It had to happen. Rex Pickett, author of the popular wine-themed novel Sideways, which inspired the Oscar winning
movie of the same name featuring dynamic duo Miles and Jack – the former in
love with Pinot and the latter looking to get his pinot serviced on one final
road trip before he ties the knot, has released his first Pinot Noir onto the
market.
Christened Ne Plus Ultra, meaning “the highest point of excellence” in
Latin, the 2011 Pinot Noir hails from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. For
Pickett, it could only ever have been Pinot – his protagonist Miles in Sideways is obsessed with the
temperamental grape variety, waxing lyrical about its ethereal beauty
throughout the book to the ever-patient object of his affection, Maya.
"When I decided to produce my own wine, I knew immediately it would
be a Pinot Noir, the grape variety so rhapsodically celebrated in Sideways. I looked to the
Willamette, home to some of the worlds finest Pinot, and the stage on which the
misadventures of Miles and Jack continue my second book Vertical,” Pickett told Wine and the City.
The Pinot, a collaboration with Oregon winemakers Drew Voit and Darcy
Pendergrass, is made from grapes grown at high altitude on Laurelwood soils at
Twelve Oaks Estate Vineyard in the Chehalem Mountains AVA. Previously winemaker
at Shea Wine Cellars, Voit now consults for a number of wineries in the
Willamette Valley and is launching a custom winemaking operation for boutique
wine brands. Pendergrass meanwhile, is the head winemaker for Amity Vineyards
Just 195 cases of the 2011 vintage were produced and are being
sold through Quigley Fine Wines at $45 a bottle. Pickett is currently working
on a third novel in the Sideways
series, to be set in Chile. “Events will conspire to take Miles and Jack to
Chile. It will be a journey and wine will play a part, but I don’t know what
that journey is yet,” Pickett admitted. In addition, he's also pushing
director of the Sideways film
Alexander Payne for a sequel based on his second novel Vertical.
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