It was nominated for nine Oscars, but because they’re all a bunch of dirty foreigners it only won for Best International Feature Film. Though by doing so, it became the first Norwegian film to ever win the category.

Joachim Trier and regular co-writer Eskil Vogt hit the scene with Reprise in 2007, a film that took them 5 years to write. They followed with Oslo: August 31st in 2011, the second of what would become Trier’s “Oslo Trilogy”. Then his stab at a film with a Hollywood cast in Louder Than Bombs (2015), a stab at a horror movie with Thelma (2017) and then he concluded the Oslo trilogy with The Worst Person In the World in 2021. The Oslo Trilogy are all set in Oslo and features actor Anders Danielsen Lie in a leading role and tend to revolve around the theme of social exclusion. Trier’s THELMA is also set in Oslo with a similar core theme, but does not have Lie in the cast, and therefore is not considered a part.

Riding high off the conclusion of the Oslo trilogy, Trier found himself with a blank slate for what he tackled next.

When asked about the inspiration for Sentimental Value Trier stated:

Poetically, the house that features in the film, was a house Trier had shot in before.

Trier had scouted dozens of houses before arriving at this one, which he recognized and realized he'd been before. He instantly saw how scenes from the script would be shot there. Likely, the familiarity, the memories spurred this, which are the very themes of the movie itself.

Regarding the title: Trier says:

Trier and Vogt knew they were on a knife’s-edge:

The premise of the film is as follows:

“Sisters Nora (Renate Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) reunite with their estranged father, the charismatic Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), a once-renowned director who offers stage actress Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. When Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he has given her part to an eager young Hollywood star (Elle Fanning). Suddenly, the two sisters must navigate their complicated relationship with their father — and deal with an American star dropped right into the middle of their complex family dynamics.”

This is, without a doubt, the best film Trier has directed to date. It’s an evolution and apotheosis of his themes, characters, and style. There are strong similarities to Olivier Assayas’ CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA (2014) which we sort-of covered in our batshit 2-Part Fake Movies Within Movies Paired with Fake Drinks Within Movies with the equally batshit . A 2-Parter that Sentimental Value could now be included within!

Wine Trivia Question of the Week

The Wines

Zulal Areni, Vayots Dzor, Armenia

: I wanted a wine with a father-daughter dynamic, though maybe one with a functional vs. dysfunctional one. (Hard to find a working winery if it was dysfunctional.) Also a wine that matched this movie’s emotional complexity but lack of gravitas, lack of elevated emotional quality. I needed to match it’s more grounded, everyday, quiet and gentle approach to peering into the depth of difficult interpersonal relationships.

Areni is Armenia’s flagship red grape. The Areni for this wine comes from small, family-owned vineyards in Vayots Dzor that are 50-70 years old. Situated between 1,400 and 1,500 meters above sea level and completely ungrafted. (So pre-Phylloxera1)

Areni is often compared to Pinot Noir, and it does share similar body, structure, and fundamental flavors - red fruit, herbaceousness, good acidity, noticeable but not hefty tannins. It’s complex, layered, it’s contemplative, but not harsh, and not difficult.

This winery, Zulal, was founded by Aimee Keushguerian, daughter to Vahe Keushguerian, the man who spearheaded the modern wine movement in Armenia. Aimee grew up in Tuscany surrounded by her family’s wine business, but went to study economic development and social entrepreneurship in college, as her interest was in bringing Armenia’s economy into the modern era.

Then her father, Vahe, invited her to work the harvest at his winery Keush in 2015.

Aimee later founded Zulal Wines, dedicated to small-batch expressions of Armenia’s rare and indigenous grape varieties.

So a daughter who had no intention of following in her father’s footsteps, carvibg out her own space, while working to reestablish and reinvigorate her family’s traditions, roots, and culture for the modern moment. And a wine that contains multitudes without demanding anything from or forcing anythign onto its drinker.

P.S. Aimee is featured in A Cup of Salvation, the SOMM TV documentary longlisted for the Academy Awards, which follows her and her father’s efforts to make wine in both Armenia and the first wine from Iran in over 40 years.

: I wanted a wine that matched the watchability of this film, the ease of this film. But I also wanted it to contrast this film’s rather gloomy and austere style.

So it had to pull double duty. It had to be something that was a pleasant and easy drink. It also had to implore me to continue drinking and for the contrast, it had to be bright, sunny and colorful, in a way.

So I settled on the 2023 K Vintners Art Den Hoed Viognier.

It’s a lean and light to medium bodied wine that increases the salivary sensation or mouth watering. Like this film, every frame sort of makes you curious about the next. You want more. It’s sort of energetic and spritzy, like this film. There’s an exciting life behind the top layers.

It’s similar to the film, in that it is a very clean expression of some otherwise dirty and muddy components. It’s also similar in that the film is effortlessly watchable and this wine is effortlessly drinkable.

Note wise, you’re getting some honey suckle, maybe a little apple blossom, faint peach on the nose.

Drink it now. And also, watch this film now.

Located at the base of the Blue Mountains in Walla Walla Washington, K Vintners opened its doors to the public on December 3rd, 2001.

The site was originally homesteaded in 1853 with the adjacent farmhouse built in 1872. The winery grounds with Titus Creek flowing through the lawn and the old pioneer planted trees, is a little slice of heartland Americana.

The Winemaker: He loves to drink wine! Charles Smith, proprietor and winemaker, comes to Walla Walla after 11 years in Scandanavia. Originally from northern California, he has been involved with wine personally and professionally his whole life.

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Two of those fans are yours truly - having watched MacGruber when Netflix was still shipping phsyical DVDs to my mailbox - and , writer of :

How Not to be a TV Writer

Jon is a TV Writer who worked in the writers’ rooms of Veep (HBO) and HouseBroken (FOX). HNTBATVW is a guide to navigating a creative career in entertainment, warts and all.

By Jon Stahl

Jon is joined us for a lengthy chat on what makes MACGRUBER function as a comedy, and why this style of comedy for comedy’s sake needs to make a comeback.

We also chat about Jon’s own writer-producer projects happening as I type, most notably Casen Pointe: True Crime Detective the webseries that just had it’s second episode drop last week! (EDIT: it’s now up for a potential festival screening, so has been taken down temporrariily. It will return!)

Jon also has a 4-part micro-series hitting IG right now - UPSTAGE. Make sure to follow to see what he’s up to there.

MacGruber’s Origin Story

As for MACGRUBER, we cover the full genesis of the character and film, as reocrded in the Vanity Fair article “It’s So Dumb, and It Just Felt So Right”: An Oral History of MacGruber. You could pay for a subscription to read that, or just listen to our pod for free. We give you the highlights ;)

All Films and Shows Mentioned in this Episode

The Wines (and Kombucha)

Jon is living a mostly-sober lifestyle these days (boooo, jk, of course that’s healthy for anyone to jk BOOOOOO.)

As such, he chose a non-alcoholic beverage to pair with MacGruber, so not wine. But instead: Kombucha was a drink he didn’t like much at first (like most people when it comes to wine!) But the flavors slowly grew on him, until he loves the sour-tart, fruity herbal experience that most kombucha is. Just like MacGruber was a grower - “do I like this?” The character is actually pretty terrible. But then: “this is hysterical I love watching everything he does” (even though or maybe especially because he’s still terrible!)

Synergy Trilogy - raspberry, lemon, and ginger - is the perfect kick of all of the flavors listed above, to blend with that MacGrubery experience.

2022 Revelation Vineyards 100% Vidal Blanc

A Belgian mathematician and an Irish dentist walk into a bar…then walk out together, move to California together, fall in love with wine together, move to Virginia together, and buy a horse farm which they then turn into a vineyard together. Easy peasy. Like, where even is the story in that?

So short story short: they now make wine in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, including this Vidal Blanc, a hybrid grape that Virginia and most of the North East Coast loves (it makes an insane ice wine!)

Light, crisp, slightly honeyed in flavor profile, this is a refreshing, easy drinking white that you can sip with a comedy that demands little from you like MacGruber. The wine rewards attention - as does the movie - but neither demands it.

So the next time you’re f**king as hard as MacGruber and Vicki St. Elmo - or a Belgian mathematician and an Irish dentist cum winemakers - and the poor girl has to open-palm swat the beads of sweat dripping off your naked torso before they hit her in the face, make sure you have an open bottle - well chilled - of this refreshing Vidal Blanc from Virginia’s Revelation Vineyards. It’ll enhance the experience for you both, but won’t steal your attenion away. Or, sorry, sip it while watching MacGruber I forgot what I was writing about there for a moment.

Yes, Charles Fackam Hall2 Shaw. MacGruber is, naturally, a parody of MacGyver. The character is, essentially, the incompetent poor man’s version of that better man, so I thought: what kind of wine is usually highly regarded? And then what would the MacGrubery version of that be?

Four buck chuck Pinot, baby. Similar to Dallas’ pairing, this was relatively easy to drink and demanded zero attentiion. Surprisingly made with organic grapes, don’t ask me how. It’s riper and blacker than yoru typical Pinot, but still maintains certain expected Pinot characteristics, such as mild tannins, a certain acidity (though lower than in higher quality Pinots) and a distinct cola backnote that many American Pinots display.

Certainly, MacGruber would pair with a decent quality Pinot, too. So look for one $30 or over and you’ll be in safe territory. Dip under $30 and you’ll be enterting danger zone territory for most Pinots. Dip all the down to under $5 and somehow this is still drinkable. I don’t want to know how ripped off whichever vineyards got selling even this fruit this low, but what a very MAcGrubery thing to do. This CS Pinot is all thiings MacGruber in the shape of a fine wine.

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Even though it makes one squint to realize that 87Eleven (the David Leitch production company) is behind this movie, when 87North (the Chad Stahleski production company) just did Balleina (set in the John Wick universe) the good news is the two movies have very little in common. Plus PRETTY LETHAL gets badges for being written and directed by two women.

The script is the feature debut of actress Kate Freund (who plays one of the villains in the movie, too) and directed by Vicky Jewson, who helmed the Noomi Rapace action film Close in 2019. After the lackluster performannce of Close it seemed that Jewson might suffer the fate of Lexi Alexander before her - who directed Punisher War Journal and went straight to director jail ever since. It still took 7 years for her to get a second chance at an action flick, and I think she’ll do okay with her ballerinas-kick-the-shit-out-of-some-gangsters flick here.

Originally titled Ballerina Overdrive, the film follows an American troupe on their way to an international competition in Budapest. Their bus breaks down so they schlep their way to the nearest bar to make new travel arrangements. But when they insult one of the guests, who happens to be the son of a feared organizeed crime boss, the girls are targeted for death and have to fight their way out.

The ballerinas are played by Maddie Ziegler, Lana Condor, Iris Apatow, Millicent Simmonds (the real-life deaf girl from The Quiet Place movies), and Avantika, with Uma Thurman making a wild comeback as the owner of the bar, a charracter who is a former ballerina herself, still looking for revenge for the injury that halted her career (mirroring Thurman’s own Kill Bill injury that had her disappear for far too long. I’m glad she’s back in literal action!)

The fights here are creative, as one would hope. It plays with the ballerina’s sttrenghts and movement patterns, sometimes perhaps too literally such as when the girls run through formations but have razor blades in their shoes, between their fingers, and/or hammers and knives in thier hands. It’s all gleefully silly, and occassionally even rises to being authentically thrilling as the film does recognize that even ballerina-strength can be overtaken by the pure brute strength of larger men.

In one scene, evoking Hostel or Saw, a torturer sets to peel the toenails off one ballerina, and she screams “No, no, please don’t-” he yanks a toenail off, and she doesn’t react. Which makes him react, and she laughs in his face:

The actresses each had a stunt double and a dance double, though they all trained for 1 month prior to filming, and Ziegler and Condor both had ballet training in their past, so did a significant share of thier own danciing and stunts. It’s a breezly, bloody, campy 91 minutes, but only 14.5 minutes of action (roughly 16% of the runtime) so don’t expect an action extravangaza. Expect a comedy thriller with 4 or 5 solid setpieces scattered throughout.

David Leitch and 87North have a thing for shaping action movies around unexpected protagonists. In Nobody and Nobody 2 it’s a middle-aged family man. In Silent Night it’s the literal Santa Claus. In Love Hurts it’s a real estate agent. In The Fall Guy it’s a Hollywood stunt man. And in Pretty Lethal it’s actual ballerinas, still dancing competitively.

In a number of the above, the protagonists are ex-assassins or the like, but in others they have no combat experience whatsoever. Which is the case with Pretty Lethal. And what that means is highly stylized, high concept action sequences that are too clever by half, but are certainly entertaining.

If I have one complaint, it’s that the male characters - to a one - are all terrible. Either actively horrible human beings or completely incompetent, and often both. I know we’re in the era of girl power and all that, but this felt particularly egregious. This is largely how male writers have showcased women for forever and ever, but I’m not sure flipping the script is the best way forward.

The whole time I was watching Pretty Lethal, I had an article penned by wine writer Margaret Rand in mind:

She uses a ballerina en pointe image for the article, ffs! In the piece, she writes about white wines that retain their elegance, their freshness, yet wherein tannins are present. Not as a straight-up skin-contact orange or amber wine (which is wine made from white grapes but soaked on the skins for weeks to months like ared wine is), but rather as a white wine with minor skin soakage or, say, noticeable extractions from pressing/crushing thick-skinned grapes.

We’re talking white wines that are still considered “white”. But have both astringency and texture - a certain powerfulness - added without overtaking the wine’s otherwise elegant nature. These wines don’t turn orange, but more the color that reminds you to drink more water, if you catch my drift. And this balance of power and elegance - of freshness and something stronger and bolder - is a perfect match for a ballerina action movie.

You can find numerous Eastern European wines - to match the setting of the movie - that would fit this bill, but I’m going to cheat slightly and pair mine with an Austrian wine. Which is a country that is sandwiched on three sides by the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia but is somehow not considered part of Eastern Europe. I say close enough!

Schödl Grün Grün Grüner is a beautiful example of what minimal skin cotact can do for a white wine, especially one made by a grape as naturally bright, fresh, and crisp as Gruner Veltliner. The color here is dark yellow, cloudy (drink more water!) with aromas and flavors of citrus and stone but then also bruised apples and honey. The wine is minimal intervention / “natural” but isn’t funky - it’s very clean, but that astringency and added complexity from the skins is instantly noticeable. It’s powerful without being over-powering. The elegance is as present as the power. It’s powerful elegance.

See if you can find a bottle of this, or look for a similar white wine with skin extraction but not to the point of being an orange or officially a “skin-contact” white.

And, honestly, an orange wine would work wonderfully with this movie as well. The heft of the full tannic profile in an otherwise white wine - it’s gonna play well with razor-toed ballerinas cutting up some bastards and smashing through scenery to survive.

Have you seen Pretty Lethal? Thoughts?

Have you ever had “powerfully elegant” white wine as defined this way? Do you have a favorite?

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Toyota transformed the plant into the most productive auto assembly plant in the U.S. with quality comparable to its Japanese factories.

That sounds like a pretty cool story, especially as it took place during a time of intense competition between the U.S. and Japan. GUNG-HO ostensibly adapts this story for the screen, with Ron Howard (fresh off Cocoon) and Michael Keaton (fresh off of Johnny Dangerously) at the helm. Jaoanese-American actor Gedde Watanabe (Sixteen Candles and Volunteers) takes the suppporting lead role, and folks, I’ll bet you forgot this movie ever existed.

