Those three things make for every excuse needed to fire up the grill and enjoy what summer is all about.

Here are our picks for the perfect wines to pair with whatever you’re tossing onto those coals. And might we suggest an easy-quaffing wine while you wait for those briquets to get hot? Chill up a bottle of the dry-styled Feiler-Artinger Rosé. This wine is perfect for sipping while you wait for everything to cook-

GRILL IT AND PAIR IT:

RED WINES

Big and Bold
We’ve said it time and again- the Blaufrankisch grape just screams to be paired with BBQ, thanks to its full body and nice kick of spice. Think thick campfire steaks, slabs of ribs, and even your fat burgers and sausages.
Two picks drinking perfectly right now:
WENZEL BLAUFRANKISCH 2006 $24.75
MORIC NECKENMARKTER BLAUFRANKISCH 2005 $48.00

Spicy and Full
These reds, while not quite as big as the Blaufrankisch wines, have still got the spice and body required to stand up to your grilling. Our first pick is a Zweigelt from Feiler-Artinger- this wine is a serious bargain and should be poured freely all summer long. The second is a beautifully old-world styled Pinot Noir. Not so much the wine for the steaks, but just lovely with the flame broiled birds.
FEILER-ARTINGER ZWEIGELT 2007 $18.99
WENZEL KLEINER WALD PINOT NOIR 2005 $52.50

WHITE WINES
Paired with Seafood

Shrimp on the barbi just begs for a refreshing Sauvignon Blanc. We like our Italian version for its fruit-forward profile, while the Austrian has a more herbal and mineralic profile. Both would pair perfectly with grilled shrimp, oysters, lobster, clams or crab.
BUTUSSI CORNO DI ROSAZZO 2007 $15.00
SABATHI POHARNIG 2004 $16.99

Any kind of fish (think salmon, swordfish, trout, halibut) pairs great with a not over-oaked (that is, not too heavy) Chardonnay. Our pick:
VELICH DARSCHO 2001 $19.99

Go Grilled Veggies

Gruner Veltliner was made for pairing with grilled vegetables: zucchini, peppers, eggplant, onions, and particularly asparagus. With its kick of white pepper spice on the finish and its mineralic and fruit forward profile, you’ll be reaching for glass after glass. Be sure to serve it slightly chilled!
GRITSCH MAURITIUSHOF KALMUCK 2007 $17.50
HOGL SCHON GRUNER VELTLINER 2007 $26.00
DONABAUM SPITZER POINT 2006 $29.99
MELUSINE LYRA 2004 $50.00

Or you can just order up our pre-selected GRUNER VELTLINERS FOR GRILLING flight of three bottles at 20% off the individual bottle prices.

FOR DESSERT
Sweet Wines and Fresh Fruit

There’s so much gorgeous fresh produce this time of year, it would be a crime not to mention some of our favorite ways to pair those fruits with a few of our world-class sweet wines.
Try grilling up the best from the farmer’s stand: strawberries, watermelon, peaches, you name it. That’s right, grill it! Then serve it up with a chilled glass of dessert wine. It’s the perfect finish for your meal. The first pick here is just off-dry, and comes in a full bottle size. The second pick is a half-bottle of not-too-sweet Beerenauslese:
FEILER-ARTINGER QUARTETT SPATLESE 2007 $18.99
PASLER MUSCAT-OTTONEL TROCKENBEERENAUSLESE 2002 $29.99

To be honest, any of our dessert wines, from Beerenauslese to Ice Wine to Ruster Ausbruch, would pair beautifully with a simple dish of fresh fruit.

SIMPLIFY
Want to make your life easy? Grab our pre-picked summertime selections, in a flight of 3 bottles or a mixed case:
GRUNERS FOR GRILLING $96/3 bottles
MIXED GRILL - PAIRING CASE OF WINE $220/case

ALL HAIL SUMMERTIME!

To read the interview in its original German version, follow this link to Christian Seiler’s website.

Translated from German by James Wright.

You can shop for Moric wines by following this link.

