Thank you so much to everyone that joined us for our festive screening of 'White Christmas with Wine' at The Electric on Sunday afternoon.
Read on for details on all the wines from the evening, our gallery of photos, and bunch of trivia.
As promised, these are the wines we enjoyed ...
White Christmas Wines
Athur Metz, Cremant d'Alsace, Alsace, France - Amazon £15.00
Sadly, this wine has now sold out but we recommend you look for Arthur Metz Cremant in Home Sense or look for another Cremant d'Alsace such as the Cave de Turckheim Crémant d'Alsace from Waitrose at £13.49 per bottle. We've visited this particular winery and can recommend it.
Sturmwolken Dry Riesling, Pfalz, Germany - Sainsbury's £7.50
This fresh, zesty Riesling will stand up well to your Christmas Lunch. A perfect foil to cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets, turkey, veggies and rich gravy and a departure from the traditional Chardonnay pairing.
Bauer Mayr Zweigelt, Austria - Majestic £11.99 (£8.99)
If the traditional pairing for Christmas lunch is Pinot Noir then this is a fantastic twist. Another light red, slightly more body than Pinot Noir, the grape is also known as Rot-burger. It is a cross of St Laurent & Blaufrankish grapes. Red fruits on the nose, juicy black fruits and violet on the palate.
Réserve Hospitaliers Cairanne, Cru des Côtes du Rhône - Waitrose £11.99
Enjoying beef or goose on Christmas Day? .. this is the one. Bolder, more intense than the last red but still smooth and easy drinking. Vanilla, chocolate and Morello Cherries on the nose, black cherries and bramble on the palate with a touch of cinnamon and close .. very festive.
No.1 Reserve Tawny Port - Symington Family - Waitrose £13.99
Aged for seven years in barrel, then bottled for sale. Nectar in a glass, deliciously smooth, mellow and fruity with flavours of ripe figs, raisins, butterscotch and toasted nuts.
Great with Christmas pudding, cheese or even on its own!
White Christmas with Wine Gallery
White Christmas Trivia
Some highlights from our movie trivia ...
This was not the first time Bing Crosby had sung White Christmas, first time was 13 years prior on the radio, then in Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn & Blue Skies in 1946. This was of course though, the best rendition.
Irving Berlin presented the 1943 Oscars. During the evening he opened the envelope that announced his own name as winner for the Holiday Inn rendition of White Christmas. He joked that he was glad to present the award as he's known the winner a long time.
Fred Astaire was meant to play Phil Davis reuniting them from Holiday Inn, but Fred had since retired. Then Donald O’Connor was cast but pulled out due to ill health and the part went to Danny Kaye.
Kaye caused so many retakes due to his goofing about on set. They loved him for it though and he would have them howling with his jokes and tom foolery.
Some huge age differences in this movie, Betty Haynes, Rosemany Clooney plays Vera-Ellen’s older sister but was actually 7 years younger at 26 with Vera-Ellen aged 33. Bing, who plays her love interest was 51, a 25 year age gap. Even Dean Jagger who plays retired the General is slightly younger that Bing.
Vera-Ellen was 2 inches shorter than Rosemany Clooney so wore higher heels to be the same height.
When Judy Haynes sings, you’re actually hearing singer Trudy Stevens. Apart from in the number ‘Snow’. All her own dancing though, Vera-Ellen had been dancing since the age of ten and even practiced and studied along with Doris Day.
Rosemary Clooney was less of a dancer and wished they’d been able to dub her dancing. Rosemary was George Clooney's Auntie Rose.
The Vermont Inn was same Inn as featured in Holiday Inn some 10 years earlier. It was a set on the Paramount Lot.
Crosby and Kaye’s 'Sisters' number was not planned to be featured in the movie, but they were seen goofing around with the song on set and Director Michael Curtiz loved it so much he included it. The laughing during the performance is genuine.
Vera-Ellen’s name is misspelt in the opening credits, it should have said Vera-Ellen Westmeier Rohe not Vera Ellen.
'Gee I wish I was back in the army' had the lyrics changed for Bing Crosby, ‘Jolson, Hope and Benny for free’ was supposed to reference Crosby, Hope & Jolson’ but they couldn't have Bing Crosby singing about seeing Bing Crosby singing for free in the army.
The final scene had to be re shot when the King and Queen of Greece were visiting the set. They thought it was the first time it had been shot.
Snow used on set was actually asbestos so they doubled the danger in doing it twice.
White Christmas was the second top performing movie in 1954, grossing $12 million. Some way behind The Grinch at $260 million but this really was a different era.
No official soundtrack was able to produced. The movie was controlled by Decca but Clooney was under exclusive contract to Columbia. In the movie soundtrack release Peggy Lee has to sing all of Rosemary’s parts. Columbia released 8 songs with Clooney, but of course without Bing. The only way to hear her sing with Bing is on screen.
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:
Merry Christmas from Tony and the Wine Events Co Crew