A Dish Served Cold

Pairing‌‌‌ ‌‌‌wine‌‌‌ ‌‌‌with‌‌‌ ‌‌‌movies!‌‌‌ ‌‌‌See‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌hear‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌fascinating‌‌‌ ‌‌‌commentary‌‌‌ ‌‌‌for‌‌‌ ‌‌‌these‌‌‌ movies‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌many‌‌‌ ‌‌‌more‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌at‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌From‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Hell.‌‌‌ ‌ This week we get vengeful, as we pair wines with movies about getting even.

Denmark produced Riders of Justice in 2020. In case you didn’t think the Danes had a good sense of humor, this movie should dispel that notion. It’s an action/comedy based on two sides trying to get back at each other. You may think it’s rather bloody for a comedy, or you may think it’s kinda funny for an action flick. Either way, justice will be served.

A case of mistaken identity starts all the action. By the time the error is realized, how do we stop it? More killing. More killing is the answer. And then unwrap some Christmas presents. That’s how we stop it.

The Danes have been making wine from grapes for less than 20 years, but they have a history of cherry wine and mead, which are pretty expensive. Given that, let’s keep looking for a suitable wine pairing. Carmen Delanz Carménère results from a case of mistaken identity. Carménère was known in Chile as Merlot until some diligent wine scientists uncovered the masquerade. It’s a $30 bottle.
http://www.nowandzin.com/2025/04/carmenere-from-chile.html

2018’s Mandy stars Nicolas Cage. Guess who’s getting revenge here? Certainly not the long-suffering folk who waited patiently for decades to see Cage cast as a lumberjack with a grudge. Where’s my crossbow?

The film didn’t make a lot of money, which is too bad, since that’s one of the main reasons for making a movie in the first place. Oh, you can say you’re all about the magic of cinema. But just wait until you’ve released a couple of stinkers and see how easy it is to get that art film made.

This revenge pic pits our lumberjack against a cult and members of a hellish biker gang who are hallucinating on LSD. The movie has attracted a cult following, which is no surprise since, y’know, Nicolas Cage, lumberjack, vengeance.

The Count’s Revenge references Buena Vista Winery’s founder, Count Agoston Haraszthy. He died in a river full of crocodiles in Nicaragua in the 19th century, so it’s only natural that his descendants want some retribution. However, they exact this by putting a golden crocodile on the bottle, which I don’t see as any sort of worthwhile comeuppance for the killer reptiles. At $200 a bottle, maybe we’re the ones who should get even.
https://buenavistawinery.com/shop/the-revenge-red-blend

If you were old enough to go into a theater by yourself in 1955, you likely remember sitting in the icy air conditioning, soaking up the scares from Gill-man in Revenge of the Creature. Younger folks *ahem* will remember the Friday night Fear Theater presentations on TV, or the double features on the Saturday kiddie show at the movie house down the street. The former always featured homemade popcorn in a big bowl, while the latter always featured Raisinettes and M&Ms bouncing off our heads.

Revenge of the Creature was surely one of the highlights of 1955, along with The Honeymooners and “Speedoo” by the Cadillacs. It was a three dimensional fright fest which also went under the names Return of the Creature, and for those who didn’t get the connection, Return of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. You have to really spell it out for some people.

In Revenge, Gill-man has apparently recovered from the hail of bullets he suffered in the original film and is incarcerated in an oceanarium to be studied by scientists. They make the critical mistake of bringing in a beautiful female researcher, and Gill-man falls in lust again. He can’t help it, he’s a sucker for a pretty face. It’s terror in the city this time around, as nobody wanted to go back to the Amazon to shoot this sequel.

Look for a fresh-from-Central-Casting Clint Eastwood here, as a young scientist trying to explain why there’s a missing rat in his labcoat pocket. “You were going to try and blame the cat. Well, weren’t ya, punk?”

Here is the perfect wine for Gill-man: Gillman Vineyard Clairet. Okay, so there’s no hyphen. Any other complaints before we move on? This blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot can run anywhere from $60 to $100.
https://www.gillmanvineyard.co.nz/

Randy Fuller

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