Christian Seiler: Robert Parker’s “Wine Advocate,” the most influential wine-publication in the world, has just published its scores of Austrian wines. Your wines did magnificently well. The Moric Blaufränkisch Neckenmarkter Alte Reben 2006 was awarded 95 points, thereby attaining a standard heretofore unachieved by any Austrian red. Were you surprised?

Roland Velich: Well, in any case, quite glad of it. Not totally surprised, though, because David Schildknecht, who evaluates Austrian wines for Robert Parker, had scored our wines very favourably in the past couple years. And he had already drawn attention to the excellent quality of the 2006 vintage: he said that it was “at least” as good as 2004—so although not entirely surprised, I was most certainly wonderfully pleased.

Christian Seiler: In recent years you have consistently withdrawn from any critique by the Austrian wine-press—for this reason some people might be surprised at your delight over the Parker points.

Roland Velich: I had invited quite a few Austrian journalists to visit me in my cellar and observe the different forms of vinification that we use, to find out what’s going on. Nobody came. David Schildknecht undertook the long trip from the East Coast of the USA to Burgenland, and devoted several hours to tasting my wines. He tasted intensively and referred frequently between wines, made his notes and was as a result of this very well prepared to write quite perceptively about Moric, because he understood it so well.

Christian Seiler: So with this you intend to criticise the fashion for blind tastings currently prevalent in Austria, where the tasters sample a great number of wines without knowing their origin. Isn’t that a good way to prevent yourself from being inordinately influenced by the image or the mystique of a wine?

Roland Velich: Not at all. In blind tastings as a rule one tends to prefer wines of the currently fashionable style, which means alcohol content, intensity from new oak and the degree to which it has been toasted—so that one is distracted by opulence, weight and power. Finesse doesn’t stand a chance in blind tastings.

Christian Seiler: How is that?

Roland Velich: The palate is simply not intended to try 30-50 samples within a couple of hours. And wine isn’t made to be experienced in this fashion. The very nature of wine invites one to spend time with it, and to appreciate over time the pleasure of its various qualities and characteristics.

Christian Seiler: Plainly speaking, wines that don’t follow the current fashion score poorly in blind tastings?

Roland Velich: Clearly so. Elegant and finely-tuned wines—which are designed to develop over time, first in the barrel and then in the bottle—are very difficult to evaluate when you taste them young. They don’t reveal themselves. And they don’t stand a chance alongside the heavyweights. For this reason I’ve stopped showing my wines in Austrian tastings.
The style of your wines, as you describe them, presents quite a departure from the currently favoured model of Austrian red wine. You are pursuing the goals of expressing minerality and terroir, while your most successful colleagues are producing fruity, powerful and oak-influenced wines.

Christian Seiler: Why did you decide to swim against the mainstream?

Roland Velich: For me that’s got a lot to do with the concept “Tradition.” Burgenland is an ancient wine-region. For example, the vineyards of Neckenmarkt, in the southern foothills of the Ödenburger Mountains, have always fascinated me. I had always engaged myself with differing soils types, but primarily with the ancient grape variety Blaufränkisch.

Christian Seiler: Why exactly Blaufränkisch?

Roland Velich: Because so far as quality is concerned, the variety is fairly durable. Even when it’s made in style that’s totally modern, or even sloppily vinified, it yields interesting results. So I got it into my head to find out what happens when I allow Blaufränkisch grapes to ferment into wine under the best possible conditions. I wanted to know: what are the expressive capabilities of this variety? What happens when I don’t distort the wine by means of technology?

Christian Seiler: How did you get the idea, that in fact the Blaufränkisch possessed the potential to yield great wine?

Roland Velich: Initially in a purely theoretical fashion. Burgenland is situated at the northwestern gateway to the Pannonian world, where the climate is rather somewhat cooler. The nights in September are no longer so oppressively hot, and since the Blaufränkisch is picked in October, frequently toward the end of October, the grapes have time in the cool nights to develop very refined aromas. That fits quite well with my idea of making wines that are not so powerful and opulent as in the southern regions of Europe, or in the New World, where the heat supresses most any sense of delicacy.

