It’s ‘Sideways’ Soiree Season

By Matt Kettmann Wed Sep 11, 2024 | 12:00pm

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Twenty years ago, just as Santa Barbara County was really starting to catch fire as a wine destination, the film Sideways dumped a tanker’s worth of gasoline on those sparks. That was all thanks to the dramedy’s focus on both the Santa Ynez Valley as a great place to visit and pinot noir as a worthy passion to pursue, and the eventual Oscar winner’s effects continue to reverberate today.

I was a news reporter at the Independent back then, though I’d been writing a bit about wine as well, both for this paper and in freelance assignments for Wine Spectator and others (including all those Nagorno-Karabakh reports). I had seen the film, and recalled liking it, though I didn’t think it was a masterpiece by any means.

But when the paper’s former travel editor, Leslie Westbrook, submitted a critical takedown piece on the movie, I threw my hat in the ring to write a rebuttal in support of Sideways. I knew Leslie pretty well, and still credit her for helping my young writer self — then still a UCSB student — get some early attention. She had given me my first Indy assignment ever in the spring of 1999, when, through our editorial director Audrey Berman, she asked me to research the brand-new trend of buying airline tickets on the internet.

When I sent her a grammatically correct email response about Priceline, Leslie turned it into a bylined article, which I thought was pretty cool. She even took me on “Around the World with Arthur & Barney,” a News-Press radio show run by then-buddies Barney Brantingham and Arthur Von Wiesenberger.

Another scene from the film with Miles and Maya (Virginia Madsen) at the Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café | Courtesy: Searchlight Pictures

I’m still trying to find our he said/she said Sideways pieces, and will have to go into the Indy archives or rummage through the boxes in my garage someday soon to track it down. When I do, I’ll make sure to share them with you.

My recollection is that Leslie criticized the misogynistic and boozy nature of the plot, and that I stood up for it. My argument wasn’t that such activity was pleasant, or kind, or morally defensible, but that the film accurately reflected how men could drink irresponsibly — yes, even when it comes to fine wine — and talk in rude ways, especially when women aren’t around. I was defending the portrayal, not the characters.

The special 20th Sideways Anniversary Highliner Pinot Noir by Hitching Post Wines.

From then on, for many years — and sometimes still today, depending on the publication and/or audience — Leslie and I and every other journalist was forced to refer to Sideways whenever writing an article about travel to the Santa Ynez Valley or the rise of pinot noir across California. It’s been a constant topic on wine panels that I moderate — including one specifically about the film during last May’s Taste of Santa Barbara event — and was also a significant chapter in my book Vines & Vision: The Winemakers of Santa Barbara County.

When Rex Pickett, the author of the semi-autobiographical Sideways novel that inspired the book, penned a sequel called Vertical in 2011, I reviewed that for Wine Spectator and did an interview for the Indy. And then on the 10th anniversary of the film in 2014, I wrote this piece, interviewing many of the main players in the Santa Ynez Valley wine scene who had front-row seats to the experience.

It’s no surprise that, come 2024, many have grown weary of talking about the flick, and some lament how it led to a wine-onopolization of the region’s culture. But there are still plenty who continue to cheer the Sideways effect, which opened the door to many more wineries as well as a thriving culinary culture of chef-driven restaurants and sustainable-minded farms that ensued. (Hotels also improved, though that sector remains a bit lacking in the Santa Ynez Valley, at least when compared to other wine regions.) My other current employer, Wine Enthusiast, did its own issue about the anniversary earlier this year, although I didn’t really help with that one, which was fine.

To honor the 20th anniversary, Sideways will be officially feted in numerous affairs across California this season, the bulk of those dinners and screenings being right here in Santa Barbara County.

Hitching Post Wine proprietors Frank Ostini (left) and Gray Hartley

Graciously playing along is, of course, Frank Ostini, the owner of the Hitching Post 2 restaurant in Buellton and co-owner, with Gray Hartley, of Hitching Post Wines. (We recently published a story about them, which was pulled from my book.) Both the restaurant and the wine enjoyed significant screentime in the film, and they’ve maintained stronger sales through the ensuing publicity peaks and valleys of economic downturns.

So when Searchlight, which produced Sideways, contacted Ostini about a special bottling for the 20th anniversary, he was game. The result is that the 2021 vintage of Highliner — the brand’s best-known pinot noir — now sports a neck-label touting the film’s anniversary. Frank brought them by my house on Tuesday afternoon, and we sat in my backyard for an hour or so, talking yet again about how Sideways helped the region’s evolution. The wines are for sale now at a number of locations, or can be purchased directly here.

I’ll write another story about that any day now, but in the meantime, make sure to attend one of the following Sideways dinners co-hosted by Ostini and Hartley:

Sun., Sept. 15, 5 p.m., at the Hitching Post 2, which includes pours of the 2001 Highliner from magnum; $150 each; details here
Tue., Sept. 24, 6 p.m., at La Paloma Café, $110 each; details here
Sat., Oct. 12, at Copia at Culinary Institute of America, Napa; Ostini is a special guest at this screening, which includes a Q&A panel with director Alexander Payne and actor Virginia Madsen as well as dinner; $165 each; details here
Tue., Oct. 29, at Jar in Los Angeles; $262 each; details here.

Miles and Jack learn about pinot noir from Chris Burroughs at Sanford Winery. | Courtesy: Searchlight Pictures

Alexander Payne works the camera out in a Santa Ynez Valley vineyard. | Courtesy: Searchlight Pictures

Also toasting the anniversary is Shelby Sim of Visit the Santa Ynez Valley, which is hosting a large screening of Sideways at Solvang’s Festival Theater on Sunday, September 29. The culmination of the four-day Taste of the Santa Ynez Valley event, the day starts with a mini food and wine fest at the Hitching Post 2 in Buellton at 3 p.m., when actor Virginia Madsen will make an appearance. The party then moves to Solvang at 5 p.m. for more food and drink, followed by Madsen introducing the film. Tix are $150 for the full Hitching Post 2/screening combo, or just $50 for the screening in Solvang. Click here for tickets.

Lastly, Rex Pickett is also using the anniversary as an opportunity to recapture the spotlight, as he’s continued to push the Sideways train as best he can. In addition to the numerous sequels, he launched a theatrical Sideways play years ago and just led the charge to have the film remastered into 4K resolution.

Stephanie (Sandra Oh) and Jack at Los Olivos Café | Courtesy: Searchlight Pictures

He’s hosting his own screening at the Sebastiani Theater in Sonoma on October 11. Then he’ll be headed down to Alisal Ranch in Solvang from October 18 to 20 for a full weekend of Sideways events, including wine tastings, dinners, golf, and horseback rides. I spoke to Rex a couple of weeks ago and plan to publish that story soon as well. In the meantime, learn more by clicking here.

I’m not sure yet which of these events I’ll be at, but I bet it will be one or more of them. I have no idea how much Sideways helped my own journalism career, but it certainly elevated the reputation and attention for Santa Barbara County wines, and that definitely hasn’t hurt my life. Cheers to that.