Here’s nine wine movies for Toronto wine and movie lovers. They are mostly documentaries but include one docudrama and one fiction:
Sideways by Alexander Payne (2004 
A wine tasting road trip to salute Jack’s (Thomas Haden Church) final days as a bachelor careens woefully sideways as he and Miles (Paul Giamatti) hit the gas en route to mid-life crises. The comically mismatched pair, who share little more than their history and a heady blend of failed potential and fading youth, soon find themselves drowning in wine and women (Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen). Emerging from a haze of pinot noir, wistful yearnings and trepidation about the future, the two inevitably collide with reality. This movie was the sleeper of the year in 2004 and was up for several Oscars. 127 minutes – available on YouTube.
Mondovino by Jonathan Nossiter (2004). This is a 10 part documentary about the world wine business, and the tension between the internationalists with their globalized approach and the craft wine makers. Nossiter’s movie has been characterized as the Fahrenheit 9/11 of the wine world in so far as he takes pot shots at well known figures including Robert Parker, the wine critic, Michel Rolland, the “flying wine maker” and Wine Spectator’s James Suckling. 135 minutes – available on Amazon Prime.
Bottle Shock by Randall Miller (2008). 
A wine competition which came to be known as the Judgment of Paris was organized in Paris on May 24, 1976 by Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant. In it, French judges carried out a blind tasting of top-quality chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon wines from France and from California. France was generally regarded as being the foremost producer of the world’s best wines at this time so it was assumed that the French wines would win hands down. However to the surprise of onlookers and the horror of the French wine industry, a California wine rated best in each category. The leaders of the French wine industry banned Spurrier from the nation’s prestige wine-tasting tour for a year, apparently as punishment for the damage his tasting had done to its former image of superiority.
The tasting was initially ignored by the French press. However, subsequently both Le Figaro and Le Monde published articles describing the results as “laughable,” and that they cannot be taken seriously.” The Judgment of Paris resulted in a considerable increase in the prestige of wine made in the New World and led to substantial increases in production. It also resulted in some considerable soul searching by the French and a thorough review of their wine making traditions. Bottle Shock dramatizes the 1976 wine tasting and debuted at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. 109 minutes – available on Amazon Prime.
Red Obsession by David Roach and Warwick Ross (2013). This documentary looks at the Bordeaux wine trade’s relationship with the Chinese market. You are taken on an journey all the way from Bordeaux to Beijing – from the passion and art of the vineyard to the notorious counterfeit wine markets of the Far East and into the homes of billionaire collectors. Red Obsession explores the unlikely love affair between the traditional West and the seductive but unpredictable East. The demand is unprecedented, but the product is finite and the new client wants it all. Will the China market be the bubble that never bursts or the biggest threat yet to Bordeaux’s centuries old reputation. 75 minutes – available on YouTube.
SOMM by Jason Wise (2013). This documentary takes the viewer into the mysterious world of the Court of Master Sommeliers and their extremely intimidating Master Sommelier Exam. The Court is one of the world’s most prestigious, secretive, and exclusive organizations and since its inception, fewer than 200 candidates have reached the exalted Master level. The exam covers literally every nuance of the world of wine. Those who have passed have put their sanity at risk to pull it off. Access to the Court has always been strictly regulated, and cameras have never been allowed anywhere near the exam, until now. 93 minutes – available on Amazon Prime.
SOMM into the Bottle by Jason Wise (2015).This documentary is a sequel to SOMM. It tells the story and history of wine through ten different bottles opened throughout the film in different chapters. It features the main cast from the original SOMM film and brings viewers a rare glimpse inside the private world of both famed and cult winemakers. Viewers get to watch the opening of some of the most famous bottles of wine in the world. In some cases, only a few still exist. 90 minutes – available on Amazon Prime.
Sour Grapes by Reuben Atlas and Jerry Rothwell (2016). This is a documentary which is set in the fine and rare wine auction markets. It centres on a master counterfeiter who created many fake bottles of rare, expensive wines which were then sold for thousands of dollars to the rich and powerful. The deception might have continued indefinitely if it were not for the sustained efforts of several dedicated wine collectors, a determined French winemaker, and the investigative abilities of USA federal investigators. 85 minutes – available on Netflix.
SOMM 3 by Jason Wise (2018). The 3rd documentary in the SOMM series has its origins in the 1976 Judgment of Paris – a blind tasting organized by Steven Spurrier in which American wines were rated as superior to their French equivalents resulting in them being taken much more seriously and leading to substantial increases in wine production. It starts with a blind Pinot Noir tasting in New York where the objective is to see if any of the world’s Pinot Noirs can stand up to the greatest Burgundies of France. It then goes back and forth to a tasting in Paris featuring three notable individuals in the wine world – Fred Dame, Jancis Robinson, and Steven Spurrier. The three reminisce about some of their most memorable bottles and significant moments in their careers. Back in New York, the wines are ranked blind and the top wines are then passed to the Paris ensemble of Fred, Jancis and Steven to be judged a second time. 79 minutes – available on Amazon Prime.
Uncorked by Prentice Penny (2020). Wine is not often portrayed in American cinema as an integral part of the black experience. Writer and director Prentice Penny sets out to challenge and change these optics. The story covers the journey of a pit master’s son who is obsessed with wine and dreams of breaking free of his family’s barbecue joint in Memphis and becoming a master sommelier despite the many difficulties involved. 104 minutes – available on Netflix.
See also “Is the recent wave of wine movies too much of a good thing?” – written in April 2018 by Beppi Crosariol, former wine columnist for the Globe and Mail