Christian Seiler: Despite this, it wasn’t obvious to concentrate on Blaufränkisch and to develop an entirely new style for this variety…

Roland Velich: No, not at all. But here comes the practical part: I had always tasted old Blaufränkisch wines, which reminded me of entirely different regions: of wines from Piedmont, of Pinot Noir from Burgundy—possibly also of the Syrah from the northern Rhône. I was struck by flashes of similarity.

Christian Seiler: And these were?

Roland Velich: Partly the fruit, partly the structure, partly the spice. There are places in Burgenland which provide a spice similar to that of Northern Rhône Syrah, particularly when the Blaufränkisch has the chance to develop for years in the bottle.

Christian Seiler: You mean the top wines?

Roland Velich: No, it works with simply made wines as well. In grapes from certain vineyards in Lutzmannsburg, a tannin structure develops in this fashion that is similar to Nebbiolo from Piedmont.

Christian Seiler: You have, then, utilised a deep knowledge about international wines to divine the potential of Blaufränkisch

Roland Velich: Of course. I am a wine grower, body and soul. My enthusiasm for wines didn’t stop at the borders of Burgenland, or even Austria. It was clear to me that I wanted to know more about the so-called great wines. How do the vineyards look? How are the soils composed? How are the grapes harvested? How do the people work in the cellar? What, all things considered, distinguishes a great wine?

Christian Seiler: You acquired this knowledge with the intention of making a great wine yourself someday?

Roland Velich: I just took notes, and made comparisons. What is it that makes La Tâche so special? Why does it stand apart from all other wines?

Christian Seiler: And the answer?

Roland Velich: That it’s not the opulence, not the power—but rather the eloquence of a special perfume, which makes a wine from a particular region or site so incomparable. The French call this “goût de terroir”: the flavour that a small patch of ground calls forth in combination with a grape. That’s the special thing—the encounter with nature. It’s the art of allowing something to develop naturally, something that no technical wizardry can possibly fabricate.

Christian Seiler: Where have you experienced this “goût de terroir” the most intensely?

Roland Velich: Interestingly enough, in the borderlands of winemaking, at the extremes of where grapes can be grown. The places where the vines have a tougher time of it, where they are challenged by climatic conditions during the course of a year. That’s exactly what puts a vine in the position of producing something totally great.

Christian Seiler: And why is that?

Roland Velich: Because the plants must root themselves deeper, and the day-to-night differences in temperature are substantial. We find this in Burgundy, in Chablis, in the Riesling-growing parts of Germany, in Austria with Riesling and Grüner Veltliner, and—as I see it, particularly with Blaufränkisch in Burgenland.

Christian Seiler: So you just put two and two together?

Roland Velich: It wasn’t quite that simple. It was more of an experiment. I wanted first-off to understand what is possible, naturally inspired by the thought that a fine and elegant wine should be the result, a wine that doesn’t grab attention by means of opulence, but rather from the lasting impression of terroir in its character. For this reason I came simultaneously to two places, to Lutzmannsburg and Neckenmarkt, to vineyards some ten kilometers apart, in order to see what the detailed combinations of soil, grape variety and microclimate might be capable of producing.

Christian Seiler: You say that great wines bring the flavour of their place of origin to the fore. Can Blaufränkisch do that?

Roland Velich: I believe that with Moric we’ve provided the evidence of this.

Christian Seiler: And how is that evidence demonstrated?

Roland Velich: Our wines, which come from various vineyard sites, but made by a single hand, exhibit totally different flavour-profiles. One notices this not only in sites that are a few kilometers apart from one another in Neckenmarkt and Lutzmannsburg, but also in the individual vinification of grapes from gneiss, loam, limestone or slate soils in Neckenmarkt. This provides me with the evidence that Blaufränkisch can do what a great variety has got to do.

Christian Seiler: At the time you began to devote yourself to Blaufränkisch, who shared your assessment of the variety?

Roland Velich: Let’s just say that there were more skeptics than there were believers.

Christian Seiler: And as your first wine from the vintage 2001 came on the market?

Roland Velich: The reaction was relatively unanimous: we’ve got something lean and wispy, it’s got relatively little alcohol and relatively little new wood. No new super-Burgenländer. Of no great interest.

