Wine and Movie Pairing: Ain't Vin Rouge in Oklahoma
“You don’t face your fears, you ride ‘em.”
This is the movie event half of Substack has been waiting all summer to write about, so let’s start things off with a wine and movie pairing that will knock your socks off: We’re pairing Twisters (2024) with the 2020 Domaine Pinelli Vin Rouge!
Twisters is the long-awaited follow-up to Twister (1996), the summer blockbuster starring Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, and Philip Seymour Hoffman that is still cited as a watershed film for visual effects. Directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Minari), Twisters is a standalone sequel that remains in the world of the original, but tells its own story.
Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is a scientist from Oklahoma researching potential ways to reduce the intensity of tornadoes. After a field experiment goes wrong, Kate starts over at a meteorology desk job in New York City when her former research partner, Javi (Anthony Ramos), asks her to join his team of well-funded experts to track the path of a recent tornado outbreak in Oklahoma. Kate accepts the job for one week, but keeps crossing paths with self-professed “tornado wrangler” Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) and his ragtag team of YouTube personalities trying to launch rockets in the middle of the tornado. Can science prevail in reducing the damage that tornadoes bring? You’ll have to see the movie to find out!
The structure of Twisters is solid; with a screenplay written by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant) and story by Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski, there’s a thrilling, high-octane feel to the action that is supplemented by some stunning visual effects. The character introduction for Tyler Owens may be one of my all-time favorites in film; especially considering the song that plays during that moment was the earliest one released from the Twisters compilation album, it’s a moment guaranteed to get audiences cheering and singing along.
Grounding all the popcorn thrills is Lee Isaac Chung’s innate respect and awe of nature. Many indie filmmakers have been done wrong by producers of big budget studio films, but Chung’s rural Arkansas roots and love of nature highlight the beauty of Tornado Alley, as well as the devastating loss of its destruction. Lush green waves of grass beautifully contrast the perennial gray skies, indicating the threat of tornadoes nearby. The close-up shot of the river of rain water that pours off Glen Powell’s pristine white cowboy hat after a moment of rejection? Impeccable. It sets up the audience to feel the impact of the remains of tornado wreckage whenever the natural disasters plows through small towns, eliciting a pathos and care for the community in a humanitarian way that expands the Twister universe beyond its summer blockbuster pedigree.
Sometimes a solid summer blockbuster needs a chilled red wine, and Twisters is begging for something substantive but fun to consume - a conversation starter. When you want a wine that feels easy to drink, but still multifaceted and alluring with every sip different from the last, Domaine Pinelli comes in clutch with a red blend that feels light, sturdy, and endlessly fascinating.
Corsica is a wine region that is just now starting to pop up more regularly on restaurant wine lists, and for good reason. The island that sits between France and Italy (and shares cultural practices with both countries) is notoriously windy, forcing winemakers to train their vines into wreath shapes similar to the kouloura method used in Santorini. The native grapes of Corsica include Italian varieties that take particularly well to the granite and schist-defined soils of the island, but the grapes that define Southern France also do well here.
Winemaker Marie-Charlotte Pinelli did her first vineyard internship at 19 years old(!), and has since bought her own vines in the Patrimonio AOP of Corsica. Her attention to traditional winemaking techniques and devotion to organic farming are apparent in the wines she produces - beautiful expressions of the land she carefully tends.
The 2020 vintage of Domaine Pinelli’s Vin Rouge is technically a Vin de France, but this table wine has some serious structure behind it. Made with Grenache, Sciaccarellu (a native grape variety to Corsica), and Niellucciu (a local clone of Sangiovese), this is a thrilling red blend that feels light and airy on the palate before it hits you with garrigue, sea salt, wild lavender, and tart red cherries for days.
As far as food pairings go, chicken dishes would be a particularly good match here. I tried this wine for the first time at A.O.C. in Los Angeles, where it was paired with their “Ode to Zuni” Roast Chicken with Panzanella, and it’s a food memory I’ll treasure for years to come. That being said, please do your best to avoid those darn chickens whilst tornado wrangling.
The 2020 vintage of Domaine Pinelli Vin Rouge is available at your local independent wine store. You can also check WineSearcher.com for details on stockists near you.
Twisters (2024) is now playing in a theater near you.