There’s a reason for that.

Everything here is a caricature. The Japanese, obviously. But also the Americans. Small town factory workers, small town politicians; Japanese executives who try to bathe in the disgusting Pennsylvania factory river like it was a hot springs because I guess they’re children who don’t understand what a completley different fucking country is when they phiscally travel to it. Don’t get us started on the misogyny.

It was perfectly inoffensive in 1986, as all Ron Howard movies are; and perfectly offensive in 2026, as all Ron Howard movies are.

The film (sigh…) did well at the box office. Not amazing, but well: roughly $40M on a $13M budget. So believe it or not they thought it’d be a great idea to turn it into a TV show! You thought moviegoing Americans ate this shit up? Wait’ll the couch potatoes get a load of it! Somehow, we came to our sennses because it only ran 9 episodes.

Michael Keaton was replaced by Scott Bakula, and all the Asian actors from the movie reprised their roles because what the fuck else were they being offered?

Listen to us tear this movie a new one above! Then make sure you check out the pairing below, because while you might want to miss the movie, you do not want to miss these drinks.

The Drinks!

DAVE’S PAIRING

Viña Marty’s “Goutte d’Argent” Sauvignon Blanc, Aconcagua, Chile

Heat is not wine’s friend. But some heat is unavoidable during the process of fermentation. While temperature can be controlled up to a point, wine yeasts start to slow and die if the temperature dips below 10°C / 50°F.

Esppecially when making fresh, armoatic white wines, the less heat you can introduce to the wine - even during fermentation - the fewer aromas and flavors will be lost to the process. It’s the dream of many winemakers to disocover a way to keep wines colder, but still complete fermentation.

And Pascal Marty, winemaker at Viña Marty, stumbled upon a way: Japanese sake yeasts!

Unfortunately, only members of the Sake Productors Federation are allowed to use the yeast, and they had never before inducted a non-Japanese member. It took Pascal years of negotiations and pitching the idea, framing it as a blending of the two cultures in order to promote both cultures abroad.

It took years, but now Pascal is the only non-Japanese member of the SPF. And his “Goutte d’Argent” Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are both fermented using Japanese sake yeast n°7 and n°9.

Vinification in stainless steel tanks with an average length of 90-130 days - which is very slow! Typical wine fermentation is 10-21 days! - at fermentation temperatures about 6-8 °C. Some soakage on lees to add body and creaminess. The saké yeast doesn’t like Sulphur, so minimal sulphites are used.

The Goutte d’Argent (silver drop) Label designed by Drops of God creators, and the wine is featured in the pages of the manga.

Citrus, white flowers, baked goods and vanilla, elegant with a creamy finish. Reviewers have claimed the wine is “...not very varietal, at least it doesn’t have the pungent herbal aromas of many Sauvignon Blancs in Chile.” Which begs the question how something can be “varietal” or “varietally correct” when changing the yeast changes those aromas and flavors.

This wine is spiritually on point for the movie Gung-Ho, while also countering its brash, loud Americanisms with its elegant, aromatic freshness. I desperately needed a wine that would be a counter-pairing to all the poorly aged elements of the film.

DALLAS PAIRING

Yeah, it’s not wine. It’s A Japanese old fashioned.

The Japanese Old Fashioned is the ultimate Gentleman’s cocktail, a perfect combination of Rye Whiskey, Bitters, an orange slice, japanese sugar and a Maraschino cherry.

Ingredients :

• 1 Japanese Sugar Cube (Kokuto preferrably!)

• 1/2 Orange Slice

• 1 Maraschino Cherry

• Orange Peel

• A Dash (or two) of Angostura Bitters

• Large Ice Cube

• 2 Ounces of Nikka Whisky

Directions :

• Pour a touch of water in the bottom of the rocks glass

• Muddle the sugar in the glass

• Add the cherry and bitters

• Pour in the Nikka

• Stir 50-100 times

• Twist and then garnish with an Orange Peel

Before you go! Do you love this Wine and Enertainment Pairing thing?

Then please make sure to subscribe to the podcast on your platform of choice! And leave a rating and/or review if you’re so inclined. This truly helps the podcast grow and reach new listeners. No one is looking for a Wine and Movie Pairing pdcast, per se, but everyone seems to love the idea when they find it!

We deeply appreciate it. Thank you so much for being a Substack subscriber, and doubly - no, triply so if you also subscribe on a podcast platform. You da bestest.

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If you work in the wine or film worlds, and would like to attend a unique, relaxed mixed between the two industries, this is an event to consider attending!

First $500 worth of wine is covered, so show up sooner vs. later!

Presented by law firm Hirsch Wallerstein Hayum Matlof, they idea is to:

• find new up-and-coming talent, they want to know who the indie / NonDe creators are!

• expect lawyers, agents, managers, writers, filmmakers, and wine peeps galore.

• if you’re part of the wine world, this will be a great opportunity to meet LA area professionals who may find future use for your wine, store, bar, restaurant, and/or services.

• This could be a great opportunity to meet people for future sponsorship and/or branding purposes. Both industries are in a strange place, which means everyone will have an open mind and the opportunities will be diverse and many.

RSVP to this unique mixer by emailing Elle Baker: jbrowningassistant@hwhmf.com

Though, honestly, if you show up last minute, I doubt we’d turn you away. ;)

Note this is not a Vintertaiment hosted or planned event. We are simply sharing details of someone else’s event, though we will be there! And we do know the fella planning it. He’s a great chap. For a lawyer.

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We’re joined by our first NonDe (non-dependent vs. independent) Filmmaker guest - first time filmmaker who recently completed his feature film THE BIG BREAK which is currently being submitted to festivals. Follow Avi’s own NonDe Uprising podcast as well as updates on his movie at .

(Techhnically, of was the first NonDe figure to guest on our show, but she hadn’t begun her first film production yet! You can listen to that one below:)

Avi wanted to talk to us about possibly the most NonDe movie yet made: LISTERS: A Glipse Into Extreme Birdwatching. The documentary made by two brothers with zero financing outside of their own equipment and savings and released ad-free for any and all on YouTube:

LISTERS recieved 1.5 million views its first month online. And now sits at almost 4 million six months in. It’s a movie about two brothers who decide to join the community of burdwatchers competing in a “Big Year”, where you try to spot as many birds as poissible in a single calendar year. The record at the time of filming was 751 birds.

In this episode, we discuss what “NonDe” filmmaking in, how LISTERS fits into that category, why its important for the movement, how distribution plays into it, also who the documentary is all about the fine line between passion and obsession. Whether we’re talking about Birdwatching, Filmmaking, or Wine, when art meets passion it can lead to an unhealthy competitive mindset that can suck all the joy out of the thing.

Help Us List Listers On Letterboxd!

Letterboxd, for those who do nt use it, is the premiere platform for logging and discussing movies, much like the Merlin app is all about logging birds.

It’s “feature films” only - no TV, though that may be added in the future - no music videos, no commericals, no “content” from Tiktok or YouTube, etc.

And that’s where LISTERS ran afoul of Letterboxd’s rules. Being a feature film documentary exclusively avilable on YouTube - but not funded by YouTube as a “YouTube Original” - it doesn’t count a “feature film” via the baseline rules, and so Letterboxd has continually rejected it’s addition to the database even though dozens of users (ourselves included) have tried!

This rule is understandable superficially, as naturally they don’t want “content” videos to be submitted. But this rule makes little sense when a “YouTube Original” would count. When someone could self-distribute their film on Amazon Prime and it would count. It basically only penalizes independent / non-dependent filmmakers wh do not want to list their film on AVOD (ad-supported) or SVOD (subscription-supported) platforms.

So we started a petition to try to convince the decision makers that LISTERS is the exception-to-their-rule that should be considered more seriously. If we’re truly going to be non-dependent on any given platform, we need platforms like Letterboxd to not enforce dependency, and allow users/film fans to help them spot and determine the worthy considerations.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION TO HELP US HELP LISTERS FANS!

Possibly the most heartening thing you can do in this modern world is make shit happen. As we learned with getting Substack to finally give us our “Film and TV” category, it’s entirely possible. But it takes a community.

You all are the best.

The Wines

E. Guigal Cote du Rhone Rouge 2022

Avi had to select his “Aha!” wine, or eureka wine, which is what we call that first wine that a person suddenly takes notice of and realizes “oh shit, I think I like this!”

And E. Guigal’s Cote du Rhone Rouge was Avi’s Aha! wine back in the day. And what better to pair with a docementary all about falling into lifelong obsession with a thing / hobby / activity. In Listers, it’s birdwatching. For all of us here reading a Subsatck like Vintertainment, it’s wine and movies.

What was your own Aha! wine? For the more filmic among us, what was your Aha! movie?

2017 FE Trimbach Pinot Noir Reserve from Alsace

Hailing from the region of Alsace which has a dedicated, fervent birdwatching community! Dallas let the place lead the way, matching the wine with a country that’s all about them birds. (We believe it’s storks in particular in Alsace.)

Known for thier Gewurtztraminers, Rieslings, Pinot Noirs and Pinot Gris, you don’t have to do Noir if you don’t want to, but Dallas found this Pinot smooth and velvety, only slightly tart, just like the movie.

2023 Planet Mouraz "Palhete" Nina (50/50 Red and Orange Wine)

OR

Find a "Palhete" (pahl-YET) of any kind! A field blend of red and white grapes co-fermented together.

I had to pair a film about seeing as many birds as possible in a single year with a wine that’s all about co-fermenting as many grapes as possible in a single wine in a single year!

A “field blend” is when you pick a whole vineyard / “field” and make a single wine with all the grapes therein. And a “palhete” is the Portuguese term for when that includes both red and white grapes!

This Planet Mouraz “Nina” (named after the kitty in the picture, who is sadly no longeer with us, but her legacy lives on with this wine!) is a 50/50 blend of red and white grapes, over 20 different varieties, all crushed together and co-fermented together on the skins, so essentially a 50% red 50% orange wine. It’s chillable, and “crushable” (chuggable) and low in ABV (12.5%) so you can sip this freely through the whole 2 hour documentary.

The “Nina” is avilable in Portugal, other parts of Europe, and California, though you can also just search for a “field blend” or “palhete” wherever you’re located. Drinkk a wine that as much a potpourri of grapes as this doc is a potpourri of birds in exquisite HD nature shots.

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Yet despite encouragement from the studio, as well as from of such landmark talents as Tsui Hark and Sammo Hung, Lam turned down opportunities to become a director until actor Danny Lee - mega-star of John woo’s THE KILLER and Ringo Lam’s CITY ON FIRE - invited Lam to co-direct One Way Only in 1981, which became the first directorial work for both of them.

Lam’s first film as solo director was the crime drama Brothers from the Walled City in 1982 which he followed with an even more refined and progressive urban thriller Men from the Gutter in 1983, both produced by Shaw Brothers. Even though Lam is not considered part of the Hong Kong New Wave of the turn of the 70’s and 80’s, these two films display an identical approach to the films of Dennis Yu or Johnny Mak, the core difference being that Lam was not an auteur in the classical sense, meaning he was the director and cinematographer of the films, but not the author of the script.

Nevertheless, Brothers from the Walled City and Men from the Gutter, just like the contemporary HK New Wave films, combined popular genres with personal drama, their characters and conflicts grounded in the everyday social reality of Hong Kong and they were filmed on actual locations, not just studio sets. (As was the norm prior to.)

In 1984, Lam directed the comedy Three Stooges Go Undercover, which was written by the legendary Wong Jing, who is also credited as the author of the original story of Lam’s previous comedy, One Way Only. Lam’s cooperation with Wong - who later became one of the most influential writers and producers in Hong Kong cinema - continued with lensing Wong’s two directorial projects Prince Charming (1984) and The Flying Mr. B (1985). In 1985 both Lam and Wong left Shaw Brothers for Golden Harvest - the studio where Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung now resided - where they continued their collaboration with Ghost Snatchers in 1986 and The Seventh Curse in 1986. Both films were written by Wong Jing, the first one with him in a starring role and the second produced by him. And these films marked a new direction in Lam’s career.

The Seventh Curse in particular was the first in a series of gonzo adaptations of the “Wisely” novels. (Also sometimes called the “Wesely” novels, which I think was the intended name, though “Wisely” for some reason became the more common translation!) Or actually, Seventh Cursse was an adaptation of author Ni Kuang’s Dr. Yuen series of which Wisely was a supporting character. Then Wisely began to star in his own novels, an insane 161 stories in 156 novels, to be exact! In the movie, Chin Siu-Ho plays Dr. Yuen, while Chow Yun-Fat plays Wisely. The film is part Indiana Jones adventure, part horror, part martial arts action spectacle, and would cement Lam as the go-to director for films heavy with mechanical and optical special effects.

In 1987 Lam directed Killer’s Nocturne, an epic revenge drama set in the gambling milieu of old Shanghai and written by Manfred Wong, the later writer and producer behind the immensely popular Young and Dangerous series. The film is infamous for the INSANELY NOT-P.E.T.A. APPRROVED scene where a man actually boxes a kangaroo. He gets his ass handed to him, handily, but it’s still an unfomfortable sceen to watch.

In 1988 Lam paved the ground for the infamous CAT III - or “Category III” - exploitation boom with his rape and revenge movie Her Vengeance. Another milestone in his filmography is the historical erotic comedy with fantasy elements Erotic Ghost Story in 1990, which kick-started the whole stream of copycat erotic films with historical/fantasy settings starting as the Sex and Zen series in 1991. At the same time Lam directed two spectacular adaptations of Makoto Ogino’s manga series Spirit Warrior – Peacock King in 1988 and, at least partially, though he was fired part way through, Saga of the Phoenix in 1990, both starring Yuen Biao and Gloria Yip.

Lam’s most notorious film, however, is them movie we’re here to talk about today: his 1991 over-the-top gorefest RIKI-OH The Story of Ricky. Meticulously true to its source manga material - so much so that the original trailer for the movie has shots of the film lined up with panels from the comic!

This adaptation of the violent manga Riki-Oh by Masahiko Takajo and Tetsuya Saruwatari combines both then-current trends in Lam’s filmography: 1) high concept adaptations of Japanese comics, and 2) hyper-violent exploitation films abundant with bodily fluids. And the film spotlighted the anxieties of the early 90’s: foreign capitalist modalities forced upon a people, the loss of freedoms, the need to fight - violently so - to push back against such inhumanities.

Even though the film later gained cult status in botht he East and West, it did not perform well in local cinemas. It was the first film to receive a CAT III rating due to violence alone, and local adult audiences shunned it. It grossed only HK$2.M, whereas Lam’s previous films for Golden Harvest usually grossed around HK$8 to 10 million.

Then RIKI-OH found its audience when it hit home video: kids that couldn’t see it in theaters!

Yet despite this late success, Lam’s last film to date was The Cat aka THE THOUSAND YEAR CAT in 1992, just one year after RIKI-OH, an hallucinatory mixture of action, horror, comedy and science fiction that was another adaptation of a Wisely story. And this one, more than any other, was fully preoccupied with the handover - the year 1997 is spoken of prominently, with an alien force invading the very beings of the HK people. And as with all Lam Nai-Kai movies, the effects and storytelling are absolutely over the top and gonzo.