Christian Seiler: So the skeptics saw their views confirmed?

Roland Velich: Yes, but there were of course individuals who considered the experiment to be a success, like the wine merchant Oskar Ammann in Nenzing. There were a few others, and that was also extremely important for me.

Christian Seiler: For economic reasons?

Roland Velich: Exactly. I was fortunate in that I already had many contacts—international ones as well.

Christian Seiler: Since you together with your brother Heinz had already made white wines, including the very successful chardonnay “Tiglat,” considered to be one of the best whites in Austria.

Roland Velich: Yes. With “Tiglat” we managed to make a variety—not native to Austria—speak with our voice. With the Blaufränkisch I wanted rather to give an indigenous grape an unmistakeable and distinctive status. I wanted to create an original.

Christian Seiler: How does your winemaking philosophy translate itself into practice? How does one “allow a wine to express itself,” as you are fond of saying?

Roland Velich: First we looked for old vines, which perhaps don’t yield as bountiful a harvest as the younger ones, but offer significantly more flavour. The stalks were a little weaker, the bunches looser, with smaller berries. That’s the first resource. Then it became a matter of harvesting perfect quality. That meant, most frequently, reducing the yield, and—most importantly—stringent selection at harvest. Then we brought the grapes into the cellar, where we tried to do what earlier generations had always done.

Christian Seiler: Namely?

Roland Velich: We let the grapes begin fermenting on the skins in wooden vats, with only a little extraction made by means of punchdown, so that the tannins couldn’t get the upper hand. We attempted to take the raw material to the next part of the process in the best possible condition, without changing the character of this material at all… Because when you cut the bunch from the vine, that’s when the quality of the wine is determined. You can only try to optimise this in the cellar—you can add no quality to the wine. You can only express what’s already there.

Christian Seiler: You speak about the traditional methods of vinification. Whose tradition? Cellar technique in Burgenland, or in other wine regions?

Roland Velich: Naturally, it’s a synthesis, because that’s the story of winemaking tradition in Burgenland. The winemakers certainly had no three-week maceration time seventy or thirty years ago… and they hadn’t reduced their yields, simply because they couldn’t afford to do so. The old winemakers valued abundant harvests more than they did a bunch of grapes in perfect balance and ripeness. Refinement, depth and elegance aren’t really part of our tradition here.

Christian Seiler: So, no tradition?

Roland Velich: Let’s call it a re-acquaintance with a grape variety, with old growing-regions and old vines, but also with the determination to perfect the product contrary to tradition, for the high-end sector. Not to render the wine more impressive, but to enhance its delicacy of expression.

Christian Seiler: And how do you define delicacy?

Roland Velich: Balance between alcohol, tannin and acids. The tactile style and the feel of the wine. Wine should ultimately be able to quench thirst, and do this without needing a liter of water alongside to wash it down. This brings me back to Burgundy—a classically made red Burgundy is never heavy or cumbersome. Never.

Christian Seiler: Back to delicacy…

Roland Velich: Delicacy has much to do with aesthetics. One’s senses and perceptions must be educated, like in music or visual art. One requires a certain education of the palate, in order to appreciate the delicacy that is there to be appreciated. That is crucial.

Christian Seiler: Back when you launched Moric, there were very few purely varietal Blaufränkisch at the top-end. Today that’s different. The upper echelons of the Parker ratings are almost exclusively populated by Blaufränkisch. Have you changed the Burgenländer winemaking landscape?

Roland Velich: Let’s just say this: never before in the history of winemaking in Burgenland did we have so many wines from hundred-percent Blaufränkisch grapes in the upper-quality range—whose expression is based in elegance, expression and character of origin, that are fermented with natural yeast in large wooden barrels—as we do today.

Christian Seiler: You put that very diplomatically. Now name some names.

Roland Velich: I had, of course, a few colleagues, who have always had a good hand with Blaufränkisch. Uwe Schiefer from Eisenberg, for example, who was perhaps convinced by my work to apply himself more intensely… And that goes in the other direction as well: Uwe’s 1997 Rheiburg is an unbelievable wine, which still today tastes youthful and shows what exactly what grew on the vine. And of course there are other examples—wines from a few Mittelburgenland producers, the ones from the Krutzler family, from Ernst Triebaumer, old bottlings from the Schuster family in Zagersdorf, which demonstrate how great the potential of this variety is.

