How Sideways put a cork in the wine industry’s merlot scene

Paul Giamatti changed the landscape of the California wine scene with one cutting quote in 2004’s Sideways.

Wine snobs can be some of the most insufferable people out there. This is displayed perfectly in Alexander Payne’s 2004 dramedy Sideways, if not just through the movie’s most famous line. As delivered by depressed oenophile Miles (Paul Giamatti): “If anyone orders merlot, I’m leaving. I am not drinking any f*cking merlot!” And with that, sales of merlot dropped straight into the barrel.

That sounds like it could be a story tied to the film, sort of like the unfounded rumor that sales of undershirts plummeted because Clark Gable didn’t wear one in a movie. But this is absolutely true. In a new feature marking the 20th anniversary of Sideways, winemaker Doug Margerum remembered the ripple effect that line had, saying everybody started switching to pinot noir instead of merlot. “We were having a hard time selling pinot then, but after the film came out, everyone wanted to drink it and sales skyrocketed. We went from having one page of pinots on the wine list to three.” There was even a Sideways pinot noir released a few years ago.

And this kept building, with sales of merlot continuing to drop while pinot noir – the preferred wine of Giamatti’s Miles – took off. Production even slowed down, with one master sommelier being quoted as saying, “The film had a massive impact on merlot. In many ways, it was necessary. Merlot was planted in vineyards where it should not have been. This led to overplantings. After the film, growers planted less of it.”

One person who could have never figured on such an impact would be admitted merlot fan Alexander Payne, who directed Sideways and co-wrote it with Jim Taylor. “As we were making Sideways, I thought it was just a nice little comedy and had no idea that it would ever stand the test of time. And the merlot line that supposedly changed the wine industry? Well, it was just a joke, one single line in a movie. Who could have ever predicted that?”

Payne and Taylor would end up winning the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, with the film also snagging four other nominations, including Best Picture. It would also sweep the Independent Spirit Awards, taking home six.