Sadly, after THE CAT, Lam Nai-Kai disappeared from the film scene, for reasons that are still undocumented, and has yet to return. Even though his films are currently undergoing a significant Renaissance on blu ray and 4K, finding whole new generations of fans across the globe.

So with that said, strap in, grab a glass of wine or your beverage of choice, and let’s talk about the first film of Lam Nai-Kai’s that landed with Western audiences and helped open the door to his films receiving the wider recognition they’re appreciating today.

Bonus Clips Cut From the Main Episode

Once Upon a Time We Remebered Phone Numbers

How to Curse Without Offending. (Maybe.)

Now I Want Actual Wine Peeps (Plus: Fermenting Peeps)

Did you know I actually did a Wine and Peeps Pairing a couple of Easters back? Well, I did:

The Wines We Paired With RIKI-OH

DALLAS: This is a film of fever dreams. It feels like something I would have written, especially act three, if someone had come to me and asked me to write a third act that leaves the audience scratching their heads wondering, “I don’t know what the hell i just watched but I’ll take another glass please?”

And for me, the experience of Shiraz is like a kick of black pepper coming through a refined jam. And that’s what this film is. The filmmakers are obviously seasoned and refined but the brutal, assaulting kick of the gore and stunts just slaps you around or punches you through the face, to reference one of the greatest action sequences in history which is in this movie.

So for that, I went with the 2020 Paringa Estates Mornington Peninsula Shiraz. (A cool play on words as the full name of the area is “Mornington Peninsula Shire” so turn “Shire” into “Shiraz”!) It’s wonderfully Jammy, cool climate expression of a Shiraz with a fairly subtle peppery note. It’s not very heavy. And at 5 years old it feels elegant. There’s also this faint note of forest floor that’s kind of reminiscent of that earthy smell you find in blood.

DAVE: Speaking of blood, let’s talk about Touriga Nacional from Portugal! The 2018 Kelman Touriga Nacional, Dao, Portugal to be precise.

The primary grape used in Port production, and considered by many to be Portugal’s finest grape. Thick skinned, with dark pigments, resistant to humidity and disease, it’s perfect for the hot humid climates of the Douro (where Port is made) and the Dao - where this particular wine is made.

Touriga makes a very deep colored, almost black red wine, but with silky tannnis, especially when there’s 8 years of age on it, like with this 2018. Black plum and prune, tobacco leaf and wet wood, damp earth and a raw meat tang on the finish. It’s bloody and raw, yet silky smooth, like this movie.

And like this movie’s protagonist, Ricky, Touriga Nacional is working hard to free itself from its current confines and break free into the wider world. DINIZ CELLARS sells this wine in California, and can ship to many States in the USA!

Th-th-that’s all for this week!

Join us and next week, when we cover a NonDe / indie documentary that needs a lot more attention than it’s getting - LISTERS.

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And that’s not even his most notable accomplishment! Oliveira directed 31 feature films and an almost equal number of short movies and documentaries...and nearly all of them were made after the man turned SIXTY-SEVEN YEARS OLD.

In case you thought it was ever too late to start.

Now, Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira - his full Catholic name - his circumstances were a bit unusual. Being Portuguese in the 1930’s, there was precious little cinematic infrastructure in his home country at the time. And to make matters worse, the authoritarian regime of a different Oliveira - António de Oliveira Salazar - began in 1932 and continued unabated until 1974, when it was finally toppled by a military coup and then followed by The Carnation Revolution - a civil revolt where hardly a single shot was fired, but instead civilians put carnation flowers in the rifles of military personnel. I’m not making this up.

Manoel’s ability to make movies had been almost completely curbed during the Salazar regime, as Oliveira was known to be a criitc of the governnment. He was able to make precisely three feature films before the Revolution, and one of them was after Salazar had already had a stroke, and the regime was already beginning to attempt reforms in 1972. Then, starting in 1975, at sixty-seven years of age, Oliveira’s career exploded and hardly ever slowed.

But let’s rewind, because we aren’t here to cover his entire 31 title filmography. We’re here to begin where Portuguese cinema truly began:

In 1931, Manoel saw Walther Ruttmann’s documentary Berlin: Symphony of a City. Ruttman’s film is the most famous of a small, short lived silent documentary film genre, called “city-symphony film”. These films portray the life of a city, mainly through visual impressions in a semi-documentary style, without the narrative content of more mainstream films, though the sequencing of events can imply a kind of loose theme or impression of the city’s daily life. Oliveira said that Ruttman’s film was his “most useful lesson in film technique”, but that he also found it “cold, mechanical and lacking humanity.”

This led to Oliveira directing his first 21-minute short documentary: Douro, Faina Fluvial, a portrait of his hometown of Porto. He was invited to show the film at the International Congress of Film Critics in Lisbon, where the majority of the Portuguese audience booed. This would prove an ongoing reaction to Manoel’s early films from his own people.

Just in case you ever thought you should quit because you’re consistently booed by the audience that means the most to you.

Nevertheless, critics praised the film; but for all the good it did. Oliveira struggled to make another film for over 10 years. His family were wealthy industrialists and agricultural landowners. His father owned a dry-goods factory, produced the first electric light bulbs in Portugal and built an electric energy plant before he died in 1932. At 17, Manoel joined his brothers as an executive in his father’s factories, where he remained for the majority of his adult life when not making films. In a 1981 Sight and Sound article, John Gillett describes Oliveira as having “spent most of his life in business...making films only when circumstances allowed.”

Just in case you thought not being able to make films for 15 year stretches at a time while you worked menial jobs meant you should quit or in itself constituted a crisis. I mean, it does. But tomorrow always comes.

Fifteen years after his first attempt at filmmaking, Oliveira made his feature film debut in 1942. Aniki-Bóbó is a portrait of Porto’s street children and based on a short story by Rodrigo de Freitas. Non-professional actors were cast to portray the children, an Oliveira hoped to captuure the energy and ambiance that he loved about his city. The film was alrgely ignored upon release, and it’s poor reception forced Oliveira to abandon other film projects he was involved in at the time, after which he dedicated himself to work in a vineyard that his wife had inherited.

In case you thought it was ever safe to quit your day job when you’re living through an authoritarian regime. Americans, I’m looking at you.

But time has been kind to Aniki-Bóbó, which today is considered:

And ANIKI-BOBO, the 1942 debut feature of Manoel de Oliveira is what we discuss in today’s episode folks. I just took my first trip to Portugal, and to celebrate, we had to watch our very first Portuguese movie, which is also pretty close to being the first narrative Portuguese feature film of note in the country’s history.

So please give it a listen! Either above or on your podcast platform of choice.

The Liqueurs

Licor Beirão, simply known as Beirão (Bay-rao), is a Portuguese liqueur from the Beira region of Portugal. Originating in the 19th century, it is the most consumed alcoholic spirit in Portugal. And it is phenomenally good.

I tried it for the first time in Portugal, annd brought a bottle home. Dallas tried it and immediately declared it “a problem”. There are stores that will ship in America, and/or see if you can find some for yourself wherever you are!

Production of Beirao began in the 19th century in \Lousã, in the Beira region, from where it got its name (Beirão means “from Beira”). It is made from a double distillation of seeds and herbs, including mint, cinnamon, cardamom and lavender, from all over the world, including former Portuguese colonies of Brazil, Sri Lanka, and India.

Much like other “aromatic” licqueurs steeped in roots, seeds, herbs, and spices such as Vermouth, Beirao was originally produced in the 19th century as a medicinal product for stomach aches. In the late 19th century alcoholic beverages were no longer qualified as medicinal but the liqueur was kept in production in a small factory owned by the son-in-law of the original producer. In 1929 the liqueur entered a contest on the 2nd Beirão Congress where it earned a gold medal and its name of Beirão.

The liqueur is still produced and bottled at Quinta do Meiral, according to the original secret recipe, by double distillation of 13 different aromatic seeds, herbs and spices. After being weighed out and mixed, the plants and herbs are mixed with alcohol, and remain in maceration for a minimum of about twenty to twenty five days. The resulting contents are then twice distilled in copper alembics.

The use of natural plants and herbs is one of this liqueur’s main distinctive factors, since it doesn’t make use of essences and artificial aromas — rather, the aroma used is produced locally, an alcoholate made from the base ingredients. Once the alcoholate is ready, it is then added into a mixture of alcohol, sugar and water. This mixture is then tested to ensure it fits the secret recipe’s parameters.

A punch line used in its advertising in the 1960’s, O Beirão que todos gostam (”The one from Beira which everybody likes”), had a subtle reference to their authoritariian ruler, António de Oliveira Salazar, who was “the one from Beira which not everybody likes”.

The ideal way to drink Beirao is over ice (one medium to large ice cube, if possible) and a twist of lemon, squeezed to add its oils to the liquid. It’s sweet (but not too sweet!), and bursting with Sasparilla-like flavors, then the lemon twist will add a zip of brightness. It perfectly matches the energy of the children and the film itself, while remaining complex in total flavor profile, easy yet deep, immensely pleasing, just like ANIKI-BOBO.

Dallas selected another Portuguese liqueur, this one traditional to the region of Obidos, made from that tart/sour Ginja cherry indigenous to Portugal. Typically referred to as “ginginja” (get it? GIN-Ginja!) this is a deep, luscious cherry liqueur, sweet yet tart, and once again “a problem” / “dangerous” in Dallas’ estimation. Listen to the episode where we downs a third of the bottle while we’re recording!

And there is also a third Portuguese liqueur that could fit ANIKI-BOBO - their almond “Amarguinha” (Am-are-gween-ya). Similar to Amaretto but more balanced, not quite as sweet, and a deeper pure almond flavor. Do yourself a favor and search for any/all of these!

And yes, I know it’s wild we didn’t pair a single Portuguese wine with this first Portuguese film! But my next TWO pairings in the next two episodes will both feature Portuguese wines, so those recommendations are coming!

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On that note, be sure to read ’s write up of THE ALABAMA SOLUTION, too. His post many months back is what put this doc on our radar!

From The Yard To The Arthouse

WEEKEND SPECIAL: You Need To See The Alabama Solution

There is a new documentary on HBO and HBO Max that is not news to me, though it’s something everyone who reads this Substack should see. “The Alabama Solution” – perversely titled because there isn’t one – is about the state prison system in Alabama, considered one of the least-safe places in the world. What’s pivotal about this documentary is what I’ve…

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6 months ago · 22 likes · 7 comments · Decarceration

This Episode’s Chapters

• 0:00 The Perfect Neighbor

• 4:58 The Alabama Solution

• 7:38 Intro to the Show

• 10:41 Wine Trivia Question of the Week

• 13:55 The Perfect Neighbor, Act 1 + Wine Thoughts

• 26:53 The Perfect Neighbor, Act 2 + Wine Thoughts

• 34:30 The Alabama Solution, Act 1 + Wine Thoughts

• 40:52 The Alabama Solution, Act 2 + Wine Thoughts

• 57:20 Santa Julia Natural El Zorrito Orange Chardonnay 2024

• 1:03:04 La Bascule “Babushka” Rose of Syrah 2022

• 1:05:56 Elwood Prison Wine, South Carolina

• 1:08:44 Les Vignerons d’Estézargues Alma Viva 2023 (Pet Nat Orange)

• 1:15:11 Outtake

Wine Trivia Question of the Week: Irish Prison Wine?

Highlight: Cruel and Unusual

The Wine Pairings

Santa Julia Natural El Zorrito Orange Chardonnay 2024

DALLAS: Bodega Santa Julia was created in honor of Julia Zuccardi, part of the third generation of leaders from the Argentinian Zuccardi Family. The Santa Julia winery represents the family’s commitment to producing the highest quality wines through sustainable practices that protect the environment and uplift the local community. And ultimately that’s my hope for the institutions and communities featured in both of these docs.

For Julia, and the Zuccardi Family, sustainability is not just about working in harmony with the environment, rather it is a comprehensive approach that supports the land, the farmers, and the overall health of the local community in terms of educational, physical, and financial health.

Zorrito, The Little Fox, by Santa Julia is an impressive orange wine. This organic, natural wine from Mendoza is made from 100% Chardonnay, fermented on the skins for 45 days. Unfiltered, vegan, and made with minimal intervention, it checks all the boxes for a “natural” wine while maintaining clean flavors and refreshing acidity.

Expect an amber-colored wine with aromas of apricot, lemon, orange peel, and a distinct floral blossom note. On the palate, it shows a bold structure, medium to full body, and a tannin-like texture from the extended skin contact.

La Bascule "Babushka" Rose of Syrah 2022

DAVE: For THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR, I chose a wine that was all about a father-daughter / parent-child relationship. This bottle here is the La Bascule “Babushka” dark Rose of Syrah. La Bascule is a natural wine project created by Fifi (a renowned New York City natural wine importer) in collaboration with Stéphane and Caroline Morin of Domaine Leonine in Roussillon, France. Fifi always wanted to make his own wine but knew he would never be able to own his own vineyard. So he was able to team with the french Domaine and created La Bascule. “Babushka” is Fifi’s pet name for his daughter, Maya, who also designed this wine’s label!

And even better, this dark rose, it’s a halfway point between a red wine and a white wine, a “Blanc de noir” which is what they call a white wine made with a red skinned grape. So it’s a halfway point between white and black, and that’s to celebrate the mixed race neighborhood that came together to make justice happen in the wake of Perfect Neighbor’s tragedy.

The wine is chillable, with some wonderful dark red fruitiness, blueberry and hibiscus, with a touch of spice and earth and white pepper. It’s an Vin du France because it bucks certain rules to be labeled as from Rousillon, but the grapes are all from the Rousillon region.

Elwood Prison Wine

Before I get to my specific wine pairing for THE ALABAMA SOLUTION, I do need to shout out the truest, best pairing but it’s one that won’t be possible for most. And that’s what our Wine Trivia Question of the Week was about: PRISON WINE.

BUT DON’T MAKE YOUR OWN! Not because you have to be in prison to do it (you don’t.) But because authentic prison wine runs the risk of botchilism. So don’t do that.

However, there is a winery in South Carolina - Elwood Prison Wine

Their mission is to raise awareness about the injustice in the judicial system and to support programs that help children of incarcerated parents. They believe that every glass of wine can make a difference. Their wines are carefully handcrafted in South Carolina and their fruit is locally sourced from select farms within the state to ensure a consistent taste and high quality.

Their origin story is quite unique. After Justin Fox, learned that his incarcerated father was making wine in prison, he thought he’d give it a try at home. And what began as a curiosity has now turned into a fully realized business with one fantastic ethical core. Elwood Prison Wine. The label does, in fact, feature his father’s Prison ID number.

https://www.elwoodprisonwine.com

Les Vignerons d'Estézargues Alma Viva 2023

But for my main wine pairing, I selected a wine from a co-op winery, to represent the collective action at the core of THE ALABAMA SOLUTION

From the Rhone: Les Vignerons D’Estézargues (Este-zarg) is a co-operative cellar in the small town of Estézargues, very close to Avignon and the Pont du Gard in the southern Rhone valley. Now Co-ops typically receive grapes from their members and then make wines from them in large batches, not mentioned vineyards or winemakers. The wines are sourced from many different vineyards from all over the region and typically the focus is on quantity. Not quality. These are commonly some of the most technologically and chemically produced wines in Europe.

