Twelve years ago we saw the fall of Merlot and the rise of
California Pinot Noir. The movie, Sideways
was released, and we all followed Miles, an aspiring writer, and his friend
Jack, a washed up soap star, travel through the Santa Ynez Valley on a wild
wine binge and sex romp. We met Maya and Stephanie (Terra in the book), and the ultimate betrayal
of love. When we last saw them, Jack was getting married, and Miles, still
unpublished, was meeting up with Maya.
Flash forward, and Rex Pickett has written a sequel to his
book (and the movie), called “Vertical –
Passion and Pinot on the Oregon Wine Trail”. A previous version of the sequel was released
a few years back, with a very limited press run. I received the newly revised
and re-edited edition for review. While I do wine and wine event reviews, it
has been a long time since Mrs. Whirry’s Honors English class in high school. I
think the last book review was a comprehensive review of the works of Kurt
Vonnegut!
Vertical takes place seven years after the events of Sideways. Miles and Jack have switched
roles. Jack’s marriage has ended in divorce, and Miles has a successful book,
that was turned into a movie: “Shameless”,
which recaps the entire adventure we all watched (or read) in Sideways. Miles’ success with the book and movie, have
made him a rockstar in the world of wine, in particular the world of Pinot
Noir.
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| Willamette - photo credit to lifecylceadventures.com |
Once again, Miles and Jack set out on a trip. This time,
Miles’ mom (Phyllis) and her caretaker, a pot smoking Filipino named Joy, are
along for the ride, as well as Phyllis’ dog, Snapper. Phyllis had suffered a
stroke, and needs to go home to Wisconsin to be with her sister. Miles, who is
afraid to fly, will drive his mother to Wisconsin, but is coordinating the
drive with speaking engagements in Paso Robles, and the International Pinot
Noir Celebration in the Willamette Valley.
Miles and Jack seem to be in a continuous drunken stupor for
the first three quarters of the book. They clearly have a drinking problem (and sex or relationship issues) that
starts with an open bottle for breakfast, and continues while driving the
rented rampvan down the highway. Miles’ drinking problem becomes self-evident
after he almost drowns in a tank of Two-Buck-Chuck Merlot, and is later forced
to continue his journey to Wisconsin, with his handicapped mother, on his own.
At this point, the reader realizes this is more of a story
about a mother and son, coming to grips with their lives as they currently are.
The back drop, and possibly the source of Miles’ current condition, is his
celebrated wine grape. Is it just by chance that the first book was titled “Sideways” (the position that many feel
when they’ve had too much) and the second book is title “Vertical” (the position you might be in, once you sober up)?
75% of the book takes place in wine country. For anyone who
has traveled to the wine regions of California and Oregon, the descriptions
are very accurate. You can picture the entire trip. The other 25% takes place
in the desolate landscapes of Montana, South Dakota and Wisconsin. It is here, aong the
barren countryside, that Miles’ soul is stripped clean to the understanding of who
he is and who is mother is. I will admit that there were many scenes I chuckled
at, many scenes I could easily visualize, and one scene, towards the end, where
I actually shed some tears.
For those of you who love Pinot Noir from the California
Central Coast… be prepared. Those beloved wines do get a pretty good amount of
disrespect from Miles when he addresses a large crowd at the IPNC. Of course,
he is in Oregon, and is playing to the crowd. Can we now expect a shift from
California Pinot Noir to Oregon Pinots?
The book was a quick read, at almost 400 pages. Rex Pickett
has a large vocabulary, and has included a personal dictionary at the back of
the book for some of his more obscure words. If you are a fan of Sideways, check out this sequel, when it
is made available. I hope that if they can get enough sales of the book, they
will consider a sequel to the movie, and we can all watch Miles and Jack in
their glory again.