On March 4th, Decanter reported that the recent release of Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy has sparked a surge in Chardonnay sales. Bridget Jones, portrayed by the inimitable Renee Zellweger is often seen drinking a glass of Chardonnay in the movie and this has apparently led to what some call the “Bridget Jones Effect” in the UK, with supermarkets like Waitrose reporting double-digit percentage sales increases in volume Chardonnay like Yellow Tail and Oxford Landing.
For a major part of Hollywood’s early history however, the temperance movement’s influence was so profound that alcohol was nearly invisible on screen from 1933 to the early 1960s.
Perhaps the earliest example of a positive influence on wine consumption is the 1942 movie Casablanca where champagne is the drink of romance and hopelessness. As far as I am aware there is no documentary evidence of quantifiable impact on champagne consumption, but this is generally assumed self-evident.
The counterpoint is the very famous 1945 anti-alcohol film The Lost Weekend, about an alcoholic writer, directed by Billy Wilder whose tumultuous relationship with Raymond Chandler, a recovering alcoholic during their collaboration in the screenplay for Double Indemnity led Chandler to resume drinking. Part of Wilder’s motivation to make the film was an attempt to explain Chandler to himself. The movie marks a distinct turning point from the previous comedic portrayal of drunkenness to a darker, more realistic and at the same time deeply humanising depiction of alcoholism.
While the 1958 movie Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, is not focused on alcoholism, alcohol plays a key factor in the character’s struggles. The devastating effect of alcoholism on a young co-dependent couple portrayed by Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick in Days of Wine and Roses (1962) continues the negative portrayal as does the 1964 Frank Sinatra movie Some Came Running.
Perhaps the Bond movie franchise marks the turning point, glamourising champagne in particular, associating it with luxury and celebration. In March 2021, Jonathan Reeve wrote in no less than the Jancis pages these words: “Bond has enjoyed many fine wines over the years…But champagne is his constant – the persistent bead threading through his whole story from 1953 to today. However often Bond is tortured, beaten, poisoned or shot, champagne proves just enough to comfort and console him; champagne is 007’s own quantum of solace”. He goes on in riveting style with three stories from the movies illustrating the timeline of Bond’s favourite champagnes: Taittinger in the books 1953-66, Dom Perignon in the early films 1962-78, and Bollinger in the films 1979-2021. There is evidence to suggest that sales of Bollinger increased significantly near the release of new Bond films, and Bollinger has released limited editions and collector’s items to deepen that connection.
The critical point in the measurable influence of Hollywood on wine consumption however is without doubt the Sideways movie released in 2004. Set in California’s Santa Ynez Valley wine region, the movie tells the story of struggling writer and wine enthusiast Miles, who takes his engaged friend Jack on a wine country trip for a last single-guy experience. Miles is obsessed with Pinot Noir – already a growing category, but it’s his famous comment on Merlot “If anybody order Merlot, I’m leaving. I am not drinking any f- Merlot” that underlies what became known as the “Sideways Effect”, a 2% drop in Merlot consumption and a 16% increase in Pinot Noir sales from 2005-08.
No doubt the reality is a little more nuanced. As I mentioned, Pinot Noir in the US was already growing and from a relatively low base. The comment in the movie was meant by the Director Alexander Payne as a wry observation on some of the bad Merlot around in an overplanted situation – not a dismissal of the varietal per se, “I like them both” he said of the two grapes before the movie. He never imagined that the joke would move the market, and it clearly did, although forces were already at work in the same direction.
Hollywood celebrity involvement has continued to have influence on wine consumption. Think for example of the over-priced Provence Rose from the Brad Pitt/Angeline Jolie enterprise Mirabelle. The Netflix series Emily in Paris has sparked interest in French wines particularly Champagne and Bordeaux, and most critically among younger people who are increasingly otherwise eschewing wine. The 2020 movie Uncorked about a young man pursuing his dream to become a sommelier has brought attention to less well-known wine regions and varietals. The 2019 comedy Wine Country has rekindled interest in wine tourism in the Napa Valley.
I am not sure whether to be excited or depressed by these trends and influences. On the one hand it portrays the popular side of wine drinking as shallow and fickle, but on the other, when the global future for wine is at best challenging, perhaps we should welcome anything that encourages people to explore wine beyond what they know.
As my good friend Graeme reminds me, people may claim they “know what they like”, but more often the reality is they like what they know. For me, wine is exciting not only for the wines I know will give immense pleasure, but for the wines I have yet to experience that will expand my horizons, widen my palate and inspire new possibilities. And so perhaps we may be thankful for movies that present new possibilities in our wine experience.
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