Estézargues was established in 1965 and, as early as the 1980s, shifted towards natural winemaking thanks to the arrival of Jean-François Nicq, a talented winemaker influenced by the ideas of natural wine legends like Marcel Lapierre. Nicq put the co-op firmly on track towards respectful farming and practically no additives in the cellar. No commercial yeast, no enzymes, no gum arabic, no acidifiers, and also almost no sulfur. “We use a minimal amount of SO2 at bottling if needed, to make sure the wines are safe even when exported overseas, but that’s it,” says Armelle Rouault, current winemaker at Estézargues.

Another feature rather untypical of a coop is Estézargues’ focus on vinifying many of their terroirs separately—a practice promoted by Nicq’s successor Denis Deschamps. Deschamps even had the cuverie doubled in 2018, thus making it possible to showcase the unique personalities of the grower’s best plots even more. These wines proudly bear the name of the particular domaine on their labels (such as Genestas or Grès Saint Vincent), and represent “a great way to valorize the work of each grower—we vinify the wines in almost the same way so it’s really up to the grapes to show what’s in them.”

This here is their Alma Viva pet nat orange wine.

28% Grenache Blanc, 22% Clairette, 22% Bourboulenc, 22% Roussanne, 6% Viognier

Partial skin contact during fermentation. Delicately textured, so some friction, plus the light fizziness. The skin contact lends a touch of bitterness but the wine remains elegant, notes of apricot, mandarin orange, yellow floral aromas, and beautiful minerality. It both matches the content of the doc while also contrasting the heaviness of the material and especially the weight you’re left with at the end - and note it’s a heavy ending. So I needed a wine to counter that, not weigh me down additionally.

I wanted some friction (skin contact, fizz) but nothing heavy. I paired to match the protagonists of the doc, not the villains. So collective action, personable, uplifting, with some astringency but nothing actually offputting.

Thoughts on the movies? The wines? Thhe pairings?

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I’ve been hawking these wines for the past 9 months and finally got to take a trip to Portugal itself, and meet the people behind the wines and see the vineyards / wineries, all so I could collect first hand knowledge vs. prattling off tech sheet data and overly branded bios. The trip and room/board was covered by the company, and yes, that’s a big ol’ fatty fat perk of this job.

The trip wasn’t all sunshine and roses. Almost literally zero sunshine, in fact: the country had just sustained two weeks of excessive rainfall that caused mudslides and downed trees, the aftermath of which was litered across the country as we traveled it, with many roads closed or partially closed for repairs. Luckily, it barely rained the week we were there, though the sun hardly peeked past the unbroken sheet of grey that was the sky.

Our first half-day in Porto was gloriously sun-soaked, and that was about it.

Worse, our whole team got food poisoning at the end of Day 2. We awoke in the wee hours of Day 3 and folks, I haven’t exeperienced a misery like this in years and years. It’s one of those ordeals that has you say out loud “I just want to die” and you mostly mean it.

BUT…the people were beyond lovely. While we all suffered, the place we stayed allowed us to recover without charging us more, helped us get Immodium and anti-vomit meds so we could handle the 1.5 hour drive we needed to undertake to get to our next location, and the wineries bent over backwards to accomodate our shifted schedule.

We got scammed in Lisbon with our Air BnB accomodation and a lone waitress at a Pizza parlor stayed open late while our boss had to argue a refund, go through good faith attempts with the scammers (she even let us borrow her phone when they wouldn’t pick up our boss’ number anymore - and it worked! And then our boss had to wander back to the prooperty down the street with her phone and she was like “it’s no worry, it’s fine.” And then she gave us lots of booze and pizza to pass the time.)

So that’s the last I’ll say about the trials, because the country is beautiful - even without the sun - and the people even moreso.

DAY 1: PORTO

After an 11 hour flight to Lisbon with a quick connecting flight, we spent our first half day in the city of Porto, the birthplace of Port, the fortified dessert wine.

It was a rare sunshine-filled day, which made the city look absolutely beautiful. A very old city, founded in the 1100’s, the major Port houses line the river here, where street performances and touristy overpriced food and beverages are sold.

I did try a Porto Tonico (dry white port and tonic water) cocktail, came with a lemon wedge over ice and yikes was it good! Drinkable on a warm day like a non-alcoholic beverage would be. So dangerous! And now I knwo what dry white port is good for - imma be honest, I was pretty baffled by its existence until I tried it with tonic.

DAY 2: VINHO VERDE and Quinta de Lourosa

Our first winery visit was to Lourosa in Vinho Verde, with winemaker Joana de Castro. Her father founded the winery and pioneered the LYS vine training system which exposes the most number of grapes to air and sun as possible - a good thing in a region as cool and wet as the Vinho Verde!

As mentioned before, we arrived after weeks of heavy rains, so the vineyards were still very wet, though the drainage here is exceptional - they do not have probles with water in the Vinho Verde, and having your vineyards on slopes with soils that drain easy is key.

The vineyard:

The winery:

The old cement tanks:

The roots here don’t grow deep:

I wish I’d taken photos/video of the bedrooms we stayed in - all rock walls and rustic vibes. It was great, but alas, no photos.

Wine of the moment: lest you thought Vinho Verde was all crisp whites, Lourosa makes a DEEP red Brut sparkling made from Touriga Nacional. It’s one of my favorite wines that we carry. Like a less fruity, very earthy Lambrusco.

DAY 3: DOURO and Conceito

As we drove through the Douro, the land seemed to be madde up of 90% vineyards, it was wild. Both sides of the car, as far as the eyes could see. Nothing but vineyards.

The city we stayed in had some of the narrowest, windiest streets I’ve ever experiences, with cobblestone paving. My boss drove it in a manual like a champ but I would be terrified to do the same!

Here we visited Conceito and Invinicble, from winemaker Rita Ferreira.

Believe it or not, Rita planted the only hectare of Austrian Gruner Veltliner in all of Portugal. And makes an incredible champanoise style sparkling with it!

DAY 4: DAO and Casa de Mouraz / Planet Mouraz

The Dao is where we went post-food poisoning. I was the only one willing to go out with my boss while the others slept the day away. Well worth it, but I was dizzy and weak as a kitten and then the winemakers took us into this vineyard with giant granite stones, like some sort of granite Stonehenge, the vines snaking between them, and then had us goat-leap between them. To say that was pushing things for me is an understantement. I didn’t fall and die, but yikes, I sure could have.

One of the stones was drilled into (see above pic) to turn it into a lagar. They’ll cover it, then foot stomp the grapes on the rock, let the juice drain into the rock, and gravity carries it through the rock and into the winery!

The Planet Mouraz label names each of their wines after a farm animal. Here’s the real Bolinha posing with his bottle named after him. A wild orange wine with 2 month skin contact and 1 year of lees aging.

DAY 5: OBIDOS and Qunita Varzea de Pedra

Varzea de Pedra is a minial intervention group, just like Casa de Mouraz, but the vineyards couldn’t be any more different! Mouraz’s vineyards were almost wild and pagan in their spread and growth. Varzea de Pedra had some of the most orderly, well thought out and kept vineyard we saw the whole trip.

Beans were planted in-between rows trap and release nitrogen into the top soil. Other flowers were allowed to grow wild for additional biodiversity. It was beautiful.

A number of new wines will be imported soon to California from this group. They have a wine they managed to keep under $10 wholesale for the Albertsons / Costco / etc market, and an AMAZING Castelao red wine that I cannot wait to taste around town.

DAY 6: ALENTEJO and Quinta do Mouro and Bojador (Rocim)

The Alentejo is the southern-most part of Portugal, a less talked about region as it’s hotter, flatter, poorer, though it makes up nearly one third of Portugal’s total landmass!

We had two exceptional wineries to visit here, the first being one of our most important - Quinta do Mouro, a wine we’ve placed in Michelin starred restaurants. The winery is considered one of the very best of the Alentejo region.

The founder won the property in a poker game back in the 1970’s! Or rather, he wone the money to purchase the property and land. Back then, it was the same price as a Lamborghini, so he had to choose between buying either-or. He chose the land.

The next stop was the ROCIM winery. Many of you reading this will be familiar with Rocim - they’re seemingly everywhere in America these days. But we don’t represet Rocim itself. Insetad, we rep their head winemaker’s personal passion project - BOJADOR.

DAY 7: LISBOA (aka Lisbon)

Our final day was a free day - at last! We got to wander the city of Lisbon. It was pretty AF.

And th-th-th-that’s all about my trip to Portugal, folks! Now I need to sleeeeeep.

BONUS PORTUGUESE WINE AND MOVIE PAIRING

To celebrate my first trip to the country, I decided I had to watch my first true blue Portuguese movie! (And not just Portuguese language aka Brazilian.)

And what better selection than the 1942 debut feature film of the godfather of modern Portuguese filmmaking, Manoel de Oliveira.

Aniki-Bobo (named after a counting child’s nursery rhyme, like “eeny meeny minie moe”) was largely ignored upon release, and Oliveira did not make another feature for 20+ years! But when he returned, he would continue making films until he was 106 years old in 2014 (!!), becoming the oldest still-active filmmaker in history.

Aniki-Bobo was made during the authoritarian regime of a different de Oliveira, António de Oliveira Salazar. As such, filmmakers were limited in what they were allowed to explore and how. Manoel wanted to make a love letter to his home city of Porto, and selected a cast of non-professional cast and crew, showcasing the battle between freedom and kow-towing to authority in the shape of natural childhood rebellion.

Here, the kids are undergoing weirdly adult dilemmas - a love triangle, poverty, disenfranchisement, tests of loyalty, doubt, and consequences for both decisions made and circumstances outside one’s control. The kids are forced to evolve fast, mature emotionally, while the adults are portrayed as largely petulant and childlike, less coherent, eloquent, and more quick to temper than any of the children.

There’s a critical moment at the end of Act 2 that is wonderfully profound: a tragedy that occurs by happenstance, yet one of the kids was *about* to perhaps cause it anyway. The kid gets the blame, even though technically he didn’t do it, though we all saw he might have done it if given a second or two more to accomplish it. Is there blame for that? Should there be any guilt? It wouldn’t have been quite intentional on the kid’s part, not the tragedy itself, but likely they would have caused it.

These are the kind of thought provoking situations the movie explores while ostensibly being a rambunctious lark about children in Porto, under the shadow of WWII. From what I understand, the style here is very different than what Manoel would become when he returned to feature films 20 years later. He’s generally a minimalist, though Aniki-Bobo is more maximalist, frenetic and fueled, the camera darting with the same energy the children display.

All in all an breezy watch but with deeper content than it seems. Ostensibly a Little Rascals caper, de Oliveira had a lot he wanted to say and do with this film, and it would probably award multiple viewings in that context. Definitely recommended. Can’t wait to see more from Oliveira and Portugal in general.

Pair with…

BEIRAO, baby! (see the last photo under Lisbon in this post) The sweet, complex, utterly scrumtuous Portuguese liquor is perfect for this high energy, youthful, sweet, endearing romp.

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We of course refer to RUSH HOUR, though this was not the first time Chan had attempted to cross over. Listen to our full episode to hear his exploits during the early 80’s, how his failures in America led to an absolute Renaissance for him in Hong Kong, then how he eventually found himself in a position to try again in 1998.

In the wake of this enormous success, Jackie in on record as saying “Before Rush Hour, I hesitate. After Rush Hour, why not? I can do anything.”

Leornard Ho, his Godfather at Golden Harvest, the HK studio that produced all of his major hits in the 80’s and 90’s, had forbidden Jackie from doing anything other than action, believing that this was what the fans wanted. After Leonard’s passing - while Jackie was still on the Rush Hour set - Chan was free to explore anything and everything. And those who are familiar with Chan’s late 90’s / early 00’s output know that this is precisely what he did.

First up: ROM COMS!

Originally set only to produce, Chan quickly had the script rewritten to make him the romatic male lead. While also peppering in the action that he loved to do. While the action in GORGEOUS is absolutely incredible (two blisteringly fast paced fights with superstar wushu talent Bradley Allan) the film remains predominantly a romantic comedy, starring Shu Qi and co-starring Tony Leung and Emil Chow (pitch perfect as Chan’s “frenemy”).

So…can Jackie Chan do a Rom Com? Yes and no. Listen to the full ep to find out more.

This episode of Vintertainment is dedicated to Brad Allan, the stuntman and eventual action choreographer man who helped usher in Rush Hour, plays the most likeable antagonist ever in Gorgeous, designed the action for Scott Pilgrim, Shang-Chi, Kick-Ass, Wonder Woman, the Kingsman franchise, and more. Brad passed away in 2021 at the age of 48, from a sudden and unexpected heart attack. His charisma, talent, passion, and genuineness are all horribly missed.

And his action sequences with Jackie in this movie are unforgettable.

The Wines

Dallas’ Wine Pairing

CONCEITO 10yr Tawny White Port, Portugal

Dallas was all about the sweet to pair with this ridiculously sweet movie!

An island girl who talks with dolphins, finds messagees in bottles, and heads to the big city to find love and never gets taken advantage of? I thought this was planet Earth and these were human beings in this movie.

But a tawny white port was just the thing. CONCEITO (con-shay-too) is a Portuguese-owned and operated port house, though most are still British, mirroring how this movie comes in the wake of the British handing Hong Kong back to the mainland.1

This is part of winemaker Rita Ferreria’s inaugural release. 10 years in small barriques, the small barrels allow the wine to oxidize (wood is porous so allows the wine to take in air slowly) over the course of 10 years, turning it “tawny” or light brown. This is a white port, so white grapes only, making for a wine that is toffee and maple syrup in the glass, though not too heavy - Rita has a gentle touch on her ports, keeping them from being too cloyingly sweet.

Which is perfect for Gorgeous: it’s sweet yet light, buoyant, nothing too heavy, nothing violent or dangerous or dark. It’s all lightness and gentle sweetness.

Dave’s Wine Pairing

IDOL RIDGE "String of Pearls" Sparkling Rose of Saperavi, 2021 Finger Lakes, New York

Part of the Martin Family Wineries and Distilleries, the family - two parents and their son - ran a commercial beekeeping business up and down the East Coast, when they began searching for new ways to utilize their honey. That’s when Co-Owner, Bill Martin, got creative. After experimenting with home winemaking he began exploring making wine from honey.

What was once a family starting a new business venture out of their garage has now grown into established wineries and distilleries throughout upstate New York. Including the “Idol Ridge” winery.

I brought this Sparkling Rose of Saperavi to our “Weird Wine” get-together a few weeks back:

Saperavi is a thick-skinned, spicy, meaty red grape. And this sparkling wine, even though just a rose style (minimal skin contact) was a bit darker than your usual sparkling rose, a bit meatier and earthier. It’s a champagne style, so contains those extra bready/yeasty notes. And I wanted a wine to match the odd and magical tone of the movie. Also a wine that was pretty (or gorgeous, ha!) to look at. And this fit all those bills.

The winery also makes a Sparkling Blac de Noir out of pure Lembergere aka Blaufrankisch!

No shipping to California, though, boooo. I got mine on a wine bidding site. But look for your own wine that you’d call magical, pretty, and slightly odd.

Or, go Dallas’ route, and go sweet. And watch Gorgeous. It’s a gem.