Christian Seiler: So you related to these experiences, without feeling obliged to recreate them personally.

Roland Velich: That’s correct. I can build upon the experience of the old masters. They help me to refine my own philosophy, in that I can compare and correlate my results with theirs.

Christian Seiler: And did you know, tasting the first Moric vintage, that you’d hit paydirt?

Roland Velich: Honestly, yes. 2001 was not a great vintage, and I had a few start-up difficulties to deal with. But this wine already showed evidence that was very encouraging. Then came 2002, a magnificent vintage—not too hot, but rather with cool periods, which is ideal for Blaufränkisch. The grape material was better than I could hope for, and in the meantime we had added wooden vats for the open maceration, and we could work like I’d always dreamed of doing.

Christian Seiler: The 2001 Moric received a rather cool reception from the pundits—did that change with 2002?

Roland Velich: The reactions were, very good but not exceptional. That’s totally ridiculous, when one drinks the wine today. There’s a cloud of perfume that climbs out of the glass. So much intensity, finesse, velvety elegance. I’m always impressed myself, again and again.

Christian Seiler: What happened during the maturation in the bottle?

Roland Velich: It wasn’t just that the tannins mellowed and the acids worked themselves into balance, but the aromas just exploded. That is exactly what I had always wished for.

Christian Seiler: In the current Parker reviews your Grüner Veltliner from St. Georgen got rated on the same rung of the ladder as the best Wachauer and Kamptaler GVs. What’s this with Grüner Veltliner from Burgenland?

Roland Velich: I’m always inspired by the idea of creating something original, and incidentally, Grüner Veltliner is in fact the most widely planted grape variety in Burgenland. So I said to myself, it must be possible to make a Grüner Veltliner that doesn’t emulate the style of Lower Austria, but strives in the sprit of originality to strike a path appropriate to Burgenland. We have different soils, different microclimates, and I wanted to let the wine ferment not in the usual steel tank, but in a large wooden barrel—these were experiments that we undertook, just as with Blaufränkisch, to let the wine express itself.

Christian Seiler: And how was it received?

Roland Velich: My English importer said, “Don’t force me to sell this as Grüner Veltliner?”

Christian Seiler: Why?

Roland Velich: He wasn’t alone. The people said, “this wine is quite good, but it’s not GV as we understand it.” So I had achieved my aim. I had created something original.

Christian Seiler: What’s your next step? Riesling from Rust?

Roland Velich: No, we’re working together with Hannes Schuster to preserve an ancient winegrowing district in the neighbourhood of St Margarethen, in Zagersdorf. Fossil grape-seeds provide evidence that people have been making wine there for 3000 years. 20 years ago there were 120 hectares under vines, today only 30, thanks to the government’s unfortunate land-clearing subsidy. It’s a crying shame, when old grapevines get hacked out like this—they can’t be replaced within a person’s life-span. So we’ve leased three hectares and are launching our new brand M. Jagini red wine.

Christian Seiler: From Blaufränkisch?

Roland Velich: Of course. An absolutely unmistakeable type of Blaufränkisch.

Christian Seiler: And now you’re producing wines from several different areas. Will you build your own winery/tasting room?

Roland Velich: Yes, without a doubt. I won’t remain the amateur without an address for very much longer.

© Christian Seiler

You can shop for Moric wines by following this link.

posted by:

In their article What’s Wrong With Wine on the Web, the Wall Street Journal named winemonger.com as one of 4 sites who are doing it right. They even said we’re elegant!

And check out the accompanying video where they taste one of our favorite Blaufrankisch reds (apologies for the commercial at the start - it doesn’t last long):

Of his philosophy, Franz-Josef puts it plainly: “Terroir is for me more than a word: it is the harmonious symbiosis between man and nature, between tradition and a vision of the future. And tradition doesn’t demand devotion to the ashes, but rather calls for carrying forth the flame. Preserving and building upon the legacy of many previous generations is my challenge and task for the future.”

