If you’re a wine lover, chances are you’re going to enjoy wine movies, wine documentaries, and overall movies about wine. You can learn something new, look at gorgeous vineyard sceneries, and enjoy stories that revolve around wine.
I created a list of the best movies and documentaries about wine – some are educational and based on true stories, some are fictional but you can still learn something new, and some won’t teach you anything about wine but you’ll love watching them because of their interesting plots and beautiful vineyard sceneries they’re located in.
So, grab a glass of your favorite vino and let’s get into the 12 best movies about wine.
(I’ll be updating this list as I watch and love more wine movies.)
Sideways
“Sideways” is a comedy-drama road movie, in which two friends, Miles (played by Paul Giamatti) and Jack (played by Thomas Haden Church), take a trip to the Santa Barbara County wine country leading up to Jack’s wedding.
Miles loves wine, he is very passionate about wine, and is very opinionated about the wines he loves. The movie had a big impact on the wine industry. The character Miles talks a lot about how great Pinot Noir is, and he says not-so-great things about Merlot.
After the movie, the sales of Merlot went down in the US, and even in the UK, while sales of Pinot Noir went up. This was called the Sideways effect. Now, ask yourself a question, where did all those Merlot grapes go? Did the wineries just rip out Merlot vineyards and plant Pinot Noir? Nope, not at all. All those ‘red wine blends’ you’ve been enjoying from California, chances are the main grape variety is Merlot. See, everyone loves Merlot, but because of the movie Sideways, it changed the way people think about it.
Wine sales went up overall, so the movie had a positive impact regarding wine, and made people more interested in it. It is one of the most talked about wine movies, even 15 years later after being released.
Bottle Shock
Movie “Bottle Shock” is a comedy-drama movie that is based on the true story of The Judgment of Paris; a wine competition where California wines defeated French wines. Something completely unheard of at the time. This single event revolutionized the California wine industry.
The main characters are Steven, a sommelier and wine shop owner living in Paris (based off the life of the late-great Steven Spurrier) and Maurice, a wine lover who is Steven’s regular customer.
Maurice comes up with a plan to host a blind wine taste-test to introduce Parisians to quality wines coming from all over the world.
The movie has a lot of valuable info about wine, the wine-making process, and many things any wine lover would want to know.
That competition had a big impact on the wine community and wine industry, so the movie is definitely a must-watch for anyone who wants to learn more about wine in an unconventional way, while watching an entertaining wine movie.
Red Obsession
A wine movie for major wine nerds. “Red Obsession” is a documentary that includes interviews and stories from winemakers and wine lovers around the globe. It focuses on the Chinese markets unquenchable thirst for Bordeaux wines.
It’s definitely a good movie to watch, and it will make you appreciate wine more. It’s a bit technical but very well done.
The Somm Series
“Somm” is a documentary movie that shows four candidates attempting to pass the Master Sommelier examination, which is a test with one of the lowest pass rates in the world.
It’s definitely one of the most popular wine documentaries.
There are three movies in the “Somm” series.
The first movie talks about wine history, and also the history of the Master Sommelier examination.
It talks about candidates’ stories, their reasons for wanting to pass the test, their preparation for the test, the way they’re studying, and the test itself.
If you like wine-themed movies, this is definitely an interesting one to watch.
The second movie tells the story of the history of wine through ten different wine bottles, how it’s made, and the story of wine around the world.
The third, and the last movie, talks about two tastings reminiscent of the 1976 wine competition (the one “Bottle Shock” is about).
Back to Burgundy/ Ce Qui Nous Lie
Back to Burgundy (English Title) or Ce Qui Nous Lie (French title meaning what binds us together) is a 2017 wine movie that mostly flew under the radar though it is excellent. It’ll make you want to move to France and start a winery. It follows three siblings who are reunited when their father falls ill. The film does a nice job of bouncing between the siblings childhood in the vineyards and their struggles of modern day. It’s streaming on Amazon Prime.
A Year in Burgundy
If wine documentaries are more your thing, then A Year in Burgundy is for you. As the title suggests, it follows 7 Burgundian winemaking families throughout an entire year capturing everything from pruning to harvest. Vines go through a lot from frost to drought to heat waves and this wine documentary tells the stories of how the winemakers handle the ebb and flow throughout the life cycle of the vine. Stream it on Amazon Prime.
Wine & War
This brand new wine documentary is about the incredibly long and tumultuous history of wine in Lebanon. I was very lucky to visit Lebanon in 2019 and it was easily the best wine trip I’ve ever been on. Unfortunately, Lebanon has suffered from years of civil unrest yet the wine making continues. “Grapes and yeast do not care about war.” Visually stunning and just really shows how passionate the winemakers in Lebanon are. Oh, and the wines are freaking delicious. You can watch it on Amazon Prime and Apple TV.
