2) Filming the Wine Industry
Films about the wine industry are becoming more popular since the release of Mondovino and films such as Sideways and Bottle Shock. In  Bottle Shock, British actor Alan Rickman played Steven Spurrier, the founder of the Academie du Vin and director of Christie’s wine course. However, the film was said to be misrepresentative of both Spurrier and the 1976 Judgment of Paris it covered. The production ended with Spurrier threatening legal action against Randall Miller, the director of the film, claiming that the portrayal was “false, defamatory and disparaging”. 

The new film by writer and director Nicolas Carreras released in 2011, El Camino del Vino, covers the story of one of the top US sommeliers Charlie Arturaolo, and starred major consultant winemakers as themselves, such as Michel Rolland, Susana Balbo and Jean Bousquet. Late 2012 will also see the release of another wine film Red Obsession, which according to the producers, will reveal, “the ascendancy of modern-day China through the prism of sky-rocketing prices of Bordeaux”. A myriad of celebrities will feature in this production, from famous film director Francis Ford Coppola to UK chat show host Michael Parkinson, along with an array of château owners, winemakers, critics, journalists and MWs (including Asian Palate's founder, Jeannie Cho Lee MW). Hollywood is also venturing into wine films again, with actor Will Smith producing a film rumoured to star Brad Pitt, based on The Billionaire’s Vinegar, a book about the Jefferson bottles affair.

What is your favourite wine movie? We invite our readers to comment.

3) Growing wine shops and wine bars across Asia
Wine shops are proliferating across major Asian cities. From Japan is wine shop Enoteca, which has expanded from its original Tokyo flagship store to Hong Kong, Korea and mainland China such as Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou and Guangzhou. Enoteca also conducts wholesale and mail order sales of wine, along with their wine shop and bar operation.

California Vintage, a branded chain of California-themed wine bars, which opened in Hong Kong in 2011, aims to open over 80 outlets throughout Asia into mainland China, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and beyond. Wine entrepreneur Paulo Pong has also been opening a mini-chain of wine shops in Hong Kong, each focusing on a different region of France. Two stores have opened so far: bordeaux etc in Causeway Bay and champagne etc in Central. The third store, burgundy etc, is scheduled to open before the end of the year.

Is there room for all these shops and wine bars? We invite our readers to comment.