Women in Property - Love Actually with Wine, at The Mockingbird
- Tony Elvin
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for our Women in Property Special Event and to our events sponsors Penningtons Manches Cooper.
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 ...
Wine Actually
No civilised Christmas Day morning can start without a glass of fizz. Maybe with some smoked salmon, or when the guests arrive. Award-winning wines produced from the Kingscote, 160-acre wildlife-rich estate. Charmat method using Champagne grapes, this is crisp, dry and refreshing with notes of elderflower and gooseberry.
Maison Duvergey-Taboureau are renowned as Burgundy specialists. Taking their Burgundian expertise down to the South of France, they produced this Chardonnay from a selection of key vineyards. Here, the ideal climate and diverse soils results in delicious, complex wines – and at a fraction of the price of Burgundy. Expect notes of acacia flowers and nectarine with an elegant mineral finish.
Burgondie is the legendary territory that has given birth to the name Bourgogne. This garnet-purple coloured Beaujolais wine reveals aromas of raspberries, redcurrants and wild strawberries. Intense in the mouth with a beautiful floral finish with hints of black pepper, the perfect foil for a decadent Christmas Lunch.
Fruity Shiraz in a cooler-climate style (think Northern Rhone) has concentrated mulberry and black pepper notes combined with soft plummy fruit flavours, and smooth, savoury tannins. Perfect if you fancy something a bit bolder with your Christmas Lunch.
Founded in 1865 by Norwegians Weise and Krohn, this wonderful port is a perfect match for Christmas pudding, mince pies or cheese.
Pictures Actually
Trivia Actually
Some highlights from our movie trivia ...
If you’ve only watched this movie at home you might be surprised to see an extra 20% more movie at the cinema. John & Judy's erotic movie stand in's are often cut.
So many celebrities in this movie .. parts written for some:
Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, and Martine McCutcheon to name but three. Richard Curtis was so sure he wanted Martine McCutcheon in the movie, the character’s name was "Martine" in early drafts. The script was changed to "Natalie" just before McCutcheon’s audition, "so she wouldn’t get cocky."
Laura Linney, Billy Bob Thornton & Denise Richards were sent personal letter invitations. Linney was especially flattered by Curtis's looking for ‘Laura Linney-type,’ when his wife Emma Freud said .. ‘Why don’t you ask Laura Linney?’"
Curtis wanted a blend of famous actors and up and coming actors .. it worked. January Jones went on to star in Mad Men, Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 years a Slave, Andrew Lincoln leading The Walking Dead. Keira Knightley told Curtis she'd signed on for some daft Pirate movie.
Celebrity Trailer park village – celebs on site named areas of the park Liam Neeson Way, Emma Thompson Rd, Hugh Grant Ave. All had the same size and type of trailer – great community.
In Four Weddings and a Funeral, another Curtis movie, there was a scene where Hugh Grant’s character Charles flirts with a woman at a wedding by mocking the terrible catering, only to discover that she is the caterer. The scene was cut from the film, but reshot with Kris Marshall acting out the flirtatious faux pas in Love Actually.
Every Curtis film contains a "Bernard," always the butt of a joke. In Love Actually, the son of Emma Thompson described as "horrid." The real Bernard stole Richard Curtis' girlfriend and is now a successful politician, namely Bernard Jenkin, MP in Essex.
Grant and Curtis worked together on Bridget Jones, Four Weddings & Notting Hill but had a disagreement over how the PM should be played. Grant wanted to play it more seriously, he absolutely did not want to do ‘the dance’ and refused to rehearse it. It was eventually filmed on the last day to 'Jump' by Girls Aloud. Grant loved it so much that he watched it being edited belting the song out at the same time.
In 2005 Prime Minister Tony Blair was facing criticism of his handling of the US, he referenced Love Actually when he said, ‘I know there’s a bit of us that would like me to do a Hugh Grant in Love Actually and tell America where to get off. But the difference between a good film and real life is that in real life there’s the next day, the next year, the next lifetime to contemplate the ruinous consequences of easy applause.’
Rufus the jewellery salesman played by Rowan Atkinson, was auditioned for by Simon Pegg.
When Thompson’s character realises her husband has been unfaithful, in the privacy of their bedroom, she listens to Joni Mitchell’s "Both Sides Now" and weeps. This was filmed 12 times for different lighting, sound and angles. Each time, Emma Thompson delivered the scene, composed herself and did it again, over and over identically with the same emotion each time. An incredible actress. It left her exhausted.
The movie has been remade 3 times .. Polish, Hindi and Japanese versions.
There was a 2017 sequel of sorts – you'll have to dig out the Comic Relief clips on YouTube to see what happened.
The moving scenes shot at Heathrow airport of families greeting each other are all absolutely genuine and shot with hidden cameras. When the production team found shots they wanted to use, they dashed out to get authorisation forms signed!
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
We've got Christmas Wrapped Up! Why not give the gift of 'Movies with Wine' this Christmas?
You can buy tickets for the wine enthusiasts in your life or buy Mockingbird gift vouchers to let them choose their favourite ’movie with wine’.
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