non-ecumenical ramblings

Friday Night Wine Blogging


The Merlot shown above was smooth, but with little nose (our living room is 68°F so that may be part of it).

This post's title is the best line from Sideways, the current road movie about a middle-aged wine trip in the Santa Ynez valley. Too many funny lines to remember them all, but the post title is the most memorable. Fun that the first winery they visited was one we had been to - also a bit funny that the wine pourer looked so stiff playing a wine pourer (guess he's not comfortable being in front of the camera). It's great to see a total schleep like Paul Giamatti get two such meaty roles as Harvey Pekar & Miles Raymond given that he's the complete antithesis of a leading man. Not a super memorable movie, but Payne's best to date. Only regret is that US theatres do not serve liquor, as I would have loved a class of Pinot Noir (the grape metaphor for our leading man) during the film & some Framboise by the closing credits.

When GJ took me to see lock, stock & 2 smoking barrels in Groningen, I was blown away that they stopped the movie 2/3 of the way through so you'd buy a Heineken (not a planned intermission by the moviemakers, but some odd Dutch habit). Still it is fairly enlightened of Holland to allow beer in the theatres - time for our theatres to follow suit & cater their concessions to the movie showing!