The Sideways Effect

While reading the case for this week, I was inspired to learn more about "The Sideways effect." Sideways, a 2005 Best Picture nominee at the Academy Awards, featured some memorable scenes that arguably single-handedly boosted the reputation of pinot noir and hurt that of merlot among American consumers. Here, Paul Giamatti's character explains why he is so into pinot:

In a perhaps an even more memorable scene, he makes known his feelings towards merlot:

(clips courtesy of https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/07/05/535038513/the-sideways-effect-how-a-wine-obsessed-film-reshaped-the-industry)

To understand if this movie truly had an effect on wine industry sales, a man named Steven Cuellar put his Ph.D. to good use and wrote a paper on the subject (https://www.winesandvines.com/features/article/61265/The-Sideways-Effect). His analysis corroborated "The Sideways Effect", although he found that the positive effects on pinot noir sales outweighed the negative impact on merlot sales. He also found that the movie contributed to an overall increase in wine consumption.

Some claim that we are still continuing to feel the aftershocks of "The Sideways Effect," arguing that merlots are now underpriced relative to their quality. I grabbed a bottle of the Cannonball Merlot from Yoav when he was in class, which I'm now even more excited to try (although it was an especially good value for a bottle of wine given it was free). If I don't end up liking it, I can always pull a Paul Giammati and just leave...