Wine and movies. These are the two game changers in my life. For me, nothing is better than a great Saturday night of drinking wines with friends, laughing and raging until the wee hours of the morning. The only thing that comes close to that is the Sunday that follows a great Saturday night, jam packed full of laying and doing absolutely nothing but watching what some would call, “Sick ass movies”.
You don’t have to be a wine fanatic to have heard of the two most famous French appellations; Burgundy and Bordeaux…Maybe you’ve even been at a dinner party where two old guys with white ruffled Shakespeare shirts are arguing about which of the two regions is “far more superior for my palate”? I’ve been trying to think of a way to describe and/or compare Burgundy and Bordeaux that is easy to understand without having to go too into structure and grape varieties. I was going to compare and contrast Bach with Mozart for this, but I’d like you to actually finish reading this post rather than jumping out of the highest and nearest window. No disrespect to JB, Ammo and the classic era but I think I have a more interesting comparison that involves directors whose movies are similar to the characteristics of Burgundy and Bordeaux wines.
If I was going to compare one director to Burgundy and another to Bordeaux, it would be Steven Spielberg (Burgs) and James Cameron (BDX).
Burgundy wines are the most complete mix of power, elegance, emotion (and awesomeness) you can get out of a wine. Because of the importance and focus on terroir, there are so many high quality wines being produced that are completely unique from one another.
Jaws? E.T? Saving Private Ryan? All of the Indiana Jones movies (minus the new one)!? Try listing off all of the amazing and unique movies Spielberg has made. It’s just as difficult listing off great Burgs (Le Chambertin, La Tache, Romanee Conti, Clos St. Jacques) and the main reasons are because of terroir and tradition. These two things are like have a world class director and a home run screen play. It leads to many producers in Burgundy doing great things and having very successful vintages year in and year out. In regard to Burgs film director counterpart, Senor Spielbergo, he is responsible for creating some of the greatest movies of our time and of the future (Lincoln with Daniel Day Lewis coming Xmas 2012). Burgundy and Spielberg can bring out raw emotion and also have the ability make you just in your tracks and just think. I guarantee everyone who is reading this either cried at the end of Schindler’s List (when he is counting how many more people he could have saved) or during multiple parts of Saving Private Ryan…Or even when Rufio died in Hook. I know it’s hard to believe, but I also can guarantee that some of these Grand cru wines like Le Chambertin and move people to tears as well…I know I’ve had to take a few knees after having my mind blown tasting a few of these wines. Spielberg and Burgundy make countless classics and will continue to do so for many years to come.
Bordeaux has been compared to James Cameron by me for many reasons but mainly because both the movies and the wines are big ass spectacles every time they come out. Every time they are released it is supposed to be the most life altering experience in the history of the world that end up making billions of dollars. The twist part about it all is that coincidentally (or not); James Cameron has only made five movies that really matter with Terminator, T2, Aliens, Titanic, and Avatar. Bordeaux only has five first growth wines that “matter” aka rake in all of the cash with Chateau Lafite, Margeaux, Haut Brion, Latour and Mouton Rothschild. These are all big, bad, awesome wines/movies there is no denying that. They will blow your mind to the fullest extent. I just think that there might be too many special effects (aka too much oak and chapitalizing) and the story lines are too basic/corny to put these movies/wines on the same level as Burgundy and Spielberg. Plus the rest of Bordeaux isn’t doing so well. They are making great wines all over BDX but the big 5 end up turning a lot of consumers away because they create the perception that the only Bordeaux’s worth drinking cost you $1000 plus your first born son. Don’t get me wrong T2 would probably be my movie to watch before I die and I’ll watch Titanic by myself after a bubble bath, but as a whole, Cameron’s movies just aren’t as emotionally or intellectually stimulating as Spielberg.
If you couldn’t tell I clearly prefer Burgundy to Bordeaux. Is it because I live in Burgundy and feel like I truly understand it better than I do Bordeaux wines? Probably. I think Burgundy wines are so complete and well-structured from the early stages it is hard not to prefer them. You can drink them now, but their structure can allow you to age them for decades. Bordeaux is so damn expensive and overpowering when young that I don’t know I will ever get a chance to understand it…Especially when it is fully mature (they say these can be ready in 30-50 years). Would I drink a Grand Cru Burgundy over a First Growth Bordeaux? 9 times out of 10, yes. It’s really a matter of opinion though because there are always those times where you just want to turn your surround sound up to 30 and watch Terminator 2 over any Steven Spielberg movie.
Since we are kind of on the topic, which movies are the sickest; All Indiana Jones movies or the Terminator and T2? Comment below
Two (possibly three) words: poly-alloy structure. Terminator(s). Easy.
ReplyDelete"A mimic poly alloy."
Delete"What the hecks that supposed to mean?"
"Liquid Metal"
It all comes down to consistency. Nothing beats a solid trilogy. Of course they blew it with the 4th installment IJ Crystal Skull, but everyone (berg, Ford, and Lucas) was past their prime. I can't recall how many Terminators were made (4), and it doesn't really matter because Terminator 2 is the only movie that I plan on sharing with my kin.
ReplyDeleteIJT is going to have to take the cake, but I would also like to add that there are very few things that have made me cry on a deep emotional level: Having to give up my dog, 9/11, and T1000 getting lowered into into molten metal, self-destructing, while giving John Connor a thumbs up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkdkAe0GgbA
Glad you could put wine in terms that we can understand.
For me, there are real people, not just businessmen and investors, behind the wines of Burgundy, very much like how there is more characterization and humanity to the films of the Indiana Jones series. That being said, the special effects and bold flavors of Terminator-Bordeaux cannot be ignored when you're ready for something loud and impressive. So, I tend to side with Wine Moves on this one.
ReplyDeleteI terms of youth on both sides, A young Burgundy is like a young Indiana Jones (Last Crusade); smart and adventurous, while not even being close to reaching his full potential. The whole movie could have been about young Indie and probably still would be one of the sickest movies of all time. It really made you think about what else that guy got himself into growing up. But the best part was that although young Indie was awesome, fully matured Indiana Jones is the biggest bad ass that really no human being (except for maybe Batman) can compare to.
DeleteThe other side of the argument is to compare Bordeaux with Aliens. A young alien sucks on to your face and shoves something down your throat until another alien blows out of your stomach. That alien grows and grows and it's main goal is to kill everything and take over the universe...