The Butcher Blaufränkisch hails from Burgenland, Austria. Don't fear the fränkisch, it's thought of as the Pinot Noir of the east due to its popularity in eastern Europe. In the US, some call it Lemberger. $25.

In 1994, Wes Craven's New Nightmare gave Freddy Krueger a new spin. In this seventh film in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Krueger is a fictional character who gets into the real world to torment those who are making movies about him. How meta. 

It is a kick to see the actors and others associated with the film series as real and fictional characters. Even as real people, they're still actors portraying real people, pretending to interact with their actor selves. Whoa, man, I think I need to sit down for a minute.

The Elm Street movies are undeniably popular. I mean, they just keep on coming. I'm not watching them, but someone is. They scare me too much. I sit with my hand over my eyes, waiting for the Carfax Fox to make everything all better. "Maybe I'm watching too much television," he realizes, way too late to do anything about it. How meta. 

For a Wes Craven production, let's sip a bottle from Craven Wines of South Africa. No relation. From Chenin Blanc to Syrah, the Craven line sells for around $20 a bottle.

Nightmare Cinema comes from 2018 and is a horror anthology featuring segments directed by, among others, TFH's very own chief guru Joe Dante. There are also works included by Alejandro Brugués, TFH guru Mick Garris, Ryūhei Kitamura, and David Slade.

Mickey Rourke plays the projectionist at a movie theater that shows films depicting the worst fears of the audience. Yeah, I know, you thought that was Melania. Well, strap yourself in and get set for segments on slasher killers, sex demons and an alternate reality experienced while waiting for a doctor's appointment. Hey, wait, that's actually happened to me. My insurance didn't cover it.

Washington state winery The Walls has a Tempranillo they call a Wonderful Nightmare, Hemingway's description of the running of the bulls in Pamplona. I'll leave that sort of thing to other fools. A Nightmare Cinema sounds dangerous enough for me. 

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Hooray! A Bargain Vouvray

Every time I go bargain hunting at Trader Joe's, my white wine thirst loves to find the Vignobles Lacheteau Vouvray. Any time I see Vouvray on a wine label, my eye is caught. This Vouvray is a semi-dry white wine from France's Loire Valley. Vouvray is an appellation, not a grape. Most of the white wines of Vouvray are made from Chenin Blanc grapes, as is this one. I've had this wine before, 2021 1nd 2023 vintages. This one is a 2024.

The French region of Vouvray is white wine heaven. Alcohol for this wine is quite restrained, at 11% abv, and it sells for less than $10 at Trader Joe's. I hope they keep it in stock, because I have a spicy shrimp dish on my radar for the coming week. 

This wine has a straw-yellow color in the glass. Its nose shows aromas of stone fruit, like peach, apricot, and white nectarine. There is also a hint of Meyer lemon in the sniff. The palate is just creamy goodness. The fruit flavors are joined by a savory minerality and salinity, which is overpoweringly wonderful. The acidity is fresh, but not razor sharp. Pair it with a spicy dish and thank me later. Spicy seafood would be perfect.  

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Blood Of The Vines - Down In The Valley

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 have three views of valley life, with a wine pairing for each. 

 First, let's go waaay down in the valley. The San Fernando Valley was home to a thriving pornography industry, back in the VHS days. 1997's Boogie Nights chronicled that era with maybe just a splash of celebration. It was written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, who also co-produced it. 

The film is a fascinating examination of 1970s SoCal porn. It provided Mark Wahlberg's big splash into movie stardom and gave us Burt Reynolds as the porn producer in a riveting role. For me, the movie is worth it just for a two-second montage in which Reynolds makes a drink, calls his dealer and snorts a line. That's some fine editing, there, friends. 

La Fiorita is the Italian wine project of former porn star Natalie Oliveros. Her Fiore di NO Brunello Montalcino has accumulated an impressive sheaf of reviews, and it sells for more than $100.

Valley Girl starred Deborah Foreman and Nicolas Cage back in 1983 as star-crossed San Fernando Valley lovers. The movie's one-sheet shows her pretty in pink and him bad in black. Well, as bad as a guy can look with no shirt and a necktie. It's an okay movie and it was decently received by critics and the general public alike. However, the funniest thing about the movie is the blurb describing it as "loosely based on the tragedy Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare." That’s a bit of a reach. And did the blurb writer really think it was necessary to attribute Shakespeare?

