Wine and Movie Pairing: Just Look Up
“You guys discovered a comet? That's so dope. I have a tattoo of a shooting star on my back.”
This week’s Wine and Movie Pairing takes a look at an awards contender from a few years ago that has been brought up in a lot of conversations in the past few weeks. Don’t Look Up (2021) has re-entered the chat, alongside the 2020 vintage of Las Jaras’ epic Sparkling Wine.
This is an update to a wine and movie pairing I did on Instagram when the movie was nominated for four awards at the 94th Academy Awards in 2022 (Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Original Score, and Editing). You can check out the original post here, so consider this the expanded, full-length version of my thoughts on both the movie and the wine.
Don’t Look Up (2021) is a cynical but amusing take on the Chicken Little fable that hits a liiiiittle too close to home in 2025. When Kate Dibiasky, a Michigan State grad student (Jennifer Lawrence), and her professor, Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), discover a comet the size of Mt. Everest is on a collision course for Earth in six months, they go on a disastrous press tour to spread the word. Dr. Randall Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan) acts as the liaison between the scientists and the rest of the world, sitting in meetings with an inept President (Meryl Streep), finding the “positive spin” for The Daily Rip morning show with Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry), and struggling to tell their own families - let alone the world - that all life on Earth will be wiped out when the comet hits.
When I first saw the movie, I was impressed by the way the screenplay was able to imbue so much humor into a screenplay that deals with some dark, meaty topics. Part of that is likely due to the stellar ensemble cast, who were encouraged to improvise and make big, zany acting choices. The video below captures a select few of the many, many takes that Meryl Streep did during a pivotal Oval Office scene.
The details here are what make the movie a solid watch. The eerie glow of the veneers on Brie and Jack, played with toothy cackles by Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry? Jonah Hill as the sycophantic son of the President clutching a Birkin bag and singing an ode to “stuff”? Ariana Grande as the head-in-the-clouds pop superstar Riley Bina whose heart is in the right place but her head is just two beats behind? This is comedy gold, and it hits especially hard in the era of “Republican makeup” trending on TikTok and CEOs in the White House.
(By the way, there are 5 Academy Award winners and 3 additional Academy Award nominated actors in the cast. I keep coming back to the cast for good reason - most of these actors have been recognized for their heavier dramatic roles, but the ensemble comedy and the rapport between everyone on screen is unmatched.)
If you’re a fan of Adam McKay’s acerbic comedy with a political twist (The Big Short, Vice), you’ll appreciate the dark comedic aspects of Don’t Look Up. As ever with McKay, the screenplay is smart, snappy, and just fast-paced enough to make the audience both painfully aware of and blissfully unaware of their own troubles. But with accents from that glorious mid-century trumpet and vibraphone score from Nicholas Britell? The yearning for yesteryear and the romantic portrayal of the Space Discovery age carry over from text to music, further enhancing the story.
I’m not sure I can say much more without major spoilers, but I want to leave room for other writers to contribute their thoughts on the subtext of the movie.
, I’m looking at you and waiting with bated breath for your Treatment of Don’t Look Up. In the meanwhile, go watch the movie…
… and grab this bottle! Ever hear that quote attributed to Dom Perignon about “drinking the stars” when sipping champagne for the first time? Well, that’s kinda how this sparkling wine from Las Jaras feels.
You know and love Las Jaras already for their famous Glou Glou label, or maybe their underrated Slipper Sipper. And yet, I’ll go out on a limb here and say that the 2020 Sparkling Wine is likely the best wine they’ve ever produced. Leave it to winemaker Joel Burt and comedian Eric Wareheim to produce a line of wines that has both “cool kid appeal” and a dedication to low intervention farming.
The 2020 Sparkling Wine is made from 100% Carignan, originating from a famous dry-farmed, organic vineyard in Mendocino known to wine connoisseurs as Ricetti Vineyard. While everything was handled in stainless steel, the wine was aged on the lees for two years, giving an extra layer of complexity that makes the wine enjoyable both upon release and years later. It’s a stunning wine - dry, light on its feet, a steady bubble pattern that is not quite Champagne fine, but consistent and smaller than pét-nat bubbles. Think brioche French toast topped with toasted hazelnuts and raspberries. There’s enough acidity here to keep people on their toes, and clocking in at 2.8 grams of residual sugar per liter, this is on the lower end of the Brut scale for people who like their bubbles dry dry dry (like their comedy).
I stand by my original food pairing ($20 Cheese Nips from the White House break room), but maybe that’s the beginning of the meal. Honestly, this wine is so good and so versatile that you could pair it with pretty much anything and have a great time. Maybe there’s a dark and twisted side of me that says whatever you’d want your last meal on Earth to be, is the perfect pairing. Nobody’s doing dishes anyway!
The 2020 vintage of the Las Jaras Sparkling Wine is only available directly from the label. Check WineSearcher for details on stockists near you when they arrive in stores again. Thank you for supporting small businesses!
Don’t Look Up (2021) is now streaming on Netflix.