December 8, 2004
SidewaysI went to see the movie “Sideways.” It’s a hilarious comedy about two old college roommates who do a wine tasting adventure here in Santa Barbara County. Miles, an unpublished writer and teacher, played by Paul Giametti, takes Jack, an actor, played by Thomas Hayden Church, out on this adventure before Jack “ties the knot.”
The weeklong adventure starts in San Diego, where they went to college. During the course of the film a lot of local wines get good play in the film, starting with Sanford. Other wineries featured or mentioned, or shown include Hitching Post, Kalyra, Byron, Fiddlehead, Whitcraft, Sea Smoke, Andrew Murray, Au Bon Climat-and not so local, Cheval Blanc (vintage ’61), the world-renowned Bordeaux wine from France, and DRC Richebourg, from Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, the most prestigious wine estate in France’s Burgundy region, based in Vosne-Romanee.
I won’t give details because I don’t want to ruin the plot or a very important moral in this story, but I will tell you the ’61 Cheval Blanc actually has an important part in the film.
The screenplay writer, by the way, knows his wines. Cheval Blanc and DRC wines are two of the most highly regarded labels in the world. For me, the bottle of Cheval Blanc symbolizes something I hold very dear-something I learned from wine mentors Jim Fiolek and Chris Whitcraft more than two decades ago when they were hosting our wine show on the old KTMS FM radio station in Santa Barbara.
A number of local places were featured prominently in the movie-the Sanford tasting room, the Kalyra tasting room, the Buellton Hitching Post, Los Olivos Cafe, Solvang Restaurant, Buellton’s Windmill Inn, the River Grill at The Alisal and River Course in Solvang, Firestone, and A.J. Spurs, and even the ostrich farm on Highway 246 between Solvang and Buellton and Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital.
Then, too, in the movie, there was a winery called Frass Canyon-really Fess Parker Winery-the only winery where they changed the name-probably a very smart move on the part of the screenwriter.
Director-writer, Alexander Payne, did his homework well. Somebody scripted the right wines. As a wine writer who has been following our wine country for 20 years, the film showed no losers, but all very good wines-the kind of wines a wine person like Miles would want to drink.
Alexander Payne also shows what I believe is a genuine sensitivity to our county and its sublime landscape. At the end, one of the lines in the credits reads, “No California oak trees were harmed in making this film.”
Without a doubt, the film captures breathtaking scenery in Santa Barbara County!
Fifteen minutes of fame-A number of locals-people many of us know-were made “celebrities” in the movie-especially Chris Burroughs, the tasting room manager at Sanford, and Terri Stricklin, Kelly Fairbrother, and Gray Hartley who were “customers” in a scene filmed at the Buellton Hitching Post.
In real life, Kelly is a server at the Buellton establishment. Terri is the manager of the Casmalia Hitching Post. And Gray Hartley makes Hitching Post wines with Frank Ostini.
I can personally really relate to the character of Miles in the film. He captures the mindset of a real and impassioned wine lover and wine drinker, like many good friends of mine. Also the gorgeous Maya, the Hitching Post server played by Virginia Madsen is a really impassioned wine person too-especially when she tells Miles, “a bottle of wine is alive-constantly evolving.” Stephanie, the pourer in the Kalyra tasting room played by gorgeous Sandra Oh, also knows her wine.
I know a lot of people in real life who are like these characters. The author, screenwriter, director, and crew did a terrific job.
There was one inaccuracy in the film that bugged me. A restaurant scene and a bowling alley scene showed people smoking cigarettes. Hollywood must have its hands in Philip Morris's (and the tobacco industry's) pocket. Even this film showed smoking in the bar, which cannot occur legally anywhere in the state of California! I don’t think it’s a good message to make potential out-of-state visitors to our wine country think it’s okay to smoke in public places here in California, because it’s against the law to smoke in restaurants, businesses, public buildings, and even bars!
How I would rate this movie? Very well! I plan on going to see it again. I saw it for the first time several weeks ago at the Riviera Theatre in Santa Barbara.
I saw “Mash” five times in first run. (Ironically, I never saw the successful TV series based on the movie since I have never been a real TV watcher.) I saw “My Dinner With Andre” five times at the Riviera in Santa Barbara and own the DVD! I also have the film play which I got autographed by Andre Gregory at a writer’s conference at the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, probably twelve years ago. I saw ”Manhattan” starring Woody Allen three times because I love the music of George Gershwin. I own the CD as well. I also saw “Das Boat” three times as I recall. Most recently I saw “Fahrenheit 911” twice, and I own the DVD.
I share this to give you some kind of a baseline on my movie preferences.
I intend to see “Sideways” several more times and I also plan on getting the DVD when it is released in that format. I just bought the book at the Book Loft in Solvang.
Only cautionary note! The language. There’s a lot of usage of the “f word.” That doesn't bother me, personally. It's sort of the way I talk. I don’t take the lord’s name in vain or use the “f word” around my aunt who is in her 90s and I wouldn't take her to see this film either for the same reason. The movie carries an R rating.
The film is based on the novel, “Sideways,” by Rex Pickett, Copyright 2004, St. Martin’s Press, New York.
They have a good website too. www2.foxsearchlight.com/sideways The especially good parts on the website, I think: Wine tasting 101 and Snob Free Guide to Wine
Sideways is showing at the Parks Plaza Theatre in Buellton. (805) 688-7434.
Times wine columnist, Bob Senn, lives in the Los Alamos Valley and owns the Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium.
