Pizza and Merlot: the perfect match
In the 2004 movie Sideways, the central character, Miles, speaks glowingly about Pinot Noir but rants that “if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am not drinking any f*cking Merlot”. His statement so stigmatised the Merlot grape variety in the eyes of millions of American wine drinkers that there was a 2% drop in sales in the first month following the film’s US release. Conversely, Pinot Noir sales rose by 16% in the same period. No data is available for the South African market, but a similar trend was reported at British wine outlets.
The tirade seems to have legs because the downward trend in US sales of Merlot continued long after the film was consigned to the budget rows of the DVD shops. The impact of negative product placement in films is nothing new. In the 1934 blockbuster It Happened One Night, Clark Gable deeply damaged vest sales when he took off his shirt and was shown to be bare-chested beneath it. Suddenly no self-respecting male moviegoer wanted to wear an undershirt.
But what goes around almost invariably comes around. The Merlot makers need to take comfort from the fact that Marlon Brando’s 1958 performance in A Streetcar Named Desire not only restored the vest to its rightful place, but actually boosted sales to hitherto untold heights.
What Miles is really saying in Sideways is that many Merlots are too easily, fleshily seductive to be considered appropriate at the connoisseurs’ table. Sound like anyone else we know? The feminist in me knows that Brando’s performance as the brutish Stanley Kowalski ought to repulse me, but who am I kidding? His appeal is instinctively, immediately apparent to all. Clark Gable, on the other hand, is an acquired taste (and none the worse for that), but Marlon in 1958 is gob-smackingly, devourably gorgeous.
I know it’s pathetically girly, but I keep a photograph of Brando stuck to my computer. The picture was taken during a lunch break at the set of On the Waterfront. My boy seems happy. He has a slice of pizza in his hand and there is a bottle of Merlot on the table in front of him. For me the snap celebrates simple abundance.
Merlot makes a lovely pizza wine. In wine parlance the term ‘pizza wine’ is generally used to describe a cheap red wine suitable only for pizza. The assumption being that you wouldn't waste a good wine on pizza. Just like Miles’ Merlot comment, using the phrase as a derogatory term is silly and snobbish. In fact, the combination of pizza and Merlot is simple, straightforward and delicious.
And yet, the young Marlon Brando carries within him a cautionary tale for makers and drinkers of Merlot. At the time of his death, the beautiful boy had been consumed by his own greed. By 2004, Brando was a wreck of obesity, largely induced by his seemingly insatiable passion for junk food. Photographs of the actor in his later years demonstrate just how fine the line between overblown, obvious sexiness and unnerving bloat is. The trick for Merlot makers and buyers is to be able to tell the difference.
PIZZA
DOUGH
1 T instant dry yeast (1 x 10g packet)
1 t caster sugar
1 cup lukewarm water
2½ cups 00 pasta flour (you can use cake flour but getting proper pizza texture is dependent on using the right flour)
1 t salt
1 T olive oil
TOPPINGS
4 T tomato sauce or purée
a handful of mozzarella
toppings of your choice
1. Combine all the dry ingredients, then make a well in the centre and slowly mix in the wet ingredients until you have a dough.
2. Knead the dough on a floured surface until it is smooth and elastic - about five minutes.
3. Divide the dough into four balls and place in four oiled bowls. Cover with cling wrap or a damp cloth and leave to rest until doubled in size.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 200oC.
5. Press each dough ball out into a round and then roll out as thin as you like.
6. Spread the tomato sauce (leaving a gap of about 2cm all the way around as a hand hold).
7. Put on toppings and then cheese. Bake until cooked through (about 20 minutes).
PERFECT PAIRING
THELEMA RESERVE MERLOT 2008
★ ★ ★ ★
NOTES: A particularly well-balanced wine with red and black fruit, fresh acidity and soft tannins.
OTHER OPTIONS: Dieu Donné 2008; Kaapzicht 2008.
