That in turn has made wine less risky for wary consumers. There are even bottles priced at $2 and under that are actually drinkable -- though retailers say most people are happy to spend $5.99 or $6.99 for wines that are not just drinkable, but good. And there are plenty of them available now.
The result is a 63 percent increase in U.S. wine consumption since 1991, according to the Wine Institute. Most heartening to the industry is the interest by consumers in their twenties. "They seem to be taking to wine in a way we haven't seen since the leading edge of the baby boomers in the early 1970s," Gillespie said.
(Fox Searchlight Pictures Via AP)
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Marketing experts say this trend is fitting because younger consumers are gravitating toward products that have an emotional, diverting effect.
"Increasingly, people are looking for things that they can spend some time with that are really worth the experience," said J. Walker Smith, president of market research firm Yankelovich.
'A Ripple Effect'
"Sideways" arrived on the scene at the best possible time to make a real impact, given the momentum the wine industry had already achieved. But the movie resonated more than even the director imagined.
Now producers and retailers are running with it. When the movie was released on DVD last week, several wineries and retailers announced new marketing tie-ins.
Wine.com is selling sets of wine from the region toured in the movie along with the "Sideways" DVD. Twentieth Century Fox teamed up with several wineries and last week launched Sidewayswineclub.com to sell wines from the central California coast. Robert Mondavi is rolling out in-store promotions, also in conjunction with the studio.
Alexander Payne, who co-wrote and directed the movie, said even though he's a grape lover, he wasn't trying to promote wine consumption or pinot noir with his work.
"It's amazing how these emotional pictures begin to have a ripple effect on popular culture and people's taste," he said. "I don't think about that kind of stuff."
But Payne said he knows audiences are becoming inured to more obvious product placements, such as the can of soda on a table with the logo facing the camera. It's more-authentic displays of products that remain powerful, he said, and wine isn't the only example from his own films. In "About Schmidt," the character played by Jack Nicholson becomes emotionally wrapped up in the mission of the nonprofit group Childhelp USA, after which subscriptions "skyrocketed," Payne said. (Several similar organizations had declined to be involved in the film before Childhelp said yes.)
