Levon Bağış, a true wine enthusiast and an expert on the story of wine in Anatolia, has cherry-picked the best wine movies and documentaries you can watch this season.

SANTA VITTORIA’S SECRET (1969)

Bombolini (Anthony Quinn), the mayor of Santa Vittoria, an Italian town famous for its wines, defends their precious wine from the invading German troops.

SIDEWAYS (2004)

A film about the bachelor trip of a soap opera actor and his wine-loving buddy, who is a literature teacher. This is a delightful wine film, set against the backdrop of California wine country’s stunning landscape. The wedding scene at the end of the movie also deserves a special mention.

A GOOD YEAR (2006)

An English businessman who inherits a vineyard from his grandfather in Southern France visits the place to sell his property, but falls in love with the small town surrounded by vineyards and lavender fields instead. Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard act the leading roles.

RATATOUILLE (2007)

Set in the behind-the-scenes of a restaurant, this animation is the story of a gourmet mouse who secretly leads a novice chef under his hat. While it may sound weird, it’s one of the best films about food ever made. Illustrations of Paris, food and wine -even better than the real version- add to the enjoyment of the movie.

BOTTLE SHOCK (2008)

A movie that smells like wine again! It tells the story of Steven Spurier, who organized the famous “1976 Paris Tasting”, which became a milestone for Californian wines, as well as the story of Chateau Montelena -the superstar of the tasting.

TU SERAS MON FILS (2011)

A movie of father, son and holy wine… Wine and the beautiful vineyards are in the background, while the story focuses on a father-son relationship.

BACK TO BURGUNDY (2017)

The story of a family with a vineyard in Burgundy, the loss of a father and the return of an undutiful son back home.

MONDOVINO (2004)

The film focuses on the effects of globalization on the wine industry, and tells the story of small producers who are making characteristic wines from the grapes of a single vineyard as opposed to multinational giants.

WINE: THE GREEN REVOLUTION (2011)

Full of poetic scenes, this documentary focuses on winemakers, who get closer to mother nature and roll up their sleeves to start producing biodynamic wines.

RED OBSESSION (2013)

With Russell Crow’s narration, you will not only enter the world of chateau owners, legendary wines and producers in the world’s most famous wine-producing region -namely Bordeaux, but will also witness a crazy trend where Bordeaux wines change hands at auctions for exorbitant prices due to the rising demand by Chinese consumers.

SOUR GRAPES (2016)

The rise and fall of Rudy Kurniawan, who made the biggest wine scam in history and made millions of dollars by releasing his fake wines at auctions.

To read our interview with Levon Bağış on Anatolian wine culture, click here!