June 22, 2006|By W. Blake Gray, Chronicle Staff Writer
Unlike whiskey, which has been a crucial prop for the tough and the heartbroken since the invention of cinema, wine and movies have rarely been a great pairing.
Perhaps it’s because most Americans didn’t appreciate wine until recently. Perhaps it’s because wine is more complex than whiskey, and Hollywood is all about simplicity.
But sometimes it clicks: Wine plays a significant role, the filmmakers get the wine parts right, and the movie is a pleasure to watch.
Using those three standards, The Chronicle proudly presents the Top 10 Wine Films of all time.
In creating this list, allowances were made by necessity in the size of wine’s part. Wine may be a living thing, but it rarely hogs the spotlight in a great film.
So rather than include bad, wine-heavy movies like “Blood and Wine,” “Mondovino” and “A Walk in the Clouds,” the 10 films here were picked mostly on their cinematic merits.
The list is limited to American films, with the exception of one British action flick that many Americans may be surprised to learn wasn’t made in Hollywood. It’s not that French, Italian, Spanish and German movies aren’t excellent; there simply weren’t enough evenings to watch enough movies to pick the Top 10 wine films in the world. Perhaps a sequel is in order.
So hit your local video store, uncork a nice bottle (hint: popcorn is an excellent pairing for food-unfriendly buttery Chardonnays) and enjoy wine’s 10 greatest appearances on the big flat screen.
About Bart Isbey