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This idea is not really mine, but was directly taken from and her book The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters. On a recent podcast interview with Ezra Klein, Priya said:

“When you’re gathering about everything you’re kinda gathering about nothing. When I started researching for The Art of Gathering, I wanted to basically demystify how anyone can create a meaningful, transformative gathering. And I interviewed over 100 types of Gatherers, who other people always credited with creating transformative gatherings. A Hockey Coach, a choir conductor. And they all had two things in common:

1) They didn’t have a mental image in their head of what ‘hockey practice’ had to look like, or what ‘choir practice’ has to look like.

2) But the second thing was: they were okay with not being for everybody. They were okay with having a disputable purpose that not everyone would agree with.

When you are thinking about bringing people together, you have to start with asking ‘Why do I want to do this? What is the need in this community, in this workplace?’

And a disputable purpose allows people to understand: what is this for?”

The whole interview is dynamite and full of gold nuggets, big fat recommendation for those with an hour to spare:

She also mentions how we need to embrace conflict in a constructive, healthy way, as gathering humans together will always bring friction, bring different views and beliefs together in ways that shouldn’t be avoided - bringing them together is the point!

Equally as dysfuctional as unhealthy conflict, is “unhealthy peace”. Conflict avoidance wihtout actual purpose, essentially. Peace for peace’s sake. Instead, embrace congregating for disputable reasons that won’t be for everyone. That even the people its for, will hash out the specifics and the takeaways and shape the gatherings going forward.

An Unhealthy Peace (Monoculture)

Elsewhere on Substack, argues that the falling out of the middle of monoculture is about venues and products (restaurants and food; theaters and movies, etc.) being for fewer and fewer people, rather than being for everybody. The prime example being A24 films: they’re objectively better than a lot of the “midddle” tier movies of the past, but they’re catering to a more niche crowd.

I can’t argue with the symptoms he lays out, or the timeline of them, but I think his prognosis is precisely flipped: middle tier films are for fewer people because they have to be, and should have been all along. I’d actually argue most of them have been precisely this - middle tier films were rarely released “wide” in terms of absolutely everywhere. They played dozens or maybe hundreds of theaters back in the day. Even at their height maybe 1000+ theaters vs. the 4000+ that a truly wide release would play. That’s because, even back then, we knew these films wouldn’t play for everyone.

Rodrigo seems to be remembering the middle tier of the 90’s with someewhat rose-colored glasses and at least a whiff of revisonist history. Or maybe he, like me, always lived in cultural hubs where it seemed these films were ubiquitous because, for our area, they were. Or maybe he, like all of us who grew up with video rental stores, is misremembering whether these films were as present in theaters as they were, or whether they were discovered in a Blockbuster. That sounds mainstream, but that Blockbuster probably had single digit copies of the middle tier film, vs. the 100+ copies of Mission Impossible 1.

The middle tier was never for everyone. They’re movies for specific tastes, POVs, interests, and moods. They are movies made for disputable reasons.

Here’s where I agree with Rodrigo 100%: the middle of “middle America”, of monoculture, dropped out because we were priced out of giving a shit. For $20, we’d take the family and accept what we were spoon fed. For $100, we decided to stay home and each watch our own movies in separate rooms. We don’t believe the megaplex monoculture theatrical experience for a 4-quadrant family is worth $100, not often anyway. But we do believe seeing a movie we feel a deep resonance toward is worth $25-$50 for the 1-2 people who eagerly want to see it.

The theatrical experience is going to continue to hemorrage the bland, inoffensive, nobody-actually-cares tentpoles and fully unremarkable upper middle tier ($20M-$100M), whereas streamers will continue to thrive with such films, reaching a global subscriber base that can all be a global monoculture together, for a film or two or three. Then the nooks and crannies of streaming will be filled with, and arguably the meat of theatrical going forward will be movies made for specific audiences. Movies made for disputable reasons. Movies with purpose. Because those are the films that audiences will believe are worth the time, effort, and money necessary to experience theatrically.

Monoculture, in many ways, is an “unhealthy peace”. Togetherness for togetherness’ sake, but to no real purpose save its own existence. It keeps the culture blind to too many critical issues, seen only through the POV of specific groups, rather than allow for the actual variety of POVs that make it up.

Reject unhealthy peace. Embrace gathering for disputable reasons. Don’t be for everybody. Because that’s the same as being for nobody.

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Chapters

0:00 The Year Was 19 ***ing 64

6:50 Intro

10:47 Wine Trivia Question of the Week

14:42 Development and Production of MISSISSIPPI BURNING

20:01 Orion Pictures - The Oldest Unchanged Studio logo?

23:38 Historical Accuracy and Legacy

36:16 Act I - Synopsis + Wine and Movie Thoughts

56:13 Act II - Synopsis + Wine and Movie Thoughts

1:01:42 Act III - Synopsis + Wine and Movie Thoughts

1:05:01 2022 Bodkin Wines “Light Skinned” Zinfandel

1:09:29 2022 Domaine de Belliviere Rouge Gorge

1:16:32 Outtakes

The Wines

Dave’s Wine Pairing

Bodkin Wines 2022 "Light Skinned" Zinfandel

At first I wanted a wine of “tension” - the movie starts with nothing but: tension between whites and blacks, local law enforcement and the FBI, our two main FBI agents played by Willem Dafoe and Gene Hackman. And “tension” in wine is when there are two or more elements at play, in a tug-of-war with each other, such as acidity and sweetness, fruitiness and bitterness/earthiness, but the tension always remains. None of the elements trip into overpowering the others. It’s kind of like “balance” but more energetic, more playful. If any of that makes sense.

Then I wanted a wine of “violence” because all the tension in the movie erupts and the tension goes away. So a wine that hurts, that’s brutal, that has a literal “attack”, probably a wine I don’t necessarily enjoy, but one I might be in the mood for, such as when I’m watching particular movies of American history.

But ultimately, I needed a wine of hope to pair with MISSISSIPPI BURNING. And I found it in Chris Christensen’s Bodkin Wines’ 2022 “Light Skinned” Zinfandel. A black-owned winery, with a winemaker of mixed race parents who himself married mixed race. You can see the family tree on the bottle, and Zinfandel is a crowd pleasing, easy drinking wine, and this dark rose is only 36 hours on the skins, keeping it “light skinned” and even easier and chillable.

I loved the hopeful story of the family, bringing the two sides of the movie into a single family, and the “light skinned” bit also matched the light-skinned POV / white savior motif that pervades the film. And it was the easy drinking I needed to counter-balance the heaviness of the subject matter.

Dallas’ Wine Pairing

Domaine de Belliviere Rouge Gorge 2022

Pinot d’Anuis, a grape we’ve both found to be challenging - though not necessarily in a bad way. Much like the conversation sparked by this movie.

Aromas of red cherry, blood, white pepper, orange juice, bee pollen, and roses, a delicate touch of smoked meat, too. On the palate it's sanguine and tangy, nice tart cherry notes combine with notes of herbs, flowers, and raw meat, tannins are fine and grip lightly, acids are easy.

I wanted a wine that made me contemplate - every sip had me think about the fact that I was drinking wine. I had to consider the experience. Little is easy about the sip, but equally, little makes me want to put it down.

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She also recently launched Muse - a female-owned vegan non-alcoholic wine brand, digging into how wine meets wellness and craftsmanship. She’s worked harvests in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada, and remains dedicated to finding all the ways wine can surprise people, both through sensory mastery and storytelling.

We had the opportunity to do an email interview with Maddison, and inspired by ’s “The Ramble”, we tried a back-and-forth Q&A that plays more like a conversation, less like a pre-set interview. We’d hoped to finish this before January was over, but Maddison’s brand has gotten so much attention recently that this wound up taking well over a month! Oopsie! (But great problems to have for Maddison.)

Whenever Maddison gets to take a breather, she may guest on the podcast to talk about a wine and movie pairing, and in the meantime, here’s our Vinterview with a fascinating new winemaker up in Canada.

DAVE: Hello Maddison, and welcome to this Vintertainment "Vinterview"!

Let's kick things off with the obvious first question: why wine? How did you fall into the wine world to begin with? Why attracted you to the industry from both a personal and professional standpoint?

MADDISON: Amazing!! What fun is this!

So, this all started when I was working at a dueling piano bar in West Edmonton Mall in my early 20s, they used to host these lavish wine pairing dinners and it was so interesting to see how you pair wines, the unexpected match made in heavens, the variety of wines from around the world, how the same grape from New Zealand tastes completely different from the same grape in France. It was my managers that had let me know that you can go to school for this which opened up the world of being a sommelier. I started my WSET Level 1 in Vancouver and that really got me hooked to further continue my studies.

I think what made me fall in love with the wine world, personally and professionally, is that it’s global. Yes every country and region has its own style and methods but if you know wine, it can take you around the world and that was what inspired me most was knowing that I could study this for the rest of my life and I would have no limitations in where I could work and in what line of work - bar, restaurant, tasting room, sales, vineyard, production - learning wine skills could take me everywhere I wanted to go.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work in New Zealand, Australia and explore the western side of USA all in the name of wine. I had plans to continue my travels into South Africa before Covid hit and I had to pivot and here I am, with my own winery I have built with my husband!

DAVE: That’s a perfect segue to talk about the winery! Though first I have to agree with you about the “global” part of wine. I fell into wine mid-life, having zero background with it, never having drunk it in my 20’s or early 30’s. And when I did start sipping it I quickly wondered, truly: what the heck was all this stuff? And down the rabbit hole I went. Deeper and deeper into a Wonderland that is seemingly boundless yet unlike Alice’s, follows a certain logic that can be tracked. It’s a best-of-both-worlds universe with equal parts whimsey and science.

But on to the winery that you and your husband founded. I read up a bit on his history, and that he came from the French family that created the famous BYRRH. I’d never even heard of that aperitif before reading up on him, and then LITERALLY YESTERDAY I was in an old-school wine shop, and there it was on the shelf! I didn’t pick it up, but I will definitely have to the next time I go there.

In any event, you two married and then banded together to create VE OH LAY, a play on his Surname, “Violet”. And this isn’t just any winery. Please: tell our readers what the winery specializes in and how you two decided to go this route. And was it difficult to figure out how to make this kind of wine since it’s not the traditional norm?

MADDISON: Oh my gosh that is too cool about the Byrrh! What are the chances! I believe they keep the same traditional label on the new vintages now and it should be signed with Violet Freres! How fascinating - we have so many newspaper clippings, magazines, propaganda from that era of its peak, it’s like a time capsule. Including some original bottles that have been preciously stored.

So our winery started with a foundation of Mead or more commonly known as honey wine. We have made quite the name for ourselves for a meadery with many returning customers and special trips being made just for us! Mead started from my husband, Laurent, as he is the one with the cool wine history behind him, he basically grew up in a winery.

He was raised by his grandparents here in the Fraser Valley. They started the first winery there called Domaine de Chaberton. This is where Laurent grew up driving his dirtbike up the vineyard rows, playing lego under the office desks, working on the bottling line, learned to drive a tractor. From this experience watching his family through the years of winery ownership and management, he did not want to rely on a single crop of fruit for the following years income. To be honest, I think he was also bored of grapes haha.

He went to UC Davis and did the Mead course and that really sparked something creative in him. I know when we first started making wine together, I was like no way, grapes are superior. The more I got into it, the more I realized just how creative I can be with it. Fruits, flowers, vegetables, herbs, hops, it’s been endless in experimenting. That being said, it has been challenging at times. For example, I hope to never work with strawberry again. It was an absolute nightmare to filter. Fermenting it wasn’t a treat either. Certain juices like rhubarb should be added post-fermentation. Cherry is a beautiful fruit to ferment but you absolutely cannot have any leaves or stems in it - requiring much more labor on the picking side. I often have cherry ferments just take off on their own with wild yeast. Pomegranates is a whole other story! Most berries just turn to absolute mush post ferment so it’s always a nightmare getting them out of the tank.

Challenging? Yes. Worth every moment? Yes. Did I make my husband pull over on the side of the road one time to pick fresh lilacs and ferment those? Yes yes yes! Mandela said it best - I never lose, I either win or I learn - and the learning is not stopping anytime soon.

DAVE: I love every part of that answer. I am endlessly fascinated by the fermentation of all things. So many of our modern cultures were influenced by European colonialism, and so of course Vitis vinifera came everywhere with them. And there’s no denying that vinifera makes incredible wine. What is up for debate is how good everything else could be if we just gave any it half the attention we’ve given vinifera.

Before Prohibition, a number of native American grapes (Catawba!) were making wines that the European press raved about. At one point post-Phylloxera, a third of French vineyards were planted to hybrids. At least before the French government - in a surge of native species protectionism - started paying farmers to rip them out and replant traditional varieties. But they had a brief moment of winemaker and consumer popularity. So much of the modern wine ecosystem has been shaped by conscious decisions and bias, it does my heart good to see evidence that we can have both: tradition and endless innovation.

And on the subject of honey mead and honey wine, there’s a winery in Michigan that I love, that makes wine with maple syrup, and even has one completely dry wine made entirely from it!

So on top of honey wine, you’ve recently started a new de-alcoholized band, MUSE, featuring a red Merlot and a rose (also Merlot?) What made you interested in entering this space? Were there personal reasons? Or just another wild challenge? Or both? And how challenging was it to craft a Premium de-alc wine? Other winemakers are on record as saying it was the most difficult thing they’ve ever attempted!

MADDISON: Maple Syrup!! That is very cool, we have not yet played around with maple yet, I think certain fruits would lend well with the maple flavour but I don’t know how much maple would be left over from fermentation? I am sure somewhere here in Canada does it, probably Quebec and will have to explore this!

On the subject of our de-alc MUSE: yes! Our rose is a blend of merlot & sauvignon blanc. We wanted to enter this space out of a personal goal, it’s hard to regulate your consumption when you are in the industry and there is not a lot of great, affordable options out there that we really wanted to create it for ourselves.

It’s also very trendy right now here in Canada, we have full non-alcoholic bars and liqour stores. People are really focusing on a health conscious movement, especially with the younger generation, they aren’t drinking. They are experienced-based more than anything. Sparkling water in a wine glass just doesn’t cut it anymore, customers want the look and feel of wine. The social inclusion is a huge factor. I personally use it to pace myself at events, glass of wine here, glass of non-alc here. No one is the wiser.

Plus who doesn’t love a challenge! It has been extremely difficult, honestly the most difficult that we’ve come across. Wine needs to be balanced - I believe it’s a triangle of alcohol, fruit & acidity and when you remove one, it’s very hard to keep that together. We’ve been experimenting with different white grapes, we tried chardonnay but it just tasted like lemon. Sauvignon Blanc has been the best so far cause the grape can handle a high acid style of wine. With red, we go for a high alcohol percentage because that leaves us more body, more fruit notes, more tannins when we remove the alcohol. We do live in a northern climate for growing grapes so we don’t want any underripe grapes where notes of capiscum or herbaceous notes can come through in the final product making a grape like Merlot superior in its ripening abilities.

Nonetheless, it’s been a long journey of experimenting which is why we only have 2 wines at the moment. We are working on a sparkling rose and white, the bubbles make it fun and easy to drink.