The film probably drew more inspiration from the song "Valley Girl," which was a hit the year before by Frank Zappa and his daughter Moon Unit, fer sure fer sure.

When a valley girl wants a great Cabernet Sauvignon, she turns to the north and grabs a bottle from Napa Valley. Castello di Amorosa has a great assortment, led by Il Barone at $110 a pop.

As if 1970 wasn't weird enough, we have Beyond the Valley of the Dolls to make it even weirder. Reviled by critics upon its release, Beyond was eaten up by younger movie goers at the time. It has even won over some of its critics, who now see its satire in a better light. 

Directed by Russ Meyer and co-written by him and Roger Ebert, this movie zips along like a pinball, bashing its ripped-from-real-life characters up against a script that was revised on the spur of every other moment. It's got music, dime store psychedelia, shameless melodrama, drugs, and a jaundiced world view. Meyer felt that's what the kids were looking for on the big screen, and he dished it up super-sized. 

Valley of the Moon Winery makes a Sonoma County Chardonnay that sells for about $20. Buttery but balanced. Don't make a habit of washing down your pills with it. 

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Pouring Portugal, Fresh And Bright

Wine is a global affair. The wines of Portugal are particularly interesting, since winemaking was once bound by politics there. 

Constantino Ramos started a wine project a decade ago with grapes sourced from a high-altitude plot of land that belonged to his family. Now he sources fruit from additional plots, all at high elevation. He considers that to be essential for making fresh, acid-driven wines. 

My wine club guy has some facts about Vinho Verde, located a few miles inland from the coast. Although it is a very warm region, the vineyards are planted at over 1200 feet and experience swings between daytime and nighttime temperatures of up to 40 degrees. The diurnal swing allows the grapes to ripen during the day while retaining acidity as they cool at night. 

"Like all traditional Portuguese wines, this is a field blend, in this case from 100-year-old vines of varieties that are traditional to the stretch of territory that crosses over to Spanish Galicia to the east. The blend includes borraçal, alvarelhão, espadeiro, and vinhão, the latter a peculiar, dark-pigmented variety with stunning, dusty minerality reminiscent of Slovenian teran." 

For Juca, "Ramos destems the grapes to avoid excessive tannin extraction, and then ages it for nearly a year in a combination of stainless steel and old barrels." The region's soil is mostly of granite, but this wine was grown in vineyards that are purely so. 

This wine colors up medium ruby in the glass. The nose offers brilliant, ripe cherry aromas and very little oak effect. The palate is also fruit-forward, mainly cherry, and it is fresh and clean tasting. It is quite an enjoyable wine.

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Blood Of The Vines - Shaken Not Stirred

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 have three James Bond films on the docket along with a wine pairing for each. And, no, Mr. Bond. We expect you to drink. 

The third film in the Bond series, Goldfinger hit movie screens in 1964. To match 007's expensive tastes, the movie raked in more than 100 million dollars, the first Bond film to do so. It was also the first Bond film to feature a hit single over the opening credits. Shirley Bassey's performance was a global hit. In smaller letters, it was also the first Bond film to have a theme song with vocals, a fact which Ms. Bassey surely appreciated. The title song made her career.

The sight of a beautiful woman covered in gold paint leads me to think of Buddy Ebsen. His body reacted badly to the aluminum dust used in his makeup for the role of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. That’s why he was replaced. Happily, Hollywood figured out how to make a safer base for full-body makeup, allowing Shirley Eaton to wear the gold paint in Goldfinger. 

The plot centers on a scheme to use a dirty bomb at Fort Knox to make off with the gold bullion. "Over my shaken martini," says Mr. Bond. 

In Goldfinger, Bond drank a Dom Perignon '53, along with mint juleps, fancy brandy, and his signature martini. One of my favorite moments in the TV series, The West Wing, is when the topic of James Bond arises and the president complains that Bond likes his martini "shaken, not stirred." POTUS points out that the act of shaking the cocktail chips the ice and creates a drink that is watered down, lamenting that Bond is "ordering a weak martini and being snooty about it."

But back to the Dom. If the thousands of dollars for a 1953 is out of your price range, try a 2017. It'll run you a couple of C-notes at least, but it is Dom Perignon. And the bottle is heavy enough to act as a shield in case Oddjob shows up. 

1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the sixth installment in the James Bond series, and the first without Sean Connery in the role of 007. George Lazenby vaulted instantly from starring in TV advertisements for chocolates to being "Bond. James Bond." Life is good that way to some folks.  

