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16 ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM | AUGUST2024 Continued from preceding page
Panorama Restaurant & Wine Bar
Classic authentic and contemporary Italian specialties in the Penn’s View Hotel in the heart of Old City Philadelphia. 5-9 p.m. Tue.- Thu.; 5-10 p.m. Fri.; 3-10 p.m. Sat.; 2-8 p.m. Sun. Dinner entrees $27-$45, including lobster ravioli, gnocchi tartuffo, braciola, New York strip. Also offering more than 120 wines on tap, poured from a custom-made winekeeper that holds Guinness World Record as largest
in the world. Reservations recommended.
14 N. Front St., Philadelphia. (215) 922-7800. www.panoramawinebar.com
Penns Woods Winery
Blending Old World tradition and modern innovation, Penns Woods has been producing premium wines in Pennsylvania for more than 20 years. Soak in vineyard views from the Tasting Room or enjoy a relaxing afternoon
on the lawn with a bottle of wine. Serves a selection of local cheeses and accoutrements. Outdoor picnics welcome. Live music every weekend (spring-fall) and special events through- out the year. Open daily. See website for hours. 124 Beaver Valley Road., Chadds Ford, Pa. (610) 459-0808. www.pennswoodswinery.com
Serpe & Sons Bakery
Known for 70 years for delicious bread and rolls, cakes, pies, pastries and cookies, Serpe’s also offers all the ingredients to make your own pizza at home. You can also take home Rosa Fine Foods and Scaramuzza Pasta Products. 1411 Kirkwood Highway, Elsmere.
(302) 994-1868. www.serpesbakery.com
Suburban Food Service
Food truck offering breakfast, lunch and dinner at your location and time with a day’s notice. Italian, Mexican, American, Eagles tailgate parties. Featured items: Grab-and-go cheese- steaks, taco bowls, lemon roasted chicken, penne pasta with crispy prosciutto and parmesan. Lunch entrees $10-$15; dinner $15-$25.
(610) 618-9250. www.suburbanfoodservice.com
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ITALIAN-AMERICANHERALD
THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE
Movie night: Five films about wine that make you want a glass
By Natalie Pantaleo
You may have heard the old
hoax about film reels spliced with images of cola and popcorn increasing
concession sales. While scientific studies ended up debunking the myth, the not- so-subliminal impact movies have on our cravings is real.
Man, did I ever want to swirl and sip a beautiful Chateauneuf du Pape from a lead crystal goblet as I watched movies about wine this past month! I guess I’m not alone; a 2009 Canadian study on the effects on behavior from alcohol consumption portrayed on television found that participants exposed to substantial alcohol in films or commercials drank more than participants who were not.
There are worse things, I suppose ... like drinking a counterfeit collectible wine, for one, and paying tens of thousands of dollars for it, which is what happens in the 2016 documentary “Sour Grapes.” The film uncovers a bizarre story about a young wealthy Indonesian wine connoisseur living in L.A., Rudy Kurniawan, who duped the best of the best. Rudy became inducted into a close circle of elite and extremely wealthy wine collectors while outbidding them at auctions for the most coveted wines in the world.
In 2006, the prestigious wine auctioneers at Acker Merrall & Condit broke records selling $35 million worth of his wines. Although Kurniawan’s wine acumen was authentic, his objectives were nefarious.
Acker later organized an auction at a Manhattan restaurant, featuring more of Kurniawan’s purportedly exceptional wines. The catalog claimed the bottles had been verified by Burgundy experts and included vintages of the sought-after Domaine Ponsot Clos Saint-Denis from 1945, 1949, and 1966. However, the whistle was blown when the estate’s owner revealed that Domaine Ponsot had not produced this wine until 1982. From an FBI investigation, Kurniawan was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2013, served seven of those, and was deported back to Indonesia.
Aside from being a compelling crime story, this documentary imparts a seminal thread connecting oenophiles (wine lovers): drinking wine is like ingesting history, earth, science, and art.