DAVE: The good news on the “young people aren’t drinking” front is that that data shows they are, but moderating more, just like yourself. So there aren’t too many abstaining from alcohol altogether, but moderation is on the rise, and “zebra-striping”, as they call it, including de-alc/non-alc beverages between alcoholic ones is the most popular appraoch. Now there’s also the fact that young people have lesss disposable income than previous generations, but that’s its own issue.…

When we did our big de-alc wine tasting last month, we found that removing the alcohol “sharpens” all the flavors, citrus becomes very tart lemon, honey notes and herbaceousness turn to ginger, strawberry to cranberry, etc. That can all still be balanced and delicious in their own right, but these are whole new flavor profiles you’re experimenting with, and that takes time to figure out. I hope the new brand keeps gaining exposure - get to it Canadian readers! - and you’re granted that time to keep expanding and evolving the category. Looking forward to the sparklings! Even if I can’t get them shipped to me with our current in office.

Now to close us out, what do you hope most to see in the near-ish future, for both the alcohol space and the non-alc space? What do you hope for yourself and your endeavors?

MADDISON: You know it it does sharpen the flavours! That’s been the biggest struggle especially with whites/rose is trying to have it not just be lemony. We tried Chardonnay but haven’t had much luck in retaining flavour for those exacts reasons where as Sauv Blanc has been much more forgiving in the cellar (funny enough, usually Sauv Blanc is more difficult)

As for what I hope to see: as a consumer, I would love to see more customers supporting wineries they haven’t been too! There’s over 300 wineries in British Columbia and sometimes customers only get to go out on wine tours a couple times a year. I know returning to a place that you know you like your wine is great but theres so many hidden gems that are hard to find. Sometimes its because it’s a couple who isn’t on social media or it’s brand new within a few months! Marketing is very expensive and as a business owner you don’t always have thousands of dollars to throw in for an aggressive campaign. Plus I’ve noticed every single possible sale guy or newspaper will be bombarding you with their impressions and rates and it can be very overwhelming. Word of mouth is the absolute best!

For myself personally and on a business side - we are really in a good phase of growth right now and would like to continue that. We have good systems in place that can really help accelerate our business now and we are putting a huge focus on that. I have a business coach now that has 100% been worth the investment, it was scary at first I didn’t know if it would be more motivational then practical but I have learned so much in mindset changes, systems, just being surrounded in a community that is centered on growth and business has certainly leveled up my game! If anyone is reading - highly encourage you to do your research and get a good business coach. That’s why I’m here! I needed to put myself out there and look at different avenues to get the brand, myself and our wines out to readers and listeners and here we are! I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some podcasters and many connections have come my way. The more hands you shake, the more money you make!

Gosh Dave - thank you so so so much for your continued patience. I thought I would be much better at handling[the time it took to finish this interview] but we have gained so much attention recently that I really am just overwhelmed and fighting for my life in Outlook every day ha ha. This was an absolute pleasure and a really neat way to conduct an interview!

DAVE: All credit to Tom for this format, which I now know I love using as well as reading.

Thanks so much for doing this interview, Maddison, it’s been a treat! And maybe we’ll get you on the podcast someday soon, too. Now get back to work! ;P

VE LOH LAY ACRES

MUSE De-Alc Wine

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Nick chose to talk about…

…the world’s only Tangerine Dream-soundtracked, Romantic Cold War Disaster movie!

Starring Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham - who, wildly, got married over 30 years later in 2021! The script was widely considered one of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood in the early 80’s, well before The Black List existed to celebrate such things. While beautifully written, the story was a challenging combo of Cold War disaster pic and When Harry Met Sally urban romance. Writer/Director Steve DeJarnatt also refused to let the film be directed by anyone else, or to change the ending, which was considered controversial.

So then how did this get made? Listen to the episode to find out!

Sadly a box office flopper at the time, it has since gone on to achieve cult status and we all agreed this movie was one of a kind and well worth the watch!

The Wine Pairings

Dallas’ Pairing

Riunite Lambrusco

I decided to go with something that was easy going with a solid core but also a little agitation. And like we said, this movie begins with an AWW then jackknives right into WTF.

It also kind of sums up my relationship with Lambrusco as of late. Because as those of you who have been around for the last few months know that we have recently developed an appreciation for Riunite which is often dismissed by many wine-folk because of its accessibility. But if you want to unite a sappy romantic comedy and a post-apocalyptic, pre-apocalyptic drama, you just kind of glue them together and give equal parts sweet and electric, which is kind of what Riunite gives. Furthermore, it is highly likely that the characters in this film would have enjoyed a glass or ten of Riunite on their ill-fated date. For context, Riunite was THE best selling imported wine from 1976 to the year 2000.

It sits at about 8 or 9% ABV. And is both accessible and satisfying, like this film. And both were things I did not think I was going to enjoy. I credit this all, including every plot point in this film and my new appreciation for Riunite to Tasha Yarr(I’m working on a Tasha Yarr Manifesto as we speak, so stay tuned). And go get a Lambrusco to watch with this film because it’s a blend of WTF and AWW.

Dave’s Pairing

Bulles de Miniere Sparkling Cabernet Franc, Loire

This is a 100 % Cabernet Franc from the Loire done in the “pet net” or petulant natural, which is a lightly fizzy style, though they put a proper champagne cork in this one and not just a little crown cap. So it was actually pretty sparkling.

A big red sparkler that’s fruity, eccentric, tart, slightly smoky, earthy, gently bitter. It’s complex. Dallas went with a light, sweet, refreshing sparkling red, but I say go for the bolder, dry, layered monstrosity, something that’s going to challenge you. I think I had to go for the challenge of something heavier, weightier, more interesting.

Fun fact, I also paired the same exact bottle on our substack in our subscriber chat with Catherine O’Hara, who passed away this weekend, sadly. And I paired it with her entire style of her sense of humor, her style of comedy, because she is also, frankly, eccentric, fruity, tart, slightly smoky, earthy and gently bitter in everything that I’ve seen in her delivery. This also goes to show that a single wine makes more than one great pairing for different reasons, but also for the same reasons.

Nick’s Pairing

Merth Vineyards 2024 Sangiovese (RIP)

Nick focused on the connection to the core story of the film. And after consulting his local Wine Shop, Park Hill Cellars, they settled on a wine with as much sadness and disaster in its story as the film had.

Merth Vineyards - a fairly new label out of the Macedon Region of Australia - spent 7 years preparing to release their first commercial vintages. But unfortunately, just a few months after launch, over 2/3rds of their bottled wines were destroyed in the Heathcote Fire in Melbourne. This Sangiovese mirrors the sweeter romantic notes of the film with hints of red cherry while also containing spice and earth to match the weighter themes and dark comedy. And like the film, the tale of this wine is also tinged with a bit of bitterness and destruction. It’s a wine that’s a part of its own great story.

Made in a light, early release “nouveau” style, it’s all about crunchy red fruit, floral lift and gentle spice, with a refreshing line of acidity that keeps it energetic and reinvigorating, even in the wake of hardship.

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And we couldn’t think of a better way to kick it off than by having two of our favorite wine podcasters guest star. Joe and Carmele Mele are the husband/wife duo behind THE WINE PAIR PODCAST, possibly the only wine podcast that outdoes us in sheer energy and irreverancy.

In each episode they cover a different kind of wine, discuss the history and details, then try two bottles both under $25 and see how they perform. It’s a fanastic pod and I highly, highly recommend it to anyone already into or wanting to get into wine.

And today they brought us GAME NIGHT - one of the few movies they can agree on as a couple, their ultimate date night movie. Starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Vacation, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) it follows a married couple and their friend as they believe their playing an ultimate “game night” - but the danger is actually real!

Make sure to listen to our opening and close, as we shipped up some one-of special songs just for our guests, riffing on the lyrics to thier own podcast’s theme song! (Which was written by Joe and his band 20lb Gumball! Track number 3 below, “Too Much”.)

The Wine Pairings

To honor The Wine Pair Podcast’s adherence to bottles <$25, we also made certain our pairings for GAME NIGHT were all under twenty five bucks.

NOTE: While the write ups below give you brief conclusions for our pairings, the podcast episode will walk you through how we arrived at the decision in much more detail, Act by Act of the movie.

Dallas’ Pairing

OZV Old Vine Zinfandel, Lodi, California

GAME NIGHT is sweet, irreverent and peppy. Like a peppery jam. It also gave Dallas hints of the movie Clue. Zin has the right amount of jammy, fruity and peppery, a little higher in alcohol (especially in California), fruit-concentrated, and less acidic. The intersection of blackberry jelly and chocolate, peppery and satisfyingly tannic, with a decent ABV (14.5%), Dallas wanted fruity, dense, but easy. This OZV sells for $10-$15 retail.

Joe and Carmela’s Wine Pairing

Kirkland Signature Champagne Brut (Costco brand, so that’s where you’ll find it!)

Joe and Carmela focused on the food that the characters ate throughout the movie, and not just the wine (which was mostly a lot of Chrardonnay which the characters rightly used to sterilize wounds rather than drink it - HEY-yo!)

So they needed a wine that would pair with a wide range of foods, plus the movie contained a number of celebrations - falling in love, getting married, getting pregnant, not dying at the hands of organized crime, etc. And lastly, they’ve seen this film ~30 times (!), and sparkling wine is something they can drink anytime, much like watching this movie.

Generally sells for $30 (ack! They broke their own rule! But, hey, that’s what you do when you finally guest on another podcast, no?

Dave’s Pairing

2021 Concha Y Toro “Casillero del Diablo” Reserva Carmenere

• 85% Carmenere, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon

• Roughly $16-$20 / bottle

So I knew I wanted a darker red, with sibling grapes that could be said to have a rivalry with each other, one seeemingly more respected and successfull than the other, giving the other an infertility complex. (Just like in the movie) But then that plot twist came in the final Act!

So I also wanted a wine with a plot twist. Thankfully, the wine I’d already selected fit that bill: Carmenere and Cab Sauv, sharing the same Cabernet Franc father.

Sauvignon is the elder, seemingly more successful, more celebrated sibling. Carmenere is the less used, less celebrated, but it just had to find it’s people - in this case, it had to walk away from the French and find the Chileans!

In Chile, it’s now one of their flagship red grapes, a point of distinction from Cabernet which is grown everywhere. Carmenere is also more interesting, with a smokey / spicy / sexy note that Sauvignon lacks.

And PLOT TWIST! Carmenere in Chile was thought to be Merlot until the 1990’s, when DNA testing revealed that almost all Chilean Merlot was in fact the nearly forgotton Carmenere, which expressed itself in Chile so much better than it ever did in France where it was only good as a blending grape and is barely grown there today. So if you see any pre-1990 bottles of “Merlot” from Chile, that’s very like in fact Carmenere.

And man, good timing, the Chileans then dodged the “I’m not drinking any fucking Merlot” Sideways calamity that came only a few years into the 00’s!

Our Sponsor - Curated Wine Shop

Many thanks to our official sponsor, CURATED WINE SHOP! No idea where to begin finding a wine that pairs with your movie? That’s okay, almost literally no one does, outside of ourselves, so that’s understabdable. But Curated is here to help. They accept every Vintertainment-inspired challenge, and will CURATE the selection to match your palate. Just tell them what you’re trying to pair with, your budget, your preferences, and they will show you the way.

Curated is a boutique wine shop on La Brea Avenue, mid city Los Angeles, founded and operated by peeps currently and previously part of the entertainment ecosystem. They carry an ever-changing, wide-ranging selection of small lot artisnal wines, from the known and comforting, to the completely unquie: reds, whites, roses, oranges, sparklings, dry wines, sweet wines, and everything in-between. They pour a themed flight Wednesday - Sunday, offer tiered membership including the Curated tier, of which I am a memeber. This is where they curate 3 bottles every month to match your preferenes, even when your preference, like mine, is to drink the weirdest frickin’ things that fit within the monthly price point.

Curated is also the place where we will soon be hosting LIVE and IN PERSON Wine and Movies nights, the first of which is being planned for March. We plan to make it a night of short films by local LA filmmakers, each paried with a different wine, so If you’re in the LA area, keep an eye out for that.

And you can do so by heading to Curated-Wines.com that’s Curated-Wines.com where you can browse ALL the upcoming events at the shop and also browse most of their wine selection.

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This is a 2-Part collab with - we both love Heated Rivalry, which is at times melodramatic and soap opera trashy and yet uncommonly well done. It’s a show we love UN-ironically - it’s actually good! If you haven’t taken the plunge yet, and you like sincere romantic drama, this show is a must.

And then you can come back here and vote on this Heated wine pairing Rivalry between myself and Tatum! Below, we respectively select our best pairing for each episode, give our best argument for each choice, and then YOU, dear reader, get to vote which one you like best, for whatever your reasons. Think of Tatum as Shane (talented but tentative, new to this world) and Vintertainment as Ilya (overly aggressive and constantly fronting, though in truth equally as rookie.)

This post covers Episodes 1-3, and Tatum posted Episodes 4-6 on her own Subtack. Let’s see who wins!

Make sure to VOTE in the polls below!

Episode 1: Rookies

Vintertainment Pick: The Vice “Pickleball” Orange of Viognier 2024

Pickle Ball isn’t hockey, but hey, it’s still a sport! And Viognier is a grape that grows well in Canada while displaying tropical fruity sweetness, yet the use of the grape skins in this Orange version offers a balancing bitterness and mouthfeel. Much like the relationship between Shane and Ilya is a mix of astringency and sweetness (at least in this early episode.) And Orange Wine is a style that came back into fashion after the tradition came out from behind the Iron Curtain, just as both men are coming out from behind their own Iron Curtains! (And Ilya literally!)

Tell-tale Viognier flavors of pineapple and honey, supported by tart apricot and tangerine, yellow flower florals, and a creamy mouthfeel.

Sidebar Pick: Lightwell Survey Los Idiots 2023

A coferment of Riesling & Blaufränkisch, two grapes representative of Ilya and Shane. Riesling like Ilya is often divisive, beloved on its home turf but otherwise misunderstood or labeled aggressive. A star player regardless. Blaufränkisch, similar to Shane, is versatile and crowd pleasing while quietly and steadily working towards recognition. Together, it’s magic. Floral, herbal, and best served chilled, this wine is easy drinking and perfect for settling into a new show.

Episode 2: Olympians

Vintertainment Pick: Primitive Wines “Smoke Signals” Malbec 2021 Paso Robles

The relationship (and the sex) heats up in this episode, possibly the most unapologetically erotic of the Season. The relationship between Shane and Ilya gets spicier. So the wine should heat up with a touch of spice, too. There are few hotter wine counties than Paso Robles. And few spicier reds than Malbec. Primitive Wines makes a beautifully balanced 100% Malbec, “hot” without being too hot, bold flavor and a strong body that lingers after each sip. (I could be describing the men here, no?)

“Smoke Signals” are what these two are desperately throwing into the air, trying to communicate and often failing, instead of direct communication.

Sidebar Pick: Biale Beatty Ranch 2023

Episode 2 is all about restraint (relative to the rest of the series), and so is this Zinfandel. Grown in high elevation during a vintage with moderate temperatures and a prolonged growing season, this Zin trades extra ripe red fruit for a fresher and more elegant style with notes of blackfruit, dried herbs, and white pepper. Shane meets Ilya’s forward advances with a denial-driven practicality. However, holding back allows tension and desire to build while trust and care also develops. Drink with girl dinner and tears in your eyes when “we didn’t even kiss.”