Life was good to Diana Rigg, at least the professional side of it. She played the Bond girl here. The character was an Italian countess who became, in the film, Bond's wife - however briefly. Rigg had reportedly said that she always wanted to appear in an "epic film," and OHMSS was that. Rigg may have had a somewhat charmed acting life, but she suffered some great personal heartbreak along the way.

I am of the age that Diana Rigg as Emma Peel had a great "M. Appeal" for me as a pre-teen boy. We won't get into embarrassing specifics here, except to say that I was left with a lifelong search for a woman who could do a little judo hip-flip on me while entering a room.

Rigg reportedly had it in her contract for the BBC series Victoria that she would be served a cold bottle of prosecco as each day's shooting wrapped. You can go that way if you like - a $10 bottle of Italian bubbles - or you can lean into the Bond lifestyle and order an expensive Champagne. While you're leaning, extract a few Benjamins from your wallet.  Bond was no slouch when it came to booze. He liked Tattinger early in the film series. 

Dr. No, directed by Terence Young in 1962, was the first film in the James Bond series, Sean Connery played 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.

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Spain Poses As Beaujolais

Wine clubs should be for exploration, not repetition. My wine club surprised me this month with a tasty imposter from Spain. The 2021 Mix Tinto, from Mixtura Wines, is all Spanish, but it does a nice impression of a Beaujolais. 

The cool-climate red is from Galacia, on Spain's northwest corner. I'll be drawing liberally here from the website of the importer, The Source Imports. "A native of Galicia, Gutier Seijo Otero developed his own project, Mix and Mixtura, in 2019 after nearly a decade at the helm of the historical Ribeira Sacra winery, Dominio do Bibei. Though his winery is in Ribeiro, the project is focused on recovering historical vineyards and native grape varieties in northwestern Spain and Portugal along the Miño and Sil rivers. His wines disregard traditional political boundaries and are labeled without appellation and variety. The project is rooted in a deep respect for the land and culture, using minimal intervention and native yeasts, with Mix largely vinified and aged in small old French oak and Tava amphoras, and Mixtura in concrete eggs and Stockinger barrels."

They aren't kidding about the labeling. I am really just guessing that the vintage is 2021. I could be wrong. I don't have to guess about the composition, though. Mix Tinto is made from 70% Bierzo Mencía grapes, grown "on granite bedrock with a topsoil of deep red clay and cobbles," and 30% "Ribeiro Caiño Longo on granite bedrock and sábrego (decomposed granite with granitic clay and sand) topsoil." The grapes were crushed whole cluster and the wine was aged in French oak for eleven months. Alcohol hits only 12% abv and the wine retails for $34.

This wine is dark purple, almost indigo. The nose is bright and strident. Aromas of blackberry dominate, and plenty of minerality comes through. A layer of oak spice completes the scene. On the palate, savory is the word. Earthy tones cover the dark fruit, while spices play with a hint of oak. The finish is lengthy and the tannins are firm without being overwhelming. 

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Bargain Basement Sonoma Zinfandel

Here is another bargain wine from a discount chain. There are good values to be found in the bargain basement, but often very few specifics about the wine are available. We know that it was produced using Zinfandel grapes grown in Sonoma County, and I'm guessing they were from Dry Creek or Alexander valleys. Alcohol hits a lofty 14.5% abv but the price is low, only $8 at Trader Joe's.

This wine colors up medium dark ruby in the glass. The nose displays blackberry, red plum and raspberry aromas with a hint of oak spice. On the palate is a bountiful show of red fruit and tannins that are firm but not overbearing. I used it in a pasta sauce, and with the spaghetti. The finish is medium length, with the fruit lasting longest. 

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Blood Of The Vines - Capracorn

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 have a trio of films directed by the late, great Frank Capra. There is also a trio of wines for pairing.

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is a 1936 romantic comedy starring Gary Cooper as a country bumpkin from Vermont and Jean Arthur as a wise cracking New York City reporter. You couldn't be a reporter back then unless you could crack wise while getting the scoop. Capra scooped up the Oscar for Best Director.

Cooper's character, Longfellow Deeds, inherits $20 million from his uncle. Back in the Depression, $20 million was a lot of money. His uncle's lawyer brings Deeds to the Big Apple and tries to keep him away from reporters. Wise cracking Arthur worms her way into Deeds' heart by pretending to be a poor person looking for work. He falls for the story, then finds out about the ruse and packs his bag to go back home. It would be a short, sad movie if it ended there, but it doesn't. 

