5th. Light-bodied red (such as Pinot Noir) – 23%
Few wines demonstrate Hollywood’s influence over consumer buying habits than Pinot Noir.
2004’s film Sideways centres on two friends hitting the road to sample some Californian wine. In one of the film’s most classic scenes, Paul Giamatti’s unstable oenophile Miles Raymond screams” “If anyone orders Merlot I’m leaving. I’m not drinking any f*cking Merlot!”
The line has been credited with dampening Merlot sales, but the film may have had an even greater affect on Pinot Noir.
“Only somebody who really takes the time to understand Pinot’s potential can then coax it to its fullest expression,” Miles says in the film.
“Then, I mean, oh its flavours, they’re just the most haunting and brilliant and subtle and ancient thing on the planet.”
As a result Pinot sales rocketed by 16% in the months after the film.
And today, nearly a quarter of wine drinkers in the UK say they opted for a light red such as Pinot this year.