Just at the bend of turning 30, Franz-Josef has brought the Mauritiushof estate in Spitz up to the top tier of quality in the Wachau. His style is characterized by clean and pure fruit flavors, coupled with distinct minerality and complemented by lively acidity- all finding their way together in perfect balance.

While other vintners will tweak a wine to impart an extra something through extended yeast contact, or by using some botrytis berries, Franz-Josef Gritsch likes to keep it all clean, and bottles only wines made from pristine fruit.

Check out the dates, make your reservations and join us for some wine tasting fun with one of Austria’s most talented young winemakers.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
Friday, March 27
Tasting at K&L Wines
5:00 - 6:30
3005 El Camino Real, Redwood City
(650) 364-8544 - reservations not needed

Saturday, March 28
Winemaker Dinner at Aziza restaurant in San Francisco
APPETIZERS
Squid
cabbage, chili, lime

Meatballs
grape, jícama, herb vinaigrette

Goat Cheese
tomato jam, pistachio, argan oil, mâche

assortment of spreads served with flatbread
chickpea, piquillo-almond, yogurt-dill

1000-Eimerberg Riesling Federspiel 2007
Axpoint Gruner Veltliner Federspiel 2007

FOLLOWED BY
Basteeya
chicken & almond

Singerriedel Gruner Veltliner Federspiel 2007
Singerriedel Gruner Veltliner Smaragd 2007

NEXT
farm egg
slow cooked, charmoula, castelvetrano olive

couscous
turnip, rutabega, cipollini, chickpea, raisin

1000-Eimerberg Riesling Smaragd 2007

AND
prawn
tomato, fennel, celery, currant, caper

quail
huckleberry, bread salad, cumin-orange glaze

Singerriedel Gruner Veltliner Smaragd 2005

THEN
An assortment of the following:
hibiscus
granita, rose parfait, citrus tuile

yogurt
mousse, blood orange, streusel, almond, honeycomb

banana
napoleon, walnut nougatine, mascarpone, honey

hazelnut
madeleine, huckleberry, meyer lemon-buttermilk sherbet

chocolate
milk chocolate-sesame cannoli, chocolate sorbet, date

Vision Riesling Select 2007

$90 - VERY LIMITED SEATING LEFT
Use our contact form or call us at 1-866-WMONGER to make your reservation.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Monday, March 30
Winemaker Dinner at LOU
5 wines paired with a 3 course meal
$65
724 Vine Street, Hollywood
Reservations strongly recommended
Call (323) 962-6369 Monday-Saturday after 5PM

Tuesday, March 31
Tasting at K&L Wines
5:30 - 7:30
1400 Vine Street, Hollywood
reservations not needed

Tuesday, March 31
Tasting at The Must Wine Bar.
9:30 - 11:30
118 W 5th St, Downtown Los Angeles
Franz-Josef will be pouring from behind the bar, and ready to chat wine.
As an added bonus, Tuesday nights are the famed “Tits & Wine” night at the club.
The wines will be sold by-the-glass as well as the bottle

additional details as well as more events to come - check back!

Check back often for future clearance sales!

A glass of wine and a great film are almost always a perfect pairing, no matter the variety of either. There are, of course, some general rules of thumb you can go by when selecting which wine to pair: as with cuisines or cheeses, it’s always a safe bet to match a wine to a film from the same region. But of course, exceptions abound to that rule: what would you pair with a Spaghetti Western? Italian or American wine? But that really gets us into a discussion about terroir, which can be covered more thoroughly elsewhere.

Here we have come up with some specific wine and film pairings that we know work well. Sometimes it’s about the vintage (of the film as well as the wine), or the maker (again, either winemaker or filmmaker), or the story. In other instances the connection may be difficult to discern, so you’ll just have to trust us.

This list pairs well with our FAVORITE WINE MOMENTS IN FILM entries.

Amadeus

8 ½ (ITALY)
Kracher #8 Welschriesling TBA and #9 Sheurebe TBA

2001: A Space Odyssey (USA)
Luna Merlot 2001 Magnum. It’s a long trip, you’ll need a big bottle.

