The Curious Case of the Maligned Merlot
Celebrating 20 years of "Sideways" while giving a GOAT wine it's due
Twenty years ago last month, seven words in a small independent movie hit one sector of the wine world like a glug from a musty bottle with cork taint:
“I AM NOT DRINKING ANY F***IN’ MERLOT!!!”
The scene, from “Sideways” of course, is as memorable as it is hilarious – Paul Giamatti’s caustically neurotic and depressed character Myles arguing with his randy pal Jack (Thomas Haden Church) outside of a Los Olivos, Calif., restaurant, as they’re about to walk into a double date with Maya (Virginia Madsen) and Stephanie (Sandra Oh).
Based on the Rex Pickett novel of the same name, the Oct. 12, 2004 release was a sleeper hit at the box office, a critical darling dram-edy which earned multiple Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations (and won both for best screenplay), but more than anything it was an absolute MOMENT for wine in America.
At least some of it.
The breezy cinematography and location shoots brought the Santa Ynez Valley and its wines to the world; Miles, with his sentimental yet somber soliloquy about California Pinot Noir exploded the popularity of that varietal.
But Merlot, an all-timer bourn of Bordeaux, became a no-go.
According to a 2017 NPR piece, winemakers called it "The Sideways Effect."
Per Wikipedia: “After the film's U.S. release in October 2004, Merlot sales dropped 2% while Pinot noir sales increased 16% … similar trend occurred in British wine outlets.”
And, “A 2009 study by Sonoma State University found that Sideways slowed the growth in Merlot sales volume and caused its price to fall, but the film's main effect on the U.S. wine industry was a rise in the sales volume and price of Pinot Noir and in overall wine consumption.”
In a March interview with Wine Enthusiast, “Sideways” director Alexander Payne said, “I could never in a million years have foreseen the impact that movie would have on the wine industry, probably more for wine awareness and consumption than just for the Merlot-Pinot thing. I think it was likely a matter of timing—the film came out at a time when bourgeois wine awareness in America was already burgeoning, so it squarely hit the zeitgeist in that way.”
He said that Merlot was singled out by Miles because “It had been in the book,” – the backstory was that it was Miles’ ex-wife’s favorite.
“The choice for Merlot was simple: Back then, it was the overproduced, over-marketed, over-consumed flabby wine. When asked to order at a restaurant, people with little idea about red wines would stammer, “Merlot.”
[Editor’s note: When I went on my first proper, sit-down dinner date at a restaurant in State College in 1998 at age 21, I ordered a glass of Merlot because it was the only wine I’d ever heard of besides Hannibal Lechter’s Chianti.]
Payne continued: “But I never, ever could have imagined that one little joke in the movie—one line—would enter popular culture. I guess it hit a chord.”
Even if sales of Merlot weren’t decimated, it had changed from popular to passe, a fusty wine and that perception holds to this day.
In an October Los Angeles Times piece about the film’s anniversary, the owner of a Chinatown winebar said he occasionally gets customers saying they don’t like Merlot.
“People sort of remember their parents drinking wine and have a little bit of a ‘Sideways’ effect. They’ll come and go, ‘Yeah, I don’t like Merlot.’ And I say, ‘Really? Why?’ And then they sort of pause and I say, ‘Oh, did your dad or mom used to say that because of the movie?’ — and they’re like, ‘Yeah, totally.’”
But it’s one of the historically important wines of the world.
The name means “little blackbird,” and its grown in dozens of countries on every continent but Antarctica. It is the most common grape in France and its vaunted Bordeaux region. They’re generally considered full but rounded, and on the softer side, heavy on dark fruits.
Allora Wine Group carries two pure expressions. There’s the the easy drinking entry-level ‘Capocanale,’ an organic and biodynamic wine by Amastuola of Puglia (below). They’re meticulous about the surrounding vegetation and the pollinators and it ferments with natural yeast to yield a rich, earthy fruity, taste of blackberry and chocolate with nice back-end tannins.
We also offer the sublime “Liena” by Giovanni Chiappini (below), a single-varietal Super Tuscan from the Bolgheri subregion. Aged two years in French Oak, only 2,000 bottles are produced annually from 40-year old vines to produce an exquisite, silken, layered wine of ripe black fruits, licorice, spices, dark chocolate and leaf tobacco.
In addition, our portfolio includes several muscular blends from Tuscany, Lazio and the Veneto in which Merlot is either the dominant grape or featured prominently.
Meg Herring, a Pittsburgh-based wine scholar and the author of the outstanding “Meg & Merlot” blog. Needless to say, she has strong feelings about the wine.
“I … have a lot of respect for Merlot. It's a fighter who went out of style and made a comeback … It's an icon that has basked in glory and weathered defeat. I didn't want a blog name that sounded trendy. I wanted a name that I knew would stick with me for the long run … Merlot doesn't care if you're here for it or not. It will be making delicious wines until you get back.”
She’s right - trends come and go, but classics remain. And, interestingly enough, the “Sideways Effect” has possibly run it’s course for California Pinot Noir.
A 2022 study in the Journal of Wine Economics found the increase in demand for Pinot Noir in the United States led California winemakers to grow the grapes in unsuitable land and blend them with grapes grown in high-quality areas just to meet demand – which has led to poorer quality Pinot Noir.
Said Payne: “Now Pinot has become the overproduced, over-marketed, over-consumed flabby wine. What goes around comes around. Personally, I like Merlot. You know, good Merlot.”
So do we. Maybe even Miles would quaff a glass. After all, the prized bottle of 1961 Cheval Blanc he finally opens near the movie’s end is a blend comprised mostly of … Merlot!