10 Movies That Changed Everything In Ways You Didn't Expect
6. Merlot Sales Suffered & Pinot Noir Got Worse - Sideways
Since the release of Alexander Payne's masterful 2004 drama Sideways, much has been written about the Oscar-winning film's impact on wine sales globally.
Due to a scene in which protagonist Miles (Paul Giamatti) dismisses merlot as a terrible wine - famously declaring, "I am not drinking any f**king merlot!" - while praising the lesser-known pinot noir, merlot's sales dropped by 2% worldwide, while pinot noir enjoyed a massive 16% boost.
But that's not the end of the story - a recent study in the Journal of Wine Economics revealed that pinot noir's surge in popularity actually caused winemakers to struggle to meet the demand.
And so, they began cutting corners by growing pinot noir grapes on low-quality land and then blending them with a higher-quality yield, creating an overall lower quality of pinot noir as a result.
The irony is quite delicious, then, that by championing the merits of pinot noir, Alexander Payne ended up making pinot noir worse for everybody. Incredible.