Put simply, pinot noir production and sales soared and merlot sales tanked after the movie was released, based on lead character Miles’ passion for pinot, and disdain for merlot.
Central Otago wine growers are hoping the Sideways effect may come into play in US writer Rex Pickett’s next Sideways book, which is set in New Zealand.
Central Otago Winegrowers Association (COWA) general manager Jake Tipler said they used sponsorship funds from Air New Zealand to bring the writer to New Zealand and members provided accommodation on their vineyards.
Three Miners Vineyard, in Earnscleugh, produces pinot noir, pinot gris and rose under the Sideways NZ label and Pickett was the key speaker at the 2022 Alexandra Basin Winegrowers new release tasting in Clyde late last month.
The original movie and the book from which it was adapted was a two-handed buddy story - middle-aged friends Jack and Miles take a week-long road trip through California’s wine country, before Jack’s nuptials.
In Sideways NZ (the working title), Miles is a published author on a book tour of New Zealand, travelling in a campervan with Jack.
Pickett, who said Miles was his alter ego, started talking about visiting New Zealand in March 2020 but could not get here until this year, when borders reopened.
"When you opened up in early May, I was on one of the first planes."
He has completed the first draft of his New Zealand book, which he made clear was a work of fiction, but which will also showcase the country and its wines, particularly Central Otago pinot noir.
Mr Tipler said the movie played a significant part in the growth of pinot noir in California, and COWA felt Pickett’s next book would be generally beneficial to the region.
"It is quite amazing that popular culture can have that big an effect on an industry the size of the Californian wine market," he said.
"If we are hoping for any effect from Central Otago’s perspective, it would be to the benefit of pinot noir, in that it was lauded in the original story and the main character is obsessed with pinot noir."
- By Tracie Barrett
