Wine of the week: Lights, camera, Angelus

Joanne Gibson on wines worthy of the Academy

My favourite wine movie is Sideways (2004): "I'm not drinking any f***ing merlot," declares wine nerd Miles - words which helped the surprise hit win a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, but caused merlot sales to slump worldwide.

The most famous film food and wine pairing is in The Silence of the Lambs (1991): "A census taker once tried to test me," says Hannibal Lecter. "I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."

But celluloid's top wine connoisseur is surely James Bond. Displaying an overall preference for Right Bank Bordeaux (until he drinks the Left Bank's Château Angélus 1982 in Casino Royale), Bond reveals the true extent of his wine knowledge in For Your Eyes Only when double agent Aristotle Kristatos recommends the Greek white Robola. "Well, if you'll forgive me, I find that a little too scented for my palate," replies 007. "I prefer the Theotaki Aspro."

Alas, a lucrative marketing partnership saw Champagne Bollinger replace Dom Pérignon as Bond's preferred "passion juice" decades ago (blatant product placement including the Grande Année 1988 stored on ice in the armrest of his Aston Martin in Goldeneye). And in Skyfall he even forgoes his signature vodka martini thanks to a $45-million sponsorship deal with Heineken.

So I can't help wondering what will happen in the screen adaptation of Carte Blanche, the latest and largely Cape Town-based Bond novel by Jeffery Deaver, in which 007 says the Graham Beck Cuvée Clive 2003 bubbly (R450) is "as good as anything you'll get in Reims".

He also enjoys Stellenbosch estate Rustenberg's Peter Barlow Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (the 2007 costs R300 a bottle ex-cellar) and declares object of desire Felicity Willing's bottle of Warwick Three Cape Ladies (R135 for the 2010 vintage) to be "wonderful", only moments before undoing Willing's buttons.

It's good to see these names in the book, but I suspect the producers will need to reach deep into their pockets to secure their spot in the screenplay.