Another wine movie is 1969’s “The Secret of Santa Vittoria,” featuring Anthony Quinn. Despite it being nominated for two Academy Awards, I struggled to find the balance between its silliness and seriousness. The true story that inspired the movie is quite
interesting. During the German occupation of Italy following World War II, the townspeople of Montefalco banded together to hide thousands of bottles of wine in caves to protect them from being confiscated by German forces. This film may not leave you jonesing for a glass of vino like the others, but it will leave you stirred with the Italian spirit.
And spirit is a great segue to “Bottle Shock,” a 2008 comedy-drama based on
a true story about a California wine that changed the wine industry forever and put Napa Valley on the map. It was the now- famous 1976 “Judgement of Paris” blind taste test orchestrated by wine expert, Steven Spurrier that shocked the whole, wide
wine world when Calistoga vintner James Barrett’s Chateau Montelena Chardonnay took first place. This feel-good movie offers captivating cinematography and enhances an appreciation for the many variables, trials, and errors in making good wine. Plus, it will have you craving your favorite chilled Cali white or a warm pinot while watching.
Equally entertaining is “Uncorked,” a 2020 heart-warmer where Memphis BBQ meets master-sommelier-in-the-making. Cultures collide and viewers learn the rigors of becoming a master. Takeaways from this film: Wine is for everyone, and you can find a wine to pair with any cuisine. Though
I wanted ribs more than wine during the movie, I sipped on something entirely new (for me) with my popcorn— a light and refreshing orange rose, Anne Pichon Sauvage Orange 2022.
With each film, the obsession with winemaking became clearer and clearer. That, friends, leads me to “SOMM 3,” a must-see! This 2018 documentary juxtaposes the greatest “noses” in the wine world meeting
in Paris to break open their rarest vintage bottles (Jancis Robinson who authored “The Oxford Companion to Wine,” and master somm Fred Dame, credited with creating the first restaurant wine list in the U.S.), against
a re-enactment of sorts of the Judgement of Paris: a tasting in New York choreographed by a respected sommelier Dustin Wilson
who assembled a table of the best-known international blind testers. But these somms weren’t tasked with identifying the grapes, notes, regions, or estates necessarily; they were asked to rank the best in class from Wilson’s selections, an experiment to see
if California wines can still stand up to the world’s bests.
As each expert described what they were sipping, I could almost smell the aromas from my sofa. “SOMM 3” not only made me want a glass of wine; it inspired me to invest in a bottle – Domaine de la Cote Pinot Noir from Santa Barbara wine country (actually Lompoc, Calif.), which I haven’t yet opened.
Besides inviting me to raise a glass,
what’s really intoxicating in each of these movies is the viscerally felt love of wine
and winemaking. So, if you’re clicking around looking for something to watch while awaiting the return of your favorite series, check out some of these films. You’ll undoubtedly learn a thing or two about wine while enjoying a glass or two. IAH
Natalie Pantaleo is a marketing commu- nications consultant, brand strategist and consummate storyteller based in the Greater Philadelphia metro area. In addition to being a published features writer, Natalie is the author of “Lying Down with Dogs,” a novella globally released by The Awakened Press in September 2022.
“Sour Grapes” plays on Natalie’s television as she settles in for a binge of wine cinema.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING
“Sour Grapes,” 2016, true crime documentary directed by Reuben Atlas and Jerry Rothwell, available on Prime for $2.99 with subscription, free on Hulu and Tubi
“The Secret of Santa Vittoria,”
1969, war comedy-drama directed by Stanley Kramer, available on Prime with a subscription
“Bottle Shock,” 2008, comedy- drama rirected by Randall
Miller, available on Prime with a subscription, free on Tubi
“Uncorked,” 2020, drama directed by Prentice Penny, available on Netflix
“SOMM 3,” 2018, documentary directed by Jason Wise, available on Prime with a subscription, free on Tubi and Roku