With over 40,000 views on YouTube in less than a month, Downfall of a Cult California Winery couldn’t go unnoticed in the online wine community. The video uses a clip from the movie Downfall of Hitler in Nazi Germany with English subtitles that discuss California Cult Wine, which is so brilliantly executed, the result is nothing short of hilarious.
Even James, who was prominently picked-on in the spoof, couldn’t help but engaging in laughter over the piece. In fact, he decided to play along with the scenario and created his own video reply.
Considering the swift popularity of Downfall of a Cult California Winery, we decided to see who was behind such a magnificent piece of satire, which led us to the blog Red to Brown Wine Review. Run by Andrew Ash (Red) and Rod Brown (Brown), the blog is named as such because of the authors’ hair colors.
Living in Sydney, Australia, both Andrew and Rod have day jobs that aren’t related to wine, but set up the blog two years ago after being inspired by a trip to the Barossa Valley. “We love our wine, enjoy writing, and are both opinionated, so setting up a blog was a logical outlet for this passion we share!” said Andrew.
But how did their YouTube spoof video come about?
“I’d seen a number of Downfall satire pieces in the past, namely around politics and sport. I thought there might be an opportunity to make use of the video in a wine satire piece,” said Andrew. “As soon as I started thinking about it, Parker’s stepping back from reviewing Californian wine, and the likely effect it had for Cult wineries in California, provided a nice setting. After that, it was a relatively easy thing to write about, given that Parker, and his effect on wine styles and wineries, has possibly been the most commonly debated issue in wine over the years.”
With the viral success of their first satire video, Andrew and Rod are certainly planning others. “We have the ideas and concepts, and are sorting out the technical details of turning our ideas into reality,” commented Rod. “The Downfall clip is luckily quite easy to produce once you have a script.”
Also being avid wine lovers, and considering James is visiting their native Australia, I had to ask Andrew and Rod which wineries of the region really stand out to them. Check out their list below.
Collector Wines (Canberra): Alex Mackay is an exciting young winemaker, and the Canberra region is producing some excellent Shiraz (Clonakilla being the obvious region-leader). 2008, and in particular, 2009 were excellent vintages for Canberra.
Hoddles Creek Estate: A winery in the Yarra Valley, making fantastic, age-worthy Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, all at very reasonable prices.
Head Wines: A Barossa Valley winery that makes beautiful single vineyard Shiraz and Grenache. The low alcohol, complexity, and structure of these wines highlights the folly of negatively stereotyping wine from the Barossa.
Juniper Estate: An older Margaret River winery that has recently reinvigorated its vineyard and is now turning out some superb Margaret River Cabernet.
Thomas Wines (Hunter Valley): The Braemore Semillon is taken from an elite Semillon vineyard that makes an age-worthy wine that also drinks well when young. Thomas’s Shiraz is made in a richer style than that of most Hunter Shiraz, though it still has great structure and age-worthiness.
Tyrrell’s: One of the oldest wineries in Australia, and custodian of a number 100-year-old plus vineyards in the Hunter Valley. Makes some amazing single vineyard Shiraz and Semillon.
Savaterre: A small winery in Beechworth making some amazing, Burgundian inspired, single vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
Yelland and Papps (Barossa Valley): Avirtual winery up until recently, Susan and Michael Papps source grapes from the Greenock subregion to make their wines (largely red), which are full-bodied but relatively restrained. They are expanding gradually, and make an excellent Barossa Grenache from old vine fruit.
For more from Andrew and Rod, visit their blog Red To Brown Wine Review.
Krystal Schwegel is the Editorial Assistant and Web Manager for JamesSuckling.com.
