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McClain plans to include interviews with winemakers
from around the world who have demonstrated that Merlot
can more than stand up to its rivals, Cabernet Sauvignon
and Pinot Noir, which experienced a meteoric rise in
sales and plantings since the film Sideways, whose protagonist,
the anti-hero Miles, loves Pinot but equally loathes
Merlot.
Tom Rinaldi from Provenance Vineyards in Napa, speaking
in a preview of the new film, says, '[Merlot] been slapped
around a lot, there have been a whole lot of pretenders
to the throne'.
McClain has interviewed winemakers such as Chris Phelps
of Swanson Vineyards, Larry Stone of Rubicon and Jean
Claude Berrouet of Chateau Petrus. He plans to visit
Bordeaux in November 2007 to continue filming.
'People are putting one Merlot on a wine list today
in Napa, where there would have been four before Sideways,'
says McClain. 'I used to think of Merlot as an intro
grape, to drink between beer and a great wine, but then
I realised that in the hands of the right winemaker,
on the right terroir, it can make some of the world's
greatest wines. This is the universal story of championing
the underdog.'
Full story at http://www.decanter.com/
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