Thank you so much to everyone that joined us for our screening of 'Midnight in Paris with Wine' at The Hub at St Mary's on Friday night. What a wonderful venue!? We hope you enjoyed the evening as much as we did and we can't wait to join you again soon.
Read on for details on all the wines from the evening, our gallery of photos, and a bunch of trivia.
As promised, these are the wines we enjoyed ...
Our French Wines on the evening
Cuvee Royale Cremant de Limoux - Waitrose £13.99
Our sparkling welcome drink from the monks of St Hillaire, the inventors of sparkling wine back in 1531 who shared their mastery with monk Dom Perignon of Champagne. 70% Chardonnay, 20% Chenin Blanc and 10% Pinot Noir. A delicious drop to get us started, bursting with citrus, apple, pear, biscuit and brioche.
Domaine du Pre Baron Sauvignon Blanc, Touraine, Loire Valley - £12 online
Ripe pear and peach fruit, braced by a steely acidity. Clean and pure on the palate, finishing with a citrussy freshness.
Haute Vol Rose, Languedoc - Majestic £8.99 (£7.99 mixed six)
Peach, raspberry, strawberry and aromas of white flowers. An easy drink, fresh and fruity rosé at an excellent price.
M&S Classics Range Beaujolais Villages - M&S £9.99
A fruity, juicy, silky Beaujolais. Gamay grapes picked from specially designated villages representing just 25% of Beaujolais production. Flavours of raspberry, spice and violets, juicy tannins and a hint of redcurrant on the palate.
Domaine Boutinot 'Les Coteaux', Cotes du Rhone Villages - £11.45 online
'Les Coteaux' uses the best Grenache Noir & Syrah fruit from three of the seventeen named Cru Villages, Sablet, Séguret and Cairanne. Mostly unoaked, just 20% of the grapes are aged for 22 months in oak to add some complexity to the wine. Brambly fruit underpinned by subtle oaky nuances, lovely sweet spice; warm star anise, touch of cinnamon.
Gallery
Midnight in Paris Trivia
Some highlights from our movie trivia ...
This 2011 fantasy comedy by Woody Allen won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Screenplay. It is Allen's top grossing movie of all time taking $150m on $17m production cost.
The movie is thought to be inspired by the 'Moberly-Jourdain incident'. In 1901, two academics, Charlotte Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain, claimed to have experienced a timeslip into pre-revolutionary France on the grounds of Versailles.
The movie marketing and artwork was inspired by Van Gough’s Starry Night, this was beautifully depicted in Van Gough Alive, if you got a chance to see the exhibition whilst it was in Birmingham. Shot entirely in Paris, this is one of the few movies Allen’s is happy to consider as a favourite
Tom Hiddleston received a letter from Woody Allen offering him the role of Scott Fitzgerald, the letter contained just three sentences of script. Hiddleston has the letter framed on his wall at home.
Allen only sends script pages relevant to the recipient so Hiddleston had no idea that this was a time travel movie until he met Owen Wilson on set and asked him why he was just wearing his own clothes. Owen's character Gil had of course just travelled to the 1920's from 2010. Owen Wilson hadn't met with Woody Allen until he arrived on set.
Woody Allen knew he wanted a French woman to play the part of Adriana. He called Marion Cotillard personally and asked her to play the part.
Corey Stoll was very nervous about playing Hemmingway, Allen doesn’t rehearse at all so he was relieved after recording his first scene when Allen told him he'd played it perfectly.
Carla Brunei, 1st Lady of France, married to Sarkozy plays the Rodan tour guide.
Woody Allen told Rachel McAdams who plays Inez, to stop playing pretty girl parts and play an interesting, bitchy character like Inez to broaden her repertoire as an actor.
In real life Rachel McAdams & Michael Sheen are said to have started their romance on set.
This is the fourth time travel movie for McAdams – She also starred in About Time, The Time Travellers Wife and Doctor Strange. Hiddle and Wilson starred together in the time travelling Marvel series, Loki. Wilson and McAdam starred together in The Wedding Crashers, which is definitely NOT a time travel movie.
As you've seen, the movie features a whole host of creatives from the past: Writers and socialites Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, writer Ernest Hemingway, painter Salvador Dali, writer Gertrude Stein, writer TS Elliot, composer Cole Porter and artists Henri Matisse, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gaugin, Edgar Degas, more!
When Hemmingway and Gil Pender visit Gertrude Stein, who is arguing with Picasso, the 1906 portrait of her is in the background.
I mentioned a strange conversation between Gil Pender and the Spanish surrealist Luis Buñel where Gil suggests a movie in which guests can't leave the room after their dinner and eventually the facade of civilisation falls with guests descending into animals. It's actually weirder than that with a strange hand crawling around on the floor and people trying to catch it! If you fancy a strange couple of minutes, here's the trailer: The Exterminating Angel.
Thank you!
We look forward to welcoming you back to another of our events very soon but why not check out our website or sign up to our monthly mailing list to find out about new events first:
Tony and the Wine Events Co Crew