In the Wine Dark Sea
Huge bias alert! My amazing friend Chrisa Giorgi made a multi-multi-multi award winning documentary about the wines of Crete. I’ve been living on Crete for nearly 9 years now and I still learned so much about the wines of the largest Greek island. She examines the 11 native grapes of Crete, speaks to 11 winemakers, and asks sommeliers and wine experts around the world to taste Cretan wines, many for the first time. Some of my best friends appear in this wine documentary as well, told you I was biased.
Sour Grapes
“Sour Grapes” is a crime documentary movie that shows the true story of Rudy Kurniawin, a wine fraudster and now one of the most hated men in the wine industry.
Rudy was a rich wine collector (or was he?), who spent millions of dollars on wine, but also sold countless bottles of fake wine.
The way he did that was by finding empty bottles of wine, filling them up with cheaper wine, forged the labels, and started re-selling them for high prices through private sales and through auction houses.
He got convicted for it in the end and was only recently released from prison and deported back to Indonesia.
If you like crime movies, and enjoy wine stories, this is definitely the movie for you. It’s so interesting, and different from any other wine movie out there.
Movies about wine usually aren’t crime movies, so this is definitely a unique one.
A Walk in the Clouds
“A Walk in the Clouds” is an amazing romantic drama starring Keanu Reeves.
It tells the story of a soldier who got back from World War II, who wants to start a family with his wife, who he impulsively married before leaving for war.
After he learns she’s not who he thought she is, he leaves her, goes to Sacramento to find a job, and there he finds more than he hoped – love.
This movie isn’t really about wine, but the location is in a gorgeous vineyard, so I wanted to include it as well, for those of you who like beautiful vineyard sceneries, and romance movies.
The movie was filmed in Napa Valley wineries, as well as Sonoma.
Wine for the Confused
If you’re a wine newbie, but you want to learn more about it, “Wine for the Confused” is the movie for you.
It’s a documentary hosted by John Cleese, and it will teach you all the basics about wine, grapes, wine making process, wine tasting, buying wine, and more.
It will also show you a gorgeous winery in California.
So, for all wine lovers who don’t know that much about wine YET, this is the one you should watch.
Uncorked
“Uncorked” is a new movie, released on Netflix in 2020.
It follows the story of Elijah, a young man who works at his family wine business – a barbeque restaurant.
His father wants him to take over the business, but Elijah has a different dream – he wants to become a master sommelier.
His father is disappointed by that decision.
Elijah decides to take an entrance Sommelier examination and he passes, which gets him into the sommelier school.
I don’t want to spoil anything, so if you want to find out what happens after, watch “Uncorked”!
French Kiss
“French Kiss” is a 1995 romantic comedy that follows a woman who goes on a trip, gets seated next to a crook, and gets mixed up in his schemes.
The crook actually wants to start his own vineyard, he knows a lot about wine, and it’s actually one of the reasons he’s doing shady stuff.
So, while the movie won’t teach you that much about wine, it’s still a great movie to watch, especially if you like romantic comedies. But, since wine is such a big part of the story for the main character, it deserved a mention in this post.
Mondovino
“Mondovino” is a documentary about the impact of globalization on the various wine-producing regions. It features huge names in the wine industry like Michel Rolland and Robert Mondavi.
It highlights the differences between huge wine producers, and small family-owned vineyards. It’s a bit of a behind the scenes look at the global wine industry.
There are so many different and gorgeous vineyards shown in the documentary, so if you like looking at gorgeous scenery, while learning some new perspectives on the wine-making industry, this is the wine movie for you.
From the Vine
“From the Vine” is a drama movie that follows a burnt-out businessman (played by Joe Pantoliano), who leaves his corporate job to go to Italy and revive his grandfather’s vineyard.
It’s an interesting and nostalgic movie about wine that has gorgeous scenery of the Italian countryside.
Wine Country
“Wine Country” is a 2019 Netflix comedy movie that tells the story of five friends, who go to Napa Valley for a short getaway, to celebrate the birthday of one of them. The cast makes this movie, it’s basically every one of your favorite female SNL characters; Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, and Ana Gasteyer.
Their weekend starts becoming very messy very soon, and the catastrophes just keep piling up and so do the laughs.
The movie was filmed in Napa, and while the plot doesn’t revolve around wine, it’s still a funny movie to watch, and it shows the gorgeous Napa Valley.