Letters

Editor:

I read your editorial on "Sideways" (Opinion/Analysis, March 2005) and must agree with you--I really didn't care for the movie. The one scene I did like was Virginia Madsen's line on why she liked wine: "It's alive--it's about life." But the rest of the movie was just plain abusive. Wine--food--sex: abusive consumption. By "Tuesday" in the movie, I wanted to walk out. I had seen enough.

Now, my friends who have suffered from depression and/or wish to be more of an assertive personality identified with "Miles" and came away from the movie's conclusion that the audience was left with hope. But what troubled me most about the movie was that wine was not portrayed in any sense of moderation. The final act of despair for me was when Miles picks up the spit bucket, and in his attempt to drink it, spills it all over himself. And this movie was awarded the Oscar for best screenplay. Egads!

But maybe there is some kernel of truth to the movie. The trend of wine-makers today harvesting fruit at 30 Brix, pulling off juice from the fermentation to increase concentration and bottling a product that overwhelms the consumer with alcohol and oak and tannin--that trend I find is contradictory to a moderate lifestyle--a trend that departs from the inclusion of wine at the dining table as a compliment to food, not as a focal point. The message, it seems, is that a wine, to get the customer's attention, should overwhelm the palate.

What does Jack say at one of the tasting rooms after Miles has rejected a wine for being out of balance? "I like it--Oaky!" That summed it up for me.

s/ Rob Davis

winemaker

Jordan Vineyard & Winery

Healdsburg, Calif.

via e-mail

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