Wine in Books, Songs, Media Events and Film

Our appreciation of wine enhances our enjoyment of entertainment media when wine plays a key role. The goal of this piece is to create a new kind of entertainment shopping list—a fun way to satisfy our desires with no added calories. Of course, if you can resist drinking wine while reading, listening to or watching any of these media pieces, you’re a better person than I. If calories are no object, you can try the suggested pairing listed at the end of each media description.

The following selections of books, songs, entertainment-related events and movies are guided by two criteria: 1) wine must either be the main subject or crucial to the theme of the piece and 2) the media pick must be considered good—critically acclaimed or well reviewed. If no review from an official source could be found, a positive consensus of independent reviewers was sufficient to include the piece on the list.

Lists of media with wine themes are plentiful, but typically at least one of the above criteria is missing for many of the listed items. For instance, the movie Casablanca is on several lists, and although the champagne did flow liberally in Rick’s Café Américain, it is not essential to the plot.

A newer film, A Good Year, is touted to include stimulating and beautiful visuals and depictions of French food and wine that will whet the appetite, but on the other hand, the screenwriting is bland: “pleasant, pretty and predictable” as New York Times reviewer Stephen Holden quipped.