Once the situation is sorted out, Deeds gets the gal, wise cracks and all. One might assume that she softens a bit, what with the $20 million boyfriend. It's Happily Ever After, just like Capra intended.

You might think that seeking out a wine from Vermont is a fool's errand, but let me set you straight. Eden Ciders has ice ciders available for $30, although they come in small bottles. They do have grape wines, made from cold-hardy varietals, but if you try the cider, you'll be a big apple convert.

Capra directed 1939's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which starred Jimmy Stewart as senatorial neophyte Jefferson Smith. He wants to take a piece of land and do good with it, while an elder statesman wants to make money with it. Let the clashing begin.

Nobody could do an impassioned speech like Stewart. His verbal takedown of the bad pol in the chamber is a classic. You haven't seen such sweating on the Senate floor since Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings. 

The movie was criticized at the time by politicians. You had to see that coming. They said the film cast Washington in a bad light. Reading that sentence in today's political climate is cause for guffaws. What kind of light do you have that will make Washington look good? A magic lamp? If you turn it on and a genie pops out, ask it for some principled Republicans and a nice bottle of Bordeaux. 

Master of Wine Tim Atkin writes that when politicizing wine, the big, bold reds are usually favored by conservatives, while more restrained efforts capture the hearts of liberals. I don’t know about that, but from France, where they never accepted the idea of Freedom Fries, comes Château Haut-Bages Liberal. It's a Cab/Merlot blend that sells for around $50, depending on the vintage. Liberal, by the way, is the name of a previous owner of the estate a couple hundred years ago. Just goes to show, if you get your name on a French wine, it stays there. 

Pairing wine with certain movies requires a leap of faith. How would you really feel having fava beans and Chianti while watching Silence Of The Lambs? Arsenic And Old Lace presents a similar difficulty.

Capra's film rendition of Arsenic And Old Lace stars Cary Grant as a newlywed who discovers his two sweet, old aunts are inviting old men to their home and offering them elderberry wine dosed with poison.

They do this as a sort of public service. They figure the old guys have nothing to live for, so they give them a little push toward everlasting peace. So, two sweet, little old ladies are revealed to be murderers. Sweet, little, old murderers, but murderers nonetheless. It's a dark comedy with plenty of laughs.

While noodling around on the internet - we call that "research" - I found an interesting wine factoid about Cary Grant. Supposedly, Grant once beat Winston Churchill in a wine tasting contest! The score was evened later when Churchill beat Grant at cigar tasting. Is it true? Who knows? It was on the internet. 

You can "pick your poison" for Arsenic And Old Lace, but how could you resist pairing it with elderberry wine? Manischewitz offers an elderberry wine that's easy to find and keeps the cost of date night down - it's less than $5 a bottle. It's a very sweet wine, just like those little old ladies. By the way, if you offer Manischewitz on a first date, there probably won't be a second.

The trouble is, it's not really elderberry wine. It's made from Concord grapes with some flavoring added. Not so bad, considering what's being added to the wine in the movie.

You can make your own elderberry wine, or have someone you really trust make it for you. Just don't use the recipe given in the movie, which calls for "one teaspoon full of arsenic, half a teaspoon full of strychnine, and then just a pinch of cyanide."

Whatever wine you choose for Arsenic And Old Lace, we recommend opening the bottle and pouring in plain view of all present. We want the only "funny stuff" to be that which is in the movie.

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Bargain Soave Classico Changes Name, Still Can't Hide

Bargain Soave Changes NameI recently grabbed a bottle of the 2024 Casaponte Soave Classico off the shelf at Trader Joe's. I thought something was familiar about the label, and when I looked into it I found that I had seen it before with a different name on it. 

I had already had the 2022 vintage of the wine, with the name Villa Molino Soave Classico on it. The notes are the same this time around, which is alright with me. It's a decent wine and it doesn't hurt the wallet too badly. 

Soave Classico is quite a different wine from Soave. The Classico region of the Soave DOC has a higher altitude and a volcanic aspect to the soil, which is imparted into the Garganega (90%) and Trebbiano (10%) grapes. The wine is much better than the label, which features a picnic basket and a cute little dog who is packing the wine in his saddlebags. Alcohol hits only 12% abv and the bottle can be had for less than $10 at Trader Joe's.

