The following lines between characters Maya and Miles in the 2004 movie Sideways touched viewers and even the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when the group presented an Oscar for best adapted screenplay to co-writers Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor:
Maya: “Why are you so into pinot? I mean, it’s like a thing with you.”
Miles: “I don’t know. It’s a hard grape to grow. As you know, right? It’s thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. … It’s not a survivor like cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and thrive even when it’s neglected. No, pinot needs constant care and attention. … And, in fact, it can only grow in these really specific little tucked-away corners of the world. And only the most patient and nurturing of growers can do it, really; only somebody who really takes the time to understand pinot’s potential can then coax it into its fullest expression. And, then, I mean, oh, its flavors. They’re just the most haunting and brilliant and thrilling and subtle and ancient on the planet.”
The movie, directed by Payne and based on Rex Pickett’s novel of the same name, used metaphor, humor, and gorgeous scenery from Santa Barbara County as it followed two disillusioned men on a wine-tasting trip. It also made household names of its actors: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, and Sandra Oh.
An unforeseen impact of the movie, however, was the “Sideways effect,” which longtime journalists Kirk and Mira Advani Honeycutt of Paso Robles detail in their new book Sideways Uncorked, which was released in November.
The book is a celebration of the movie’s 20th anniversary and includes interviews with all the players—from the cast and crew to the Central Coast winemakers and restaurateurs who benefitted from the limelight.
“Miles’ speech about wine was in Rex’s novel, at least most of it … [but] it does contain many of my own thoughts about wine,” said Payne, who currently circulates between Los Angeles; Omaha, Nebraska; and Athens, Greece. “Before the movie was released, I never imagined that viewers would appreciate that scene so much. It’s a love scene, I guess, but all they’re talking about is wine.
“I was quite touched that the Honeycutts wanted to write the book and approached it so thoroughly and thoughtfully. Those of us who worked on the movie had a really good time, and I always thought that that’s one of the reasons people like the movie—the good times come through the screen. So, I’m very happy that someone has taken the time to chronicle both the experience and the lovely aftermath.”
Pinot noir, French for “black pine” and most famously associated with the country’s Burgundy region, gets its name from the grape’s tightly clustered, pine-cone-shaped bunches. Its thin skin and tight clusters make it particularly fragile and susceptible to fungus, hence the nickname “heartbreak grape.”
In the United States, several regions of California as well as Oregon’s Willamette Valley provide the perfect growing environment. While the World of Pinot Noir, a nonprofit trade organization founded by Brian Talley and the late Archie McLaren in 2001, helped kickstart the grape’s popularity domestically, the movie catapulted it.
“Among American oenophiles, pinot noir was certainly known and appreciated before the World of Pinot Noir threw a spotlight on the variety,” said Kirk, a former chief film critic for The Hollywood Reporter and Los Angeles Daily News. “But the varietal exploded because of the movie. That’s how popular culture works. The movie brought pinot into the mainstream. … Suddenly—from the release of the movie in October 2004 to the Oscars in February 2005—everyone, even non-wine drinkers, knew about pinot noir. It was that quick. Nothing like it has ever happened in the wine world.”
Talley, owner and vintner of Talley Vineyards in Arroyo Grande, concurs.
“Sideways had a huge impact on pinot noir in California and especially the Central Coast,” he said. “Plus, I think it’s the best film about wine ever made.”
The Honeycutts’ new book, Talley said, renews attention on the film and some of the producers who inspired it.
In the book, the Honeycutts wrote: “Not too long after Sideways’ box-office success and its rampage through the 2004/2005 awards season, journalists began using the phrase ‘the Sideways effect.’ According to California’s Wine Institute, U.S. supermarket sales of pinot noir jumped 18 percent in less than a year following the film’s release.”
The authors continued: “Sideways had become a cultural phenomenon. Its impact was local [on] the Santa Barbara wine and hospitality community, regional in its influence on the California wine industry, and national as a hugely popular comedy as well as an unexpected guide to wine drinking in North America and, for that matter, the world.”
Some filmgoers, they added, even went out and got a Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 1 crash course in wine.
While the majority of Sideways Uncorked allows readers to relive the movie, interspersed with behind-the-scenes trivia and photographs, the authors also throw in their recommendations for top pinots worldwide.
“We have … curated a list of pinots from eight California AVAs, Willamette Valley, New Zealand, and Burgundy, with chapters dedicated to each region,” said Mira, the wine editor at 13 Stars Media and writer for several industry publications.
From the San Luis Obispo Coast American Viticultural Area, she added, “we have over a dozen wines included in the book plus interviews with various Central Coast winemakers.”
One recommendation is Talley’s iconic Rosemary’s pinot, vintages of which have achieved 98-point scores in Wine Advocate.
“I have always considered pinot noir to be the grape variety that celebrates both place and the role of the farmer,” Talley said. “My favorite examples are generally estate grown so that the winegrower has complete control of viticultural and winemaking practices, from the planting and farming of the vineyard through the bottling of the finished wine.
“At its very best, pinot noir is ethereal, mysterious, and delicious.”
Contributor Cherish Whyte enjoyed the Honeycutts’ homage to Sideways. She’ll be reading Pickett’s novel next at cwhyte@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Dec 19-29, 2024.