One of our best yet, folks. We’ll let the episode literally speak for itself. Please give it a listen.
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.
