Give these movies a taste

Have a cozy night-in this Valentine's Day or save these recs for later. My top 5 wine-themed movies and a full Letterboxd list of food, drink, and chef-culture films.

I don’t need to sit here and tell you that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. I also don’t need to remind you that it is this Friday, February 14th (just in case).

Whether you have plans out or you’re deciding on skipping the affair altogether, I’m here to make the case for a cozy, intimate, and rejuvenating night-in. No nudging through the herds to make your way to a dinner table from an already overpacked train, no need to yell to your partner across the table just to be heard, and definitely no obligation to spend more than $80 on a bottle that you felt was just fine.

Celebrate your galentine’s, mal-entine’s (need new marketing on this one), solo date, or partner(s) date with my letter of recommendation (to the oft-disrespected): dinner & a movie-at-home.

Settle inside this Valentine’s Day. Get some fresh-cut flowers. Your favorite splurge-worthy bottle. And for dinner, use that bookmarked recipe you’ve been saving from your cookbook (like my new copy of Four Horsemen, still sitting unscathed). We’ve got your movie options covered.

This could be you.

One of my favorite genres of art—books, films, TV, podcasts, paintings—is anything related to food & drinks (unsurprisingly).

But let’s dive into an even more niche subsection of food & drink media. Movies that feature wine as the main theme.

My Fave 5

1. Drops of God (Apple TV+ mini-series): The most binge-able show you may have never heard of. Based on a Japanese manga.

   Plot: A fight for a father’s inheritance. Knives Out meets daddy issues. A famous French wine critic leaves behind a $150 million wine cellar. An estranged daughter and the father’s protégé meet each other for the first time after his death to undergo 3 “impossible” wine tests to determine who takes the estate.

   

2. Sideways ($4 rental on most streaming services): Paul Giamatti x Alexander Payne for their first collaboration (most recent collab, The Holdovers). Sideways received a perfect 4/4 from the great Roger Ebert, alongside 5 Oscar noms.

   Plot: Two reprehensible men go on a final bachelor party roadtrip through the California vineyards, both reconciling through their mid-life crises. Featuring a delightful cameo from an ethereal, Sandra Oh, stopping them in their tracks. Famously, this movie incited two major shifts in wine after its release, called the “Sideways Effect”, reducing sales of Merlot by 2% and increasing sales of Pinot Noir by 16%. All because of two iconic scenes.

   

   Sandra, who plays a wine server, learned to ride a motorcycle for the film.

3. Uncorked (Netflix): from writer/director Prentice Penny of Insecure and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. This movie opens up to one of the most surprising movie scene opening soundtracks (spoiler: Juice – Yo Gotti) placing you directly on the streets of Memphis.

   Plot: A father/son com-drama with a predominantly all-black cast. A father has dreams of his son taking over the family business: a BBQ restaurant in Memphis, while his son has aspirations of becoming a master sommelier. A typical storyline with an atypical set of circumstances, the script gives the characters enough weight and nuance to give this genre life again. Featuring a no-skips type of soundtrack.

   “Chardonnay is the granddaddy of wines, the Jay-Z of wine. Versatile and smooth. A Pinot Grigio is the Kanye West of wines…a little bit of spice…Rieslings are the Drake of wines, crisp, clean, and usually kind of sweet.”

4. Sour Grapes (Amazon Prime, Tubi): a documentary about the most brilliant fraudster in wine history, the wine world’s equivalent of Anna Delvey. Gloriously conning Bill Koch and institutions like Christie’s and Sotheby’s.

   Plot: Rudy Kurniawan comes from obscurity to ingratiate himself with the rich, featuring sleuth-like camcorder video of his rise from unknown origins to sell millions of dollars of wines through established auction houses.

5. Somm (full movie on Youtube): the most nerdy one of the list. A good intro film into wine and appreciating people’s dedication towards their craft. This was a required watch for an intro wine course I took in college. While others watched for an easy A. I watched and got hooked.

   Plot: A documentary following candidates attempting to pass their Master Sommelier Diploma. A 3-part exam with one of the lowest pass rates for any exam (<5%). The hardest portion is a blind taste test where you have to identify the grape variety, region, and vintage of each wine. Imagine off the cuff, getting that blind tasting right. Not once, not twice, but for 12 wines. Makes you realize that wine isn’t all BS and overconfident chatter.

   

   3 dudes drinking $1000s worth of wine and spitting it out into a cup.

   

   My full Letterboxd list of media related to food, drink, & chef-culture, in somewhat descending order of favorites. Please suggest any of your favorites here as well!

   Some other personal faves not-wine related, that I couldn’t add on Letterboxd: Mind of a Chef, Top Chef, Ugly Delicious, Chef’s Table (select eps), No Reservations, Barefoot Contessa, Salt Fat Acid Heat, Giada at Home, Iron Chef, Alton Brown: Good Eats.

   P.S. For this Valentine's Day, I'll be helping out readers with a personalized wine & movie suggestion. Send me a DM or comment below on what movie you're planning on watching and a wine you've liked in the past. I'll get back to you within 24 hours!

   

   Appreciate you for reading, your readership and support is what’s keeping this newsletter alive.

   Please share your favorites food or wine media as well—comment, share, message me! This should be a living, breathing list.

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