Episode 3: Hunter

Vintertainment Pick: Valdespino Vermouth OR Clementine Carter Carbonic Graciano

We switch gears to a different couple - Hunter and Kip - and a much sweeter, simpler, heart-warming one, minus the fronting and the emotional games of Shane and Ilya.

Tatum is spot on with her Beaujolais pairing below, for the “banana” note that Carbonic maceration lends. But you also want the Blueberry! (This is all in reference to a blueberry smoothie with a bonus banana added that Kip makes Hunter regularly.1) And for blue fruit flavors you need lower acidity, take the high down to medium, to shift from red fruit to blue, and Clementine Carter Graciano delivers this. The color itself shifts from ruby to blue-red with a medium, gentle acidity vs. the sharper brightness of Beaujolais/Gamay.

Alternately, drink something sweet yet unnecessarily complicated (thanks to Hunter being publicly closeted) so a sweet Vermouth, steeped in botanicals and high in ABV, but sooo easy on the palate. This Valdespino is a bottle that’s become a staple in my life, just like Kip and Hunter want each other to be.

Sidebar Pick: Domaine Dupeuble Beaujolais 2024

Extra banana? Yes, please. Carbonic maceration, fermenting uncrushed grapes in a tank filled with CO2, yields banana aromas and flavors. It results in a fresher, fruitier style of wine, extracting color, flavor, and aromas from the grapes without the tannins. Kind of like Scott & Kip’s relationship, all the good things except it’s not public...It’s clear what Kip really wants: a bottle of Beaujolais over smoothies. And an honest relationship over a secret one. Bright red cherries and a touch of pepper and spice. Drink slightly chilled admiring art with your secret lover.

Polls close in 14 days! Then look for Part 2, our Episodes 4-6 Rivalries dropping from Tatum within the week!

Go To Episodes 4-6

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At least we we hope we can convince you to become one of those in 2026.

Because SEASON 3 of the podcast drops in February - we just posted our brand new podcast logo, a simpler logo to match our new focus on Wine and Movies specifically, even though we still reserve the right to tackle the occassional TV show, book, comic, or album.

But let’s talk about what Vintertainment has planned for 2026 beyond our flagship podcast. We plan to SPREAD the joy of wine and movie pairings, well beyond the podcast and even this Substack.

In Person Wine and Movie Screenings

Our First Official Sponsor!

We have our first official sponsor on board, Curated Wine Shop, a wonderful boutique wine shop / wine bar who will be hosting LIVE in-person Wine and Movies screenings in Los Angeles. Roughly one per month, starting in March. Curated will ALSO be offering us studio space so we can record with Los Angeles guests directly in studio, and Curated will happily assist any guest in finding their wine pairing for whichever movie we’re talking about. Win-win! (Or is that win-wine?)

And we also have an incredible microcinema, filmjourn, run by , who will be hosting at least a few in downtown LA as well.

PLUS, screenings have begun as of today, and I’ll be supplying some wines there as well, to pair with a series of curated short films. And these won’t be the only in person wine and movie events in Los Angeles this year!

So that’s one of our main focuses for 2026: Live and in persosn pairing events, we’ll be focusing on independent filmmakers, who can attend and give the audience an introduction, Q&A and meet and greets after the screenings, and of course plenty of wine and brief wine education so you know what you’re drinking and why.

Wine and Movie Pairing Communities

Naturally, theere will be a community for the in-person events, but we ALSO want to spread the joy of trying your own Wine and Movie pairings at home!

We’ll soon start sharing our own impromptu, daily-ish wine and movie pairings on any night we have the luxury of doing them. Am I watching HEATED RIVALRY tonight? Yes, I think I am. What wine am I going to try pairing with it and why? We’re going to share these regularly in our Substack Chat.

Kinda like we did this past Xmas:

But here’s the important part: we’re hoping that YOU will share YOUR OWN attemped pairings at home! Tell us what you’re watching, what you’re pairing with it and why. And hey, sometimes it’s just: this is the wine I have on hand. So did it pair well? And if so, or not, why?

We want to foster a community of wine and film lovers so we can all have more fun wiith our at home viewings, become more confident in our wine choices, and foster a greater sense of a community - both online and also in person. At least in Los Angeles, for now. And we’ll see how we can spread it from here.

And the podcast will of course continue. We have a slew of special guests to kick us off: first up is Joe and Carmela Mele of THE WINE PAIR PODCAST, one of my all time fave wine podcasts. They’ll be joining us to talk about the movie GAME NIGHT from 2013 starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams , one of their favorite movies as a couple. And then a wonderful film mind, Nick Langdon from Letterboxd who will be dialing in all the way from Melbourne Australia to talk about Miracle Mile from 1988, directed by the writer of STRANGE BREW and director of CHERRY 2000.

And from there, expect a slew of guests from the current indie and NonDe FilmStack movements, the filmmakers that are making movies even as the old Hollywood system continues to crumble under the weight of streaming and franchise fatigue.

So join us in February. Especially here on Substack where we’re be announcing our in person events and sharing our everyday wine and movie pairings with our listeners and readers. And this will be where you can share yours, too. (And don’t count out an eventual Discord server - you know I love Discord!)

We’re really looking forward to this year. Join us!

ICYMI

While the podccast has been on break, we posted a massive De-alcoholized Wine tasting on Substack:

And we closed it out by covering an absolutely WILD experiment someone did with vacuum distillation and wine:

And then…

we actually DO have a HEATED RIVALRY write up coming up next week! We’ll be doing this as a collab with . Be sure to check it out!

Okay folks, hope to see you / read you online, and catch us again here on audio in a few short weeks. Ciao for now.

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But what if that wasn’t the best way to do it?

What if we could actually be choosey about which parts to reconsititue, beyond just the alcohol?

This will be a short one today. Or, well, a short write up. Followed by an obscenely long video posted below.

You don’t have to watch the whole thing! We will guide you to which parts to jump to. But this video BLEW our minds when we stumbled across it last month. And it pertains to de-alcoholization and the vacuum distillation technology as it relates to wine.

It suggests something that’s going to outright slay some of us, because it flies in the face of fine winemaking ethos - and tbh we agree! But in terms of de-alc wine and big bulk brands, and then perhaps on special occassions for fine wine, this could be a game changer.

We’re talking about this scientist fella here:

He cobbled together an actual vacuum ditillation set-up with parts you can buy on Amazon! And he walks you through the whole set-up. It’s fascinating, but you likely aren’t interested in that part, so you can skip it below, if you like.

He then used this set-up to vacuum distill a 3L box of Franzia Red Wine! Which he calculated came out to $3 per 750ml bottle.

The distillation separated the wine into nearly a dozen parts, from the highest alcohol liquid (roughly 190 proof) to the lowest. The color was all in the last liquid distilled, an ink-textured red liquid of pure ooze.

He and a partner then tasted through all these component parts, and discarded any that tasted off or significantly bad. (They discarded roughly 4 parts.)

They then reincorporated the remaining parts. Nothing fancy, they literally just stirred them back together in a pot.

They then taste tested their re-mixed Franzia Red against: the original Franzia red it was made it from, then a bottle of Cupcake, Meiomi, Caymus, and Silver Oak.

Here’s the video below, poetically broken down into its component parts (clickable time links):

• Starts with a walkthrough of the home vacuum distillation set-up (and it’s thorough. Over half an hour! You can likely skip this.)

• Distillation process begins at 34:40

• Initial tasting through the component pieces begins at 48:51 (note the distillation process actually took over 9 hours!)

• Second tasting and deciding which pieces to get rid of begins at 1:09:56

• Remixing the parts they want to keep is at 1:25:26

• Taste Test of thier re-mixed wine against the original Franzia they made it from + 4 additional bottles of fine wine ranging between $7 - $100 begins at 1:26:56

Full Video:

Why Is This So Mind Blowing?

We currently use vacuum distillation to separate the alcolhol while keeping as much as possible of the original wine. That makes sense. It’s the mindset of a winemaker: adhere to nature as much as possible.

BUT…if we’re going through de-alcoholization, we’re already tinkering with the wine to a fairly steep degree. Maybe we should pick and choose what we keep? Beyond just the alcohol?

If you watch the video, the results of the taste test at the end is pretty wild. They’re admittedly not tasting the most elegant wines in the world against it, but they made it from Franzia, ffs. The fact that it beat anything, let alone everything, is astounding.

And this suggests we can do this for big bulk brands, too. They’re already manifacturing their wine, using poor quality original juice, adding and subtracting as they see fit. What if we could tailor the final quality to this degree? Is there any reason on Earth that we shouldn’t?

QUICK ANECDOTE: I know a winemaker here in LA that had a wine which developed bad levels of VA (volatile acidity, for the non-industry folks.) As a hail mary experiment, they vacuum distilled it and instead of removing alcohol, removed the VA. The reincorporated wine is not what the non-vacuum distilled version of the wine would have been had it not had VA. It doesn’t taste “normal” but super interesting and “different”, but also pretty tasty. Certainly a massive improvement over the flaw of VA.

Now consider: what if we used this technique to do more than just remove the obvious flaw, but then to tailer the final flavor profile of the remaining wine like these guys do in the video?

I don’t know how easy this would ever be to do in a non-home set-up and to make wine for wide distribution/sales. But man did this experiment make me think.

Now let me know what YOU think! Is this nutty? Dumb? Or just distasteful? Or is it as interesting as I think it is?

Happy Dry, Damp, and Wet January, all. Stay curious.

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Read PART 1

The time has come for what we’re all really curious about: the REDS.

We ae, in fact. so curious about how well Premium de-alc red wine tastes that we tasted EIGHT of them, versus only tasting a few of the other categories each. Most of us already know that sparkling and white de-alc wine can be tasty enough. But reds? That’s trickier.

As with PART 1, we laid down some ground rules. Just to remind everyone what they are, here the list again:

The Rules (posted again)

1. We only tasted wines that were marketed (and/or priced) as “Premium” and “Ultra-Premium”, because we wanted to put the best of the best to the test, made by winemakers who are passionate about the category and not bulk brands cashing in on a trend. Just as we typically do regarding any other category of wine. Naturaly, we only targeted brands readily available to us in Los Angeles, CA.

2. We only tasted de-alcoholized wines, so liquid that was made as actual, traditional wine before having the alcohol removed. We avoided anything labeled as a “Non-Alcoholic Wine Alternatives” which are literally not wine, but rather tea-based and other such beverages that are naturally alcohol free.

3. All wines used “spinning cone” vacuum distillation. which is currently the best technology for removing alcohol while preserving aromas and flavors.

4. We did not judge these wines based on how closely they mimicked full-alcohol wines. Because why would they? Nothing should mimic something they are not, any more than a red wine (with skin contact) should mimic a white (skins removed.) Instead, we judged these wines based on their own merits of deliciousness and satisfaction when the alcohol is removed.

5. We kept the scoring system simple: 1-5 points for each of four categories: Aroma/Taste, Complexity, Balance, and Body.

6. While we tasted through sparkling, whites, and roses, we focused on reds, as these are the hardest to pull off.

7. We tasted each category starting with the least sugar to the most, so as to not let sugary sweetness muddy the perception of a less sweet follow-up.

8. In order to calibrate our palates to the “body” that should be expected of non-alcoholic liquid with tannins and/or moderate levels of sugar, we sipped and took note of the textures of a lightly sweetened black tea (to mimic the still wines) and a lightly sweetened soda (to mimic the sparkling,) both of which had sugar levels that roughly matched the average sugar of the wines. This doubled nicely as a test for how much better - or not - the de-alc wines were to these common non-wine alternatives.

NEW NOTE: While we tried to avoid “aromatised” wines (with natural flavors added via extracts, etc.) one did sneak in to the tasting below, because we didn’t realize it was aromatised until we were able to look at ingredients on the label (we mail ordered it.) But it wound up being informative to compare at least one such wine to the others! It will be noted below.

Enough preamble, let’s begin…

All The Reds

1) Sovi Reserve Red Blend, Clarksburg, California $42.00

• Multi-Vintage blend of Tempranillo, Petite Sirah, and Merlot aged in a mix of American and French Oak.

• Blend changes every bottling, but the style remains the same. Latest bottling (released after the one we tasted) is a blend of Cab Sauv and Merlot!1

• Heringer Estates Vineyards. Clarksburg AVA, California

• 15 cal per serving, 75 cal per bottle

• 1g sugar per serving / 5g sugar per bottle

• Dealc wine + grape juice concentrate.

• Certified Sustainable.

From the winery: Most of our wines are bends of several different grape varieties for balanced structure, character, and aromas. We blend in a minimal amount of grape juice concentrate, like a dosage in Champagne. We do not add any additional sugar, sweeteners, or natural or artificial flavors.

TASTING NOTES: Made like a truly fine wine, very minimal sugar (in the form of grape juice) added. This wine lives and dies on how well the base juice was made, and we have to say: it was pretty damn tasty. Mostly fruity, sharp and tart black fruit flavors softened by the oak influence, which is well integrated and doesn’t overpower. Textures of the tannins allows for the lack of sugar without it feeling too insubstantial.

That said, you can quickly see from our scores below what the weak point was - “Complexity”. It was pleasantly fruity and a touch of oak but not much depth beyond that. Which almost doesn’t make sense: theoretically, the grape skins should add an abundence of additional aromas and flavors as compared to the whites we tasted last week, and yet we found this one too easy, too one note even when compared to many of said whites. And the body, while good, was noticeably thinner than is ideal. Flavors of blackberry and cedar and not much else. But Sovi is on to something here, and we hope future multi-vintage bottlings keep upping the ante.

DAVE: 12/20

• Aroma/Taste - 3.5

• Complexity - 2

• Balance - 4

• Body - 2.5

DALLAS: 10/20

• Aroma/Taste - 3

• Complexity - 1

• Balance - 3

• Body - 3

2) Kolonne Null Cuvee Rouge No. 2, La Meseta, Spain $25 - $35

• Tempranillo and Syrah from the Central Plateau in the Castilla-La Mancha region.

• 19.2 cal per 5oz serving / 96 cal per bottle

• 3.6g added sugar per 5oz serving / 18g sugar per bottle

• De-alc wine + grape must

From the winery: We rely on de-alcoholization by vacuum distillation in order to gently remove the alcohol from the selected wines down to a max residual alcohol content of 0.3%. The thermal vacuum has the advantage that the alcohol escapes at a low temperature of 30°C. This method allows us to keep the structure of the original wine intact while delicately separating the alcohol.

This is immediately followed by aroma recovery to capture the natural aromas from the wine. This preserves the diverse character and overall style of each individual wine. In order to hold higher standards we do not use any artificial flavors or coloring. We replace the sweetness that is diminished through the de-alcoholization process with a subtle amount of natural sugars.

Note From Dave: The shop I bought this at had an employee note in front of the bottle that said “What Javier Bardem would taste like if he were a wine.” Sold!

TASTING NOTES: This one had the complexity missing from the Sovi! Sssssspicy, a little sweet, excellent texture. The fruit had a hint of prickly pear on it, with dried red and black fruits akin to a fruit leather bar. Dallas was not as enamored by the flavor/aroma, but still gave this top marks for all other elements, including “Balance”! It should be noted, however, that after the tasting, this was the first bottle to turn sour (on Day 3.) So longevity post-opening is not its strong suit!