This wine has a golden yellow color in the glass. The nose is highly aromatic, with citrus minerals, apricot and a lanolin note competing for attention. The palate is brisk and full, showing Meyer lemon, guava and a hint of pineapple, all laced with a streak of salinity. The acidity is fresh, but not ripping. The long finish has a sense of apricot outlasting all the other flavors. It's a great wine for sipping, but it paired quite nicely with a way-too-creamy pasta primavera. 

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A Bargain Wine For Summer

The 2022 Rosa dell'Olmo Langhe Nebbiolo is imported by Latitude Wines, a company I've had good luck with in the past. It is available only at Trader Joe's, and it falls squarely into the Bargain Wines To Look For category. Aging took place in stainless steel tanks, and alcohol sits at 13.5% abv and it sells at TJ's for $9. A steal.

This wine looks like a rosato, lightly tinted for a red wine. The nose offers bright cherry and lilac scents. On the palate, juicy and vibrant red fruit are a delight, while the acidity is refreshing and the tannins are medium-firm. It finishes medium, with plenty of fruity reminders of the sip. With summer on the way, keep this one in mind if you need a light red to chill for the patio. 

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Blood Of The Vines - Noirish

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 go to the dark side for a platter of film noir. Some wine pairings will help wash down the bitter little pills.

In my younger days, oh so long ago, I would occasionally have people over to my humble home to enjoy a fine beverage and some music. There would inevitably come a time when I was ready for them to leave. When that time came, I would grab my VHS copy (oh so long ago) of Fritz Lang's Metropolis and say, "Have you seen this? It's great!" Rarely would my guests feel that way about Metropolis, and I would be left alone, as I wished. By the way, the fine beverage back then was usually a PBR or MGD. Now I know better. I have wine. And friends who like Metropolis.

While the City Sleeps was directed by Mr. Lang in 1956, and nobody had better get up and leave in the middle. Lang had a wealth of talent to direct in this one. Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, George Sanders, Howard Duff, Vincent Price, John Drew Barrymore, and Ida Lupino are among the luminaries who staffed this dark little number. 

More than a crime drama, While the City Sleeps lifts the societal carpet and looks at the dirt beneath it. A media family is the focal point, only it's Kyne, not Kane this time. The parts played by them and their media outlets are central to the story as a serial killer runs free. 

The movie is set in New York City, but shot in Los Angeles. That gives some screen time to the old Red Car trolleys, standing in for NYC subway cars. It's always nice to see public transit get a lead role. 

Noir Wines makes sparkling Pinot Noir rosé, sold in cans, four for $48. The grapes come from the Sta. Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County and are harvested at night, while the city sleeps. 

Border Incident is a film noir from 1949, in the golden age of the genre. Ricardo Montalbán and George Murphy star, along with Howard Da Silva, in a tale of two undercover agents trying to stop the smuggling of migrant workers from Mexico into California. It was done on a shoestring budget, and it shows in the lighting. So many shadows! Oh, I'm being told that cinematographer John Alton shot it that way on purpose. So that's where the noir comes in.

Montalbán, from Mexico by the way, said this was one of the few movies he made in which he was allowed to portray a Mexican. The narration that opens and closes the picture gets a bit jingoistic, but if you can get past that, the rewards are there with a story that is before its time, a visual presence that is stunning and acting that surpasses what might have been expected from MGM's tight purse strings.

Mexico's L.A. Cetto Winery offers a wide range of wines from the Valle de Guadalupe, just across the border. They make a nice Nebbiolo that sells for around $20 and is readily available in the U.S. 

Who doesn't like to take in a day at the track and get sloshed while tearing up tickets? Well, I've never done it. When I lose my shirt gambling on sports, I prefer to do my drinking afterward. I drown my bad luck with free house wine in the casino while staring at a video poker machine, a waste of time that's almost as boring as keno.

I suppose seeing your money disappear in person has a certain allure. But in The Killing, the Stanley Kubrick classic starring Sterling Hayden, everybody's money disappears when a clown-masked robber rips off the gate.  Okay, so now the whole grandstand is sorry they put Aunt Martha's farm on the horse that couldn't get around the first turn.

The late California wine legend Jess Jackson was also a mover and shaker in the thoroughbred horse industry. So, for The Killing, let’s go with his hallmark, Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay. They make a zillion cases a year and it's always lauded as a reliably good wine from vintage to vintage. Twelve dollars out of the gate at the supermarket can get you a wine that will feel right at home down the stretch.

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