Amadeus (USA)
Hogl Loibner Vision Riesling Smaragd.

Annie Hall (USA)
Any oaked Chardonnay to go with the lobster.

Annie Hall

Apocolypse Now (USA)
Bonny Doon Heart of Darkness

Apollo 13 (USA)
Valley of the Moon Zinfandel

Babe (AUSTRALIA)
Henschke Hill of Grace (often abbreviated HOG)
Turkey Flat Shiraz 02.
Goats Do Roam 2003 Goat-Roti

Big Night

The Bicycle Thief (ITALY)
Salice Salentino
Chianti
Antonio Caggiano Tauresi

Big Night (USA)
Leonetti Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 1998 (the year the film was made) or perhaps more appropriately, a Gaja Barbaresco

Birdman of Alcatraz (USA)
Bonny Doon Big House Red

Breaking Away (USA)
Red Bicylcette

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

Chocolat (USA)
A Beerenauslese dessert wine.

Citizen Kane (USA)
Cain 5, Napa, CA

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (FRANCE/BELGIUM)
Eiswein or Sauternes to go with the profiteroles.

Cujo (USA)
MD 20/20

Dark Star (USA)
Dark Star Ricodarti, Paso Robles

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Days of Wine and Roses (USA)
Heiss Traminer Eiswein. The Traminer grape is known for its bouquet of rose notes.

Le Dernier Metro (The Last Metro, FRANCE)
2003 Gerard Depardieu Lumiere de l’Atlas. We could have picked just about any French film from the past 30 years, as he appears in all of them.

Don’s Party (AUSTRALIA)
Something Australian and a bit tacky: perhaps Yellowtail or a sparkling Shiraz.

Double Indemnity (USA)
Baco Noir by Henry Pelham, for this classic Noir film.

Evil Dead (USA)
Exquisite Corpse, Bonny Doon

Godfather

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (USA)
Red Diamond Chardonnay

Gladiator (USA)
Trius Brute 2002

The Godfather (parts I, II, III) (USA)
Niebaum-Coppola Rubicon Proprietary Red Wine 1986
Niebaum-Coppola Edizione Pennino Zinfandel Estate 1993

The Grapes of Wrath (USA)
2 Buck Chuck

Lawrence of Arabia (USA)
Karl Lawrence Cabernet

Marie Antoinette

Like Water for Chocolate (MEXICO)
Monte Xanic Chardonnay, from Mexico

Marie Antoinette (USA)
Champagne served in a coupe, not a flute.

Marnie (1964, USA)
Behrens & Hitchcock Chien Lunatique

Metropolis (GERMANY)
Lang Trockenbeerenauslese 1999.

Notorious (1946, USA)
Volnay Cailleret Bouchard
1934 Grands Vins de Bourgogne - Pommard Francois Penot & Cie

Notorious

The Perfect Storm (USA)
Any Port

Picnic at Hanging Rock (AUSTRALIA)
Hanging Rock Heathcote Shiraz 1990

Pieces of April (USA)
Williams Selyem Pinot Noir 1999 Mendocino
Panther Creek Pinot Noir 1999 Shea Vineyard
Gsellmann & Gsellmann Beerenauslese
(all pair well with the turkey)

Seven Samurai (JAPAN)
Shinkame Shuzo Shinkame Funakuchi (Junmaishu) N.V. That’s rice wine.

Pieces of April

Shawshank Redemption (USA)
Orin Swifts The Prisoner

The Silence of the Lambs (USA)
Terrabianca Chianti Classico Riserva Croce 1991 (to go with the liver)
Amarone (which is what Hannibal suggests to drink in the novel)

Some Like It Hot (USA)
Marilyn Merlot

The Sound of Music (USA)
Erwin Sabathi Poharnig Sauvignon Blanc
(from the Austrian hills of Styria, which truly are alive)

Vertigo

Vertigo (USA)
Warrabilla Parola’s Reserve Durif 2002 (17.5% alc.) That level of alcohol could give anyone vertigo.

