Wine and Movie Pairing: The Sandlot and The Great Lambrusco
Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.
Nothing says Americana quite like a nostalgic baseball movie set in suburban Los Angeles in 1962. Let’s find the common ground between two legends: The Sandlot (1993) and “Vecchia Modena” old school cool Lambrusco di Sorbara.
Last week, Bend It Like Beckham proved that the coming-of-age story of a British Punjabi Sikh footballer still has wide appeal, even 20+ years after its initial release. The Sandlot emits similar teary-eyed reactions of nostalgia from the kids that grew up watching the movie. 11-year-old Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) moves to the San Fernando Valley in Southern California and stumbles on an abandoned baseball field where eight local kids play baseball day in and day out. When local superstar Benny Rodriguez (Mike Vitar) encourages Scotty to be the ninth player, baseball is played, lifelong friendships are established, and Scotty manages to get the group in “the biggest pickle” of their lives.
The Sandlot evokes a sepia-tinted sense of Americana that only a movie about baseball can provide. The Fourth of July night game held under the fireworks while Ray Charles croons “America the Beautiful” and Hamilton Porter (Patrick Renna) steals a hot dog from the neighborhood barbeque? It’s a scene that captures the blissful naïveté of childhood and the simple joys of life. Though the movie was made in the mid-1990s, the attention to period details from 1962 give everything a well worn, vintage varnish that makes the movie feel like an instant classic to be appreciated for years to come.
I grew up in a suburban Bay Area town right before the Internet age, so there were some familiar beats that reminded me of my own childhood. The Sandlot is a movie that I grew up loving, and now having rewatched it as an adult, I latched onto the narrator’s voiceovers as the through line of the story. Director and Co-Writer David Mickey Evans loosely based The Sandlot on his own childhood hijinks, and hearing his voice as the adult Scotty Smalls looking back on his life was a wonderful wink to the audience. It reminded me that we may not choose the experiences that make up our lives, but we can always choose how we remember them.
For a different perspective on this movie, I highly recommend checking out James Lees’ recent article from Balls On Film. James is an established writer based in the UK, and his fandom for sports movies (especially American-made sports movies) is apparent in everything he writes. His articles are thorough, covering everything from the best scenes to the Letterboxd reviews that leave us perplexed and amused. Make sure you subscribe to see his newest sports movie reviews every Friday!
The classic nature of The Sandlot lends itself to a classic wine, but I also wanted to capture the breezy summer feel of the movie with its corresponding wine pairing. When I want something fun and frothy that also has some serious winemaking technique behind it, I reach for a really solid Lambrusco. Cleto Chiarli’s “Vecchio Modena” Lambrusco di Sorbara is a perfect match, and a classic in its own right.
Lambrusco gets a bad reputation here in the US for being too sweet for today’s American palates, but I’m a big fan of the Lambruscos (Lambruschi?) that are starting to see some placements on restaurant wine lists. The signature wine of Emilia-Romagna, Lambrusco is a sparkling red wine made with any of the 60 or more variations of the Lambrusco grape. These wines can be bone dry, sumptuously sweet, or anywhere in between, with effervescent bubbles that rise up in steady sheets. In my mind, the best examples of Lambrusco are the ones that walk the tightrope balancing act between fruitiness and acidity, and “Vecchia Moden”a is a great example of a Lambrusco that does both.
Cleto Chiarli’s “Vecchia Modena” is notable for its contributions to the history of both the region of Emilia-Romagna and Lambrusco. Namesake founder Cleto Chiarli founded the first wine producing company in Emilia Romagna in 1860, and the current label and bottle are replications of the 1892 version of “Vecchia Modena”. Nowadays, Cleto Chiarli handles a variety of grapes from Chardonnay to Pinot Noir to Pignoletto. Where the famed production house truly shines are the sparklers made from two most popular sub-varieties of Lambrusco: Grasparossa di Castelvetro, which yields a dark purple Lambrusco with a lot of brambly fruit, and Lambrusco di Sorbara, a lighter, less intense Lambrusco that’s usually pink or light red in color. “Vecchia Modena” is a Lambrusco di Sorbara, proving that it’s a classic for a reason.
At the end of the day, “Vecchia Modena” is a wine that I reach for on a warm summer day. The dark pink color and the bubbles automatically make it an ideal food pairing wine, malleable and ready for even the most tricky of flavor combinations. Notes of ripe strawberry play alongside fresh mountain herbs and a distinct minerality that feels like a signature of Lambrusco di Sorbara. There’s a backbone of acidity that lifts the wine, but it feels full bodied at the same time. And it hovers around 8 grams of residual sugar per liter (about the same amount of sweetness as a Brut Champagne), making it easy to drink but still refreshingly dry.
The food pairing here seems obvious - All-American hot dogs! - but pairing wine with a hot dog can be serious business. There’s a lot going on in a traditional hot dog; every topping is a variable that can influence the way the wine tastes with food. Lambrusco is a great way to cover your bases no matter how you take your hot dogs, but my personal favorite is a 100% beef hot dog (Fork In The Road is my all-time favorite) with Dijon mustard and piled high with pickles and sauerkraut on a sesame seed bun. And, of course, you can never go wrong with a Dodger Dog.
Cleto Chiarli’s “Vecchia Modena” Lambrusco di Sorbara is available at your local wine store or through wine.com. You can also check WineSearcher.com for details on stockists near you.
The Sandlot (1993) is available to stream on Disney+ or rent on Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, and Fandango At Home. You can purchase the movie on Blu-Ray or DVD wherever movies are sold.
Further Reading
The cast of The Sandlot reminisces on their favorite memories from shooting the movie. (Drew Fortune/The Arrow)
Notes on Cleto Chiarli’s breadth of sparkling offerings from a recent industry tasting event. (Jennifer Martin/Vino Travels Italy)