‘True Grit’: more on the wine and movie connection

After my piece yesterday on “True Grit” the movie and the wine, I heard from Jan Mettler, a partner at Boss Dog Marketing, which represents Parducci Wine Cellars, the producer of True Grit Petite Sirah. In an email, Jan related how she and her agency came up with a tie-in for the 2007 vintage of the wine with the launch of the movie. She wrote:

“… when the partners at Parducci Wine Cellars requested that we look into a connection, we joined IMDB (the Internet Movie Database) and pulled the phone number for Joel Coen's agent.  One conversation led to another and we followed up with wine samples to all, from Mike Zoss Productions (the Coens’ production company) to Coen's PR handlers, to top executives at Paramount.  Doors opened and True Grit became the exclusive wine pour for the screening at Academy Theater.”

She continued: “The folks at Paramount Marketing liked the True Grit so much that they bought 160 bottles to send to their media and another 175 bottles as gifts for their employees. “ Jeff Bridges, she added, sent Parducci an email saying he was enjoying the wine.

It was, as they say, the kind of exposure money can’t buy.

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SIPS: Reflecting on ‘True Grit,’ the movie and the wine

I usually ignore wine and pop culture tie-ins, such as the one I received not long ago for “True Grit” featuring the re-make of the movie classic and the wine of the same name. In this case, however, not only did I thoroughly enjoy both but was fascinated to come acros s the back story of just how True Grit wound up on the a wine label.

True Grit the wine is a $30 Petite Sirah produced by Parducci Wine Cellars, part of the Mendocino Wine Company in California’s Mendocino County. It turns out that the idea for the name came in 2005 when a publicist suggested to Tim Thornhill, Parducci’s proprietor, that petite sirah was a “John Wayne among reds,” Thornhill related to Wine Spectator. The publicist was Jo Diaz, who has promoted petite sirah for years through her “PS I Love You” campaign (but who does not represent Parducci itself). I’ve always thought the slogan was a bit hokey and  haven’t referred to it until now, but it seems to have worked well for the variety, and Jo, I’ve discovered, has a very good ear for this sort of thing.

She recalls the Parducci experience on her own wine blog  and reprints a release on petite sirah she wrote at the time in which she called it the “all-American variety” and a “burly, manly wine.” The description may have fit well with the petite sirah campaign and the True Grit narrative, but I doubt Jo will mind if I say that it doesn’t quite do justice to the 2007 True Grit, which is a wine of elegance and complexity (along with a little brawn). It is marked by herb-infused black cherry and blackberry notes, an earthy core and unsweetened cocoa on the long and considerably tannic finish. Although alcohol is 14.5 percent, this is not a big or heavy wine, with the overall impression bright rather than ponderous. As I breathed in the  aromas again a few days after opening the bottle, Bordeaux even came to mind.

No, True Grit the wine may have a pair of cowboy boots with spurs on its label, but I can’t imagine Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges or John Wayne) trading his bottle of hooch for a glass of this sophisticated and just slightly gutsy red. (Received as a press sample.)

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