Wine and Movie Pairing: Amity Island Loves Ameztoi
“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
Need an excuse to stay away from the beach this weekend? The ceiling fan feels so nice! Let’s pair the original summer blockbuster movie with a wine that’s equally thrilling: Jaws (1975) and the newest vintage of Ameztoi’s “Rubentis” Txakolina Rosado.
Okay, so you’ve watched The Sandlot and you’ve crushed the Lambrusco to go with your Fourth of July hot dogs. Now what? If you’re still nursing a wee bit of a hangover but still want something thrilling to watch, you can’t go wrong with Jaws.
Universally recognized as the movie that made director Steven Spielberg a household name, Jaws is based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley. Amity Island, an East Coast beach town similar to Martha’s Vineyard, comes to a standstill in the middle of the summer tourist season when a great white shark starts preying on the local beachgoers. After a few failed attempts to close the beach, Amity Police Chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) goes anti-establishment, and enlists marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and a colorful seafarer named Captain Quint (Robert Show) to help him find and kill the shark.
There’s so much to be said about the place that Jaws holds in American cinema history that it almost feels too mythical to watch. But like any great movie, it needs to be seen to be appreciated. It feels like there are almost two separate movies at play here, with the first two acts firmly rooted in the political and societal drama at play on Amity Island and the third act an epic man versus sea adventure along the lines of Moby Dick. This was Steven Spielberg’s second movie(!), and he was 27 years old when he made the film. Much has been written about the many, many things that went wrong behind the scenes (Bruce, the mechanical shark named after Spielberg’s lawyer, got the brunt of the blame). But what remains on screen is a masterpiece, textbook examples of a screenplay that builds suspense and a sharp directorial vision that tells the story in a deep way without saying a word.
The best part is that even after almost 50 years and an undisputed place in the pantheon of American film, Jaws feels as exciting and easy to digest as it did on its release. Like a great summer read that ends too soon, it’s easy to get swept up in the salty ocean breezes of Amity Island and fall in love with even the grizzliest of reluctant heroes. Robert Shaw delivers a captivating performance as Captain Quint; with a temper as quick to turn as the sea herself, Shaw’s embodiment of Captain Quint appears reckless on the surface, but constantly teems with passion for his craft while remaining firmly in command of his ship.
As his foil, a cocky young Richard Dreyfuss goes toe-to-toe with Shaw as Matt Hooper, the bespectacled brain that weaponizes science to kill the shark. Roy Scheider’s portrayal of Chief Brody is cool and collected in public, but carefully chooses his moments to let his emotions take over. The scene in which the three men sing “Show Me The Way To Go Home”? A perfectly captured moment in which character and actor (and even the crew) merged, and the despair of the situation at hand turned into real art.
I would be remiss to neglect the Academy Award-winning score by John Williams that has since come to define the horror genre. With two low, primal notes, Williams established the presence of a predator before the audience sees what’s going on, and that theme was used to genius effect throughout the movie. The famous two notes never act as a red herring for the action, but remind the audience that danger lurks nearby. Jaws was the first Spielberg movie that Williams scored, and since that point, John Williams has scored all but three of Spielberg’s giant oeuvre. The exceptions? The Color Purple (1985), Bridge of Spies (2015), and Ready Player One (2018). The working relationship between John Williams and Steven Spielberg has been documented as one of the longest, most prestigious partnerships in cinema, and it all started with a broken mechanical shark.
For the wine pairing, I wanted a true beach wine - ideally something rosé, something to put in a wicker basket with sandwiches or a great picnic lunch and feel so irresistible that everyone would try to grab a glass. I also wanted a wine that could potentially change with every sip - as dynamic as the ocean. Only something as saline, fresh, and tautly made as txakoli would do this movie justice, and there is one wine that I’ve seen many a sommelier go out of their mind to grab: Ameztoi’s “Rubentis” Txakolina Rosado.
Txakolina (pronounced cha-ko-LEE-nah) is the signature wine of Basque County in northern Spain. Made from the native grape variety Hondarrabi Zuri in vineyards conveniently located near the sea, Txakolina is usually a spritzy white wine with racy acidity and some serious citrus aromatics. Traditionally, txakolina is pretty tight upon release (and this is a wine you want to drink super young), so it requires a high pour. If you have a chance to drink this in the place it was made, you’ll see it served in a thick water glass and poured with a sweeping arm movement that makes the sommelier look more like an expert archer.
Ameztoi is one of the most historic family-run wine producers in Basque Country, and they’ve proudly been making Txakolina since 1820. At the turn of the 21st Century, producers in the surrounding area started ripping up their red grapevines to make way for more white grapevines. Ameztoi wanted to keep their 140-year-old vines going, so they turned their red grapes into a key component of a new house rosé. The rest, as they say, is history.
Made with equal parts Hondarrabi Zuri and Hondarrabi Beltza, “Rubentis” is a vino rosado that has the same turbo-charged acidity as its white Txakoli sister, but with more tart strawberry, watermelon rind, and white cherry notes. This is a wine that feels classic and refined, but has its own rambunctious personality that can toss you around while you drink through the bottle.
I highly recommend bringing this wine to your next beach day. This is perfect with anything you can pack in a picnic basket - cold cut sandwiches piled high with sauerkraut and pickles, salt and apple cider vinegar potato chips, and some freshly cut fruit would be ideal. The bougie picnic options here would be lobster rolls and a prosciutto and melon plate with fresh burrata, but don’t let Captain Quint know or he’ll want some to go with his Iranian caviar. Just watch out for Bruce!
The 2023 vintage of Ameztoi “Rubentis” Txakolina Rosado is available at your local wine store or through wine.com. You can also check WineSearcher.com for details on stockists near you.
Jaws (1975) is available to rent on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango At Home. You can purchase the movie on Blu-Ray or DVD wherever movies are sold.
Further Reading
In a comprehensive interview, author Laurent Bouzereau talks with Jaws director Steven Spielberg about the toughest set of his career - and Bruce. (Anthony Breznican/Vanity Fair)
Samantha Cole-Johnson gives the most entertaining guest lecture on Txakoli and specifically Ameztoi “Rubentis” ever written. Oh, and if you’re not listening to her Wine News In 5 podcast, you’re missing out. (Samantha Cole-Johnson/JancisRobinson.com)
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Love this, but what I need is some wine pairings from the shark’s point of view.
Like, what would he drink with each course?
Is there a particularly nice Bordeaux that goes with Quint?
Maybe a Chardonnay for Hooper?
And though he never finishes him off, maybe there was a Malbec on tap for Chief Brody?