DAVE: 15.5/20

• Aroma/Taste - 4

• Complexity - 4

• Balance - 3.5

• Body - 4

DALLAS: 15/20

• Aroma/Taste - 2

• Complexity - 4

• Balance - 4

• Body - 5

3) Sechey Pinot Noir (Germany? California?) - $20

• 16.8 cal per 5oz serving, 84 cal per bottle

• 3.92g sugars per 5oz serving, 2.8g added sugar / 19.6g sugars per bottle

• “Product of Germany”. But do the grapes come from there? Or is this just where the de-alc process occurs?

From the winery: This Pinot Noir is a sophisticated red blend, and excellent well-balanced choice to enjoy with dinner, or on it’s own. In this well-balanced red, you’ll find notes of ripened dark red fruits balanced with a note of the earthen richness of dried currants. Sèchey Pinot Nair includes a sought-after tannin structure, and a con1plex long finish, allowing it to pair equally well with a hearty steak or with grilled fish and vegetables.

Developed in partnership with one of the world’s leading wineries specializing in the dealcoholization process, Sèchey is proud to bring their line of non-alcoholic wine exclusively to Target shelves.

Note From Dave: Germany is the primary country where vacuum distillation occurs. Wineries from around the world undergo the de-alc process there, so when the bottle claims it’s a “Product of Germany”, I’m uncertain if that means the grapes are originally from there. Some postings of this wine claim it’s Pinot from California. But Pinot is also a staple in Germany (they call it “Spatburgunder”.) Unfortunately, we could not dig up clarity on this topic.

It should also be noted: while this wine is “exclusive to Target shelves”, we got ours direct from the Sechey website, which sells a wide range of other de-alc wines, too! It was a (nearly) one-stop shop for us.

TASTING NOTES: Really, really, really smooth. But still containing some depth. Lovely tart cranberry / pomegranate notes, noticeable minerality and acidity, lightly tannic mouthfeel, lightly sweet on the finish. Thoguh still runs afoul of being a bit too juicy and chuggable. There’s layers here, but post-tasting this was the wine you had to consciously pay attention to or you’d wind up quaffing it like iced tea.

This is also the only wine to delineate sugars in addition to “added sugars”, meaning some of the sugars were residual! It’s surprising this isn’t more of a thing in de-alc wine. I assume it’s due the lack of precision in leaving residual sugar behind vs. adding specific quantities.

DAVE: 13.5/20

• Aroma/Taste - 3.5

• Complexity - 3

• Balance - 4

• Body - 3

DALLAS: 14/20

• Aroma/Taste - 4

• Complexity - 3

• Balance - 4

• Body - 3

4) Noughty Rouge (Syrah), Darling, South Africa - $25

• 100% Syrah from Darling, South Africa

• 20 cal per 5oz serving, 100 cal per bottle

• 4g added sugars per 5oz serving / 20g sugars per bottle

From the winery: Produced with Syrah grapes from dryland farmed vineyards in Darling, South Africa. The grapes are grown in strategically selected sites, which get the warm sunny and cooling effect of the Atlantic Ocean. Deep soils from decomposed granite and rich clay help to provide good drainage.

TASTING NOTES: We were divided on this one. I was a fan while Dallas was not! The warm South African climate is strong in this one. There’s rich concentration of color and textures, and the elevated sugar levels deliver a body that was near perfect for me (and Dallas did agree the body was one of the best.) But this is a de-alc wine for those who can dig a “Parkerized” red. Not offensively so, at least I wouldn’t say, but it’s a big red. Dark fruit with that telltale de-alc wine tang,

DAVE: 14/20

• Aroma/Taste - 3

• Complexity - 3.5

• Balance - 3

• Body - 4.5

DALLAS: 9/20

• Aroma/Taste - 1

• Complexity - 2

• Balance - 2

• Body - 4

5) Giesen Premium Red, New Zealand - $15

• Merlot? From New Zealand. “Blended to emulate New Zealand Merlot.” That’s all we know. Take from that phrase what you will.

• 94% Dealcoholized wine, 6% grape juice

• 29 cal per 5oz serving, 145 cal per bottle

• 4.4g sugars per 5oz serving / 22g sugars per bottle

From the winery: Easy-drinking, light-bodied non-alcoholic red wine from New Zealand. Blended to emulate a New Zealand Merlot without the alcohol. Expect delicate aromas of crushed blackberry and wild herbs in this alcohol-removed Premium Red Blend. Crushed red berries and plum offset by toasted oak on the palate. A light and refreshing option with classic structure and fine, powdery tannins on the finish.

TASTING NOTES: I was surprised to enjoy this a fair bit better than the Giesen Sauvignon Blanc we tried last week. You’d expect a company’s de-alc red to be worse than their white, but not here! Though Dallas was less enthused - a trend you may be noticing with these reds by now.

As with the Giesen sparkling and white, this was noticeably sweet, somewhat juice-like, but I found more to enjoy in terms of total flavors and depth. But acidity is not high, so what’s left is fruitiness and sweetness. Easy to sip, but likely most of us would tire of it quickly. It’s a one-glasser and then “what else ya got?”

DAVE: 10.5/20

• Aroma/Taste - 2.5

• Complexity - 2.5

• Balance - 2.5

• Body - 3

DALLAS: 7/20

• Aroma/Taste - 2

• Complexity - 1

• Balance - 2

• Body - 2

6) Surely Red, California - $27

• Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah blend (75%), Pureh and Lapsang Suchong Tea, Natural Flavors (25%)

• Whoops, this is the armoatised one!

• 30 cal per 5oz serving, 150 cal per bottle

• 5g sugars per 5oz serving / 30g sugars per bottle

From the winery: A complex, smoky, and layered NA red unlike any other. Dark fruit meets smooth vanilla, rich oak, smoke & spice. Not a varietal. A completely unique sip.

TASTING NOTES: Oopsie, this one is part tea, and a whole lot of botanicals tossed in, too! This wine literally includes cocoa, ginger root, French and American Oak extract, rosemary, two different types of tea, it’s a lot of a lot of a lot. But honestly? It’s pretty damn good.

As per usual, Dallas disagreed. Which is mildly ironic as he’s the one who’s usually attracted to herbal steeped beverages and I never am. (And that fact that he gave this wild concoction a “2” for “Complexity” makes me feel like he wasn’t being genuous on this one, or not open minded, something like that.) Regardless, aromatised wines are divisive, people have opinions about them, and this one won’t be any different.

But I found this to be a true alchemist’s blend. The wine is ripe and fruity, smooth, slightly tart, with the sharp zing of ginger and the tannic profile of the cocoa adding to that of the wine. The tea grants it an earthiness while also cutting the intensity of the fruit. Ngl, this isn’t as hard to pull off as pure de-alc wine, but I can see why you wouldn’t want to try. De-alc wine should deifnitely find its Amaros, Vermouths, and Byrrh’s.

DAVE: 16/20

• Aroma/Taste - 4

• Complexity - 4.5

• Balance - 3.5

• Body - 4

DALLAS: 7/20

• Aroma/Taste - 2

• Complexity - 2

• Balance - 1

• Body - 2

7) Oddbird GSM, Saint-Chinion, Languedoc, France - $27

• Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Carignan

• 28.8 cal per 5oz serving, 144 cal per bottle

• 5.76g sugars per 5oz serving / 28.8g sugars per bottle

From the winery: A silky, mature, and dry red wine from Saint-Chinian in the South of France. Made from Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, and Carignan, it layers complexity, beginning with vibrant red and black fruits, a sharp tannic entrance, followed by deeper mature fruit and spices, and finishing with a pleasant, dry structure that showcases the wine's earthy and acidic qualities.

TASTING NOTES: We expected good things from Oddbird after they won the top spot in our Sparkling/White de-alc tasting. And their red does deliver, if not quite at the level of their Sparkling Rose or Still White. Bright tart red fruit, slightly salty and bitter, with a gently sweet finish to somewhat balance things out. Good mouthfeel, but not great. The ultimate experience feels overly light and smooth, with the tart elements outweighing the sweet. I found a touch more Complexity and less Balance whereas Dallas flipped those. It’s an interesting red de-alc wine no matter which side you land.

DAVE: 14/20

• Aroma/Taste - 3

• Complexity - 4

• Balance - 3

• Body - 4

DALLAS: 13/20

• Aroma/Taste - 3

• Complexity - 3

• Balance - 4

• Body - 3

8) 2023 Oceano Zero Pinot Noir, Spanish Springs Vineyard, San Louis Obispo, California - $55

• 100% Pinot Noir from Spanish Springs Vineyard.

• 5 cal per 5oz serving, 25 cal per bottle

• 1g sugars per 5oz serving / 5g sugars per bottle

From the winery: Oceano Zero features single-vineyard, single-vintage ultra-premium wines sourced from the sustainably-certified Spanish Springs Vineyard along the San Luis Obispo Coast.

All wines made from grapes from the Spanish Springs vineyard, vineyard is the closest to the Ocean in all of California. Ancient seabed soils nurtured by coastal fog cool ocean breezes. Ideally suited to produce elegant wines with purity of fruit, freshness, and depthAll wines made from grapes from the Spanish Springs vineyard, vineyard is the closest to the Ocean in all of California. Ancient seabed soils nurtured by coastal fog cool ocean breezes. Ideally suited to produce elegant wines with purity of fruit, freshness, and depth

Note from Dave: This is their second vintage, which consistently sells out before January the following year. Currently sold out though you can sign up for the waitlist.

Oceano started as a traditional wine brand, making full-alc Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, before expanding with their “Oceano Zero” label.

TASTING NOTES: The only other red de-alc wine besides the Sovi to use only 1g of sugar, but Oceano is even then 1/3rd the calories at only 25 calories for the whole bottle. Yowza.

And also: WOWZA. The only wine I gave a higher score to in this whole multi-part tasting was the Oddbird “Presence” White Blend, and Dallas matched his score on that one with this one. The lack of sugar does keep the body from scoring too high, but everything else here is nearly unbeatable so that’s not a complaint. Absolute harmony of flavors and aromas, softer than expected red fruit enhanced by flabors of herbs and minerality, the perfect level of acidity to match the sharper de-alc flavor profile, and no real sugar to speak of in need of counter balancing.

If there’s one fully de-alc red wine to try from this tasting, to see where the category is currently at, this is that one.

DAVE: 17.5/20

• Aroma/Taste - 5

• Complexity - 4

• Balance - 5

• Body - 3.5

DALLAS: 15/20

• Aroma/Taste - 4

• Complexity - 3

• Balance - 4

• Body - 4

9) BONUS 2023 Oceano Low-Alc (3.5%) Syrah, Spanish Springs Vineyard, San Louis Obispo, California - $60

• 100% Syrah from Spanish Springs Vineyard.

• 38 cal per 5oz serving, 190 cal per bottle

• 2g sugars per 5oz serving / 10g sugars per bottle

TASTING NOTES: Since we were going to place an order with Occeano anyway, I thought it’d be neat to try their one “Lo” (vs. “No”) alcohol wine to see how it compared to the fully “zero” alc reds.

And folks: 3.5% alcohol goes a long way. The difference was stunning.2

Almost no fully de-alc red wine could taste much like dark fruit - the lack of alcohol kept sharpening the flavors to tart and red. But here the fruit was properly black, properly traditional Syrah-like. The softness of the body, as well as the additional weight was apparent, and that tiny bit of alcohol balanced all the component pieces in ways the fully de-alc wines largely struggled to achieve.

Only the Oddbird “Presence” scored this high from me, and Dallas gave this his highest score of the whole tasting. Which generally point toward: if you can allow a tiny (but not insignificant) amount of alcohol be present, the leap in total enjoyment easily justifies it. I foresee the “medium strength” wines (6-8% alcohol) having an easier time taking off than the fully de-alc wines. Though, that said, humans suck as being actually “moderate” at walking a middle line. We’re all or nothing more often than not, so then again maybe not.

DAVE: 19/20

• Aroma/Taste - 5

• Complexity - 4

• Balance - 5

• Body - 5

DALLAS: 17/20

• Aroma/Taste - 4

• Complexity - 5

• Balance - 4

• Body - 4

10) BONUS 2021 Oceano Pinot Noir, Full-Alc, Spanish Springs Vineyard, San Louis Obispo, California - $45

• 100% Pinot Noir from Spanish Springs Vineyard.

No new surprises in tasting the full-alc Pinot after we tasted the de-alc version. Different vintage (2021 vs. 2023) but same vineyard for both wines, and this full-alc version is softer, fuller, more floral and aromatic (thanks to the alcohol evaporating and wafting all the scents up to us.) Gorgeous red fruit flavors with a kiss of oak and sweetness and not remotely too heavy. An excellent cooler climate Cali Pinot.

Summation

Averaging our scores together, the wines came out ranked in the following order:

1. 2023 Oceano “Low Alc” (3.5%) Syrah ($60) = 18 Top Scoring wine of the whole multi-part tasting! That little bit of alcohol goes a long way!

2. 2023 Oceano Zero Pinot Noir ($55) = 16.25 Top fully de-alc red!

3. Kolonne Null Cuvee Rouge No. 2, La Meseta, Spain ($25-$35) = 15.25 Good depth of flavor, not too sweet, best budget buy!

4. Sechey Pinot Noir ($20) = 13.75 The easiest drinking of the bunch while still retaining some complexity. This is whole bottle in one sitting wine.

5. Oddbird GSM, Saint-Chinion, Languedoc, France ($27) = 13.5 Very good, but not as balanced as their white! Gotta be in the mood for this one!

6. Noughty Rouge (Syrah), Darling, South Africa ($25) = 11.5 As long as you like a richer red! A bit polarizing!

7. Surely Red, California (aromatized!) ($27) = 11.5 One of us loved it, the other very much didn’t! VERY polarizing!

8. Sovi Reserve Red Blend, Clarksburg, California ($42) = 11 Solid, Smooth, but needs more!

9. Giesen Premium Red, New Zealand ($15) = 8.75 Enjoyable, but too much like juice!

The Reds were more divisive - it was rare for us to disagree signfiicantly with the sparkling wines, rose, or whites, but it occurred regularly while we sipped through the reds. This led to more middle-ish scores, fewer low scores when we averaged our takes together.

Similar to the whites, our top scorers were two different extremes: the least amount of sugar (Oceano Pinot) and also one of the greatest amounts (Kolonne Null.)

Even though our scores diverged between us, if we look at our individual scores alone, neither of us had as much range as with the sparkling and whites. Here, most of the reds stuck to a narrow window of 3-4 points. Meaning there wasn’t as much fluctuation in terms of percieved quality overall.

That low alcohol red! 3.5% alcohol made such a massive difference! Technically it’s 7x the alcohol of the fully de-alcs!

And that’s it for Part 2 and the reds. Join us TOMORROW for a special Coda / PART 3, where we take a look at a recent experiment which suggests an absolutly wild possibility for vacuum distillation and how the technology might be applied to wine of any alcohol level.

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After prepping this post, I stumbled across the latest bottling at my local wine shop, so nabbed it to give it a try. And Sovi doesn’t lie: the blend changes but the style remains exactly the same! All our notes and scores still pertain to the latest bottling of Cab Sauv and Merlot. Decent stuff, but I hope they push themselves a bit more in the future. Maybe make a second style of red if this current red is too popular to futz with.