OK, here's one for all the movie trivia buffs and wine
fanciers out there.
What wine labels would likely
predominate at cast and crew reunions of the following
movies:
a. Midnight Express
b. No Way Out
c. Jurassic Park
Quicker than you can say "bend over and pick up the soap",
the answer to the first has to be Seresin Estate wines from
Marlborough.
This is the label begun by, and belonging to, Michael
Seresin, the noted Kiwi cinematographer who left these shores
in the late sixties to seek fame and fortune in the movie
business abroad.
His long and successful career includes director of
photography on, of course, that steamy Turkish prison escape
thriller, Midnight Express, Bugsy Malone, City Hall,
Angela's Ashes, and, most recently, Harry Potter - The
Prisoner of Azkaban.
Seresin was born in Wellington - his father Harry had been
instrumental in establishing Downstage Theatre - and having
left these shores to develop his career in Europe, had been
thinking about developing a vineyard in Italy.
On a trip back in the early 90s, he had fallen for the
Marlborough sounds and the quality of the wines beginning to
be made in the region.
He bought land, planted grapes and had a first vintage in
1996.
The Seresin label is embossed with a distinctive hand - "a
symbol of strength, gateway to the heart, tiller of the soil,
the mark of the artisan" - which "embodies the philosophy of
Seresin Estate".
Possibly the most commonly available of its wines is the
sauvignon blanc, generally an elegant and refreshing drop.
Included in the range are gewurztraminer, riesling, pinot
noir and chardonnay.
The winery cultivates and produces organic and biodynamic
wines from estate-grown grapes "hand-picked and transformed
into artisan wines through gentle, traditional winemaking".
As such they'd be more than at home at any reunion, but would
undoubtedly get a big thumbs up at the Midnight
Express reunion party.
No Way Out was one of the early movies that Roger
Donaldson directed when he moved to States to pursue his
directing career.
A taut and engaging thriller, dating from 1987, it starred
Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman and Sean Young.
Donaldson has gone on to direct other notable films such as
Dante's Peak, Species, The Recruit, The World's Fastest
Indian and The Bank Job.
Donaldson, originally Australian, had found himself in New
Zealand, directing for TV when the opportunity arose to make
the movie that is widely credited with launching a wave of
New Zealand films in the late seventies and early eighties.
That was, of course, Sleeping Dogs, which is also the
name of his wine label: so the No Way Out reunion bash
would doubtless be consuming wine from Donaldson's Central
Otago vineyard including the Sleeping Dogs pinot noir, pinot
gris and chardonnay.
A revival of the home-grown movie industry was not the only
thing Sleeping Dogs launched: it was also the feature
film in which a young Otago actor called Sam Neill got his
first real break.
As everybody knows, Neill has gone onto many fine TV
(Riley Ace of Spies, The Tudors) and movie roles
including My Brilliant Career, Jurassic Park, The Horse
Whisperer, The Piano, and most recently, Dean
Spanley.
And like Donaldson, he also has a successful Central Otago
vineyard - Two Paddocks.
The premium Two Paddocks Pinot Noir is almost invariably a
very tasty pinot, lots of earthy, ripe cherry flavours,
full-bodied, soft tannins and a smooth silky finish, as is
its companion, First Paddock Pinot Noir.
The lesser "Picnic" label pinot, though lighter, holds its
own among second-string pinots and sits alongside a sauvignon
blanc and a riesling.
Only a dinosaur would fail to enjoy such an array of
viniferous good taste.
But then one might assume that the dinosaurs would not be
invited to the Jurassic Park reunion picnic.
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