Whale Rider (NEW ZEALAND)
Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

Wild Strawberries (SWEDEN)
1990 Bollinger R D
Veuve Cliquot Grande Dame

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (USA)
Wenzel SAZ Ruster Ausbruch 2001. Sweetness and the golden ticket (see the label on the bottle)

Withnail & I

Withnail & I (ENGLAND)
The finest wines available to humanity.

Pim, of the excellent blog CHEZ PIM, is the motor behind this beautiful ship, so I’ll let her words tell you all about where the money raised will go:

This year’s Menu for Hope will again benefit the school lunch program in Lesotho, as well as support the WFP’s local procurement initiative, which contracts local farmers to grow food to supply the feeding program. We chose to support the school lunch program because providing food for the children not only keeps them alive, but keeps them in school so that they learn the skills to feed themselves in the future. We chose to support the program in Lesotho because it is a model program in local procurement - buying food locally to support local farmers and the local economy. Instead of shipping surplus corn across the ocean, the WFP is buying directly from local subsistent farmers who practice conservation farming methods in Lesotho to feed the children there.

You’ll Get 6 Of These AND Wine!

So how does it work? For every $10 donated, you earn one virtual raffle ticket to bid on a prize of your choice. At the end of the two-week campaign, the raffle tickets are drawn and the results announced on Chez Pim.

How do you make these donations? Go to this page on Firstgiving. We’ve also provided a step-by-step guide at the bottom of this post on how to enter.

What can you win? Check out the Master List of Raffle Prizes here on Chez Pim, or visit Alder Yarrow’s Vinography for the full line-up of amazing wine-related prizes.

What is Winemonger offering?
A set of 6 Zalto Denk’Art White Wine glasses, along with two bottles of epic Gruner Veltliner: Johann Donabaum Spitzer Point Smaragd 2006 and 2007. These are, as you know if you’re a Winemonger regular, the best wine glasses on the market. The two bottles of wine are both in-house favorites. It’s really a personal prize from us to charitable you (whomever you turn out to be.)

THE CODE TO WIN OUR PRIZE IS WB07.

___________________________________________________

HOW TO ENTER:

If you’re interested in buying into the raffle, here’s what you need to do:

1. Choose a prize from the Master List of Raffle Prizes at Chez Pim or the more Wine Related Prizes at Vinography.

2. Go to the donation site at Firstgiving and make a donation.

3. Please specify which prize you’d like in the ‘Personal Message’ section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code. Example:

Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02. Example:

4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.

5. Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we can contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Check back on Chez Pim on Wednesday, January 9 for the results of the raffle.

THANKS FROM ALL OF US HERE AT WINEMONGER, AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

From Withnail & I.

The first in a series of our favorite wine moments in film. And, frankly, my very favorite of them all.

TALES OF TERROR, The Black Cat

Cheers, Mr.Herringbone!

From Tales of Terror, The Black Cat. Vintage 1962, starring Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. Directed by Roger Corman and adapted from a story by Edgar Allen Poe.

Poe, Lorre, Price, Corman and wine… does it get any better?

*if you’re short on time, just be sure to watch the first 6 minutes*

This clip is included by the inspiration of Alessia Botturi, Sommelier extraordinaire. Please leave your suggestions for future clips with your comments.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS: A Bottle of Wine





Just the opening scene…of course, it goes rather downhill from here.

FRENCH KISS

Kevin Kline teaches Meg Ryan to taste the wine, using what was clearly the inspiration for that Le Nez du Vin kit which retails for a mere $450. Perhaps we should all make our own kits…

THE MUPPET MOVIE





First of all, we love what Steve Martin is wearing. Obviously. Second of all, we appreciate that the wine couldn’t be corked. Bless the Muppets and bless Steve Martin too.

SIDEWAYS - The Pinot Noir Scene

It had to be included, and this would be the scene to include- but what can we say? We’ve included it the Winemonger way. Il pinot nero e’ un’uva difficile.


BORAT





Perhaps this rivals our first clip as far as our favorite goes… this is worth the 6+ minutes of your life.
“In U S and A, very rich people, like to drink a wine”


ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS





So it’s not a film. But it is a great filmed moment of wine tasting.