WINE
In my short (okay, pretty long) lifetime, North Carolina has gone from zero wineries to around 145. Who woulda thought it? Maybe some day we’ll have our own wine movie. For right now, wine movies are about other places, and some are quite good. 
Sideways (2004) is the film that made pinot noir famous. Paul Giamatti plays a wine buff who is somewhat sticky about it. He  takes good old boy Thomas Hayden Church on a tour of wineries in the Napa Valley. This is to be a last bachelor outing before Church’s wedding. Hijinks ensue. And Virginia Madsden’s (as Maya) two minute monlogue on the romance of wine is a highlight. Funny and charming, Sideways did well at the box office and with the critics, and sold many cases of pinot noir.
The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969) is that the tiny village’s only product is wine, and that it must be kept out of the hands of the occupying Nazis. Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani head a fine cast, and Hardy Kruger is good as a civilized German officer. How do you hide a million cases of wine? Watch and see!
Keanu Reeves agrees to pretend he is married to the gorgeous Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, so that her winemaker father won’t freak out when he learns she is pregnant. A Walk In the Clouds (1995) is pure romantic nonsense, and I liked it a lot. The Napa settings are beautiful and so are the people. Do the main characters fall in love? Is this a Hollywood movie?
A Good Year (2006) is based on Peter Mayle’s very popular memoir, A Year In Provence. Russell Crowe is the high stakes London financier who inherits a battered chateau and aging vineyard in Southern France. After he goes there to check out his inheritance, he gradually comes to realize the quiet charm of this place. Ridley Scott (Alien, Gladiator, Blade Runner) is the unlikely director. And yet, I think it works pretty well. Marion Cotillard is ideal as the love interest. The two principals had a brief, but delightful, meeting as children. 
The little-known but utterly winning Bottle Shock (2008) is the fascinating story of how the American vintners soundly whipped the snooty French at a blind tasting on France’s home court. Alan Rickman is perfect as a British wineshop owner who devises the plan after a trip to California to taste the local products. Before this event, the world at large viewed American wines as little better than soda pop. After this, the playing field was never the same. The movie does a good job portraying what happened.  
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups. 
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