Swafford on Wine: In Memory of a Movie Star

My movie star died last month. She was 77. I fell in love with Ingrid Thulin in dark, 1960’s art movie houses where her large eyes, wide sensuous mouth and quiet, blond luminosity lit up screens that were filled with Ingmar Bergman’s somber, compelling black and white films. Our affair spanned her roles in Wild Strawberries, The Seventh Seal, The Silence, and even films not directed by Bergman. Then I met her. I went to a lecture at UCLA where her husband, Svensk Film Industri chief, Harry Schein, spoke on Swedish film history. Afterwards, during the questions-from-the-audience, I asked where his wife was and Schein said, "Sitting three rows behind you."

We left the hall, me making erudite film-as-art small talk, she smiling. Luck had it that our cars were next to each other a quarter of a mile across campus, so I led the way and gave directions to the airport. Nine years later, I took my Swedish wife, Christina, to a retrospective of Swedish films at the Los Angeles Art Museum and when the lights went up, there she was again. I introduced my Christina and said, "Ingrid, I met you here nine years ago..." "I remember", she said. I loved her for saying that. Film stars do not lie to their public.

And that is why Christina and I drank to her memory the other night from a bottle of exquisite Italian wine (Ingrid lived in Rome for years after her film career). Ornellaia (Tenuta dell’Ornallaia) 1999 ($150.00) is from southwestern Tuscany, and perhaps, the finest vineyard in the extensive holdings of Piero Antinori, whose family has been making wine in Tuscany for over 600 years. This is a modern wine, known as a Super Tuscan, as those wines made with the traditional grapes of Bordeaux, France, but locally grown, are coming to be called. Some Super Tuscans blend the local Sangiovese grape with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot but the Ornellaia is 65 % Cab, 30 % Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. The result is a rich textured wine, full of berry and cherry, with a long, smooth finish. The previous vintage of Ornellaia, 1998, was selected as the Number One wine of the Wine Spectator Magazine’s Top 100 in 2001.

Upcoming Wine Events in February:

Feb.14 and 15--Seafood and Wine Festival Commercial Wine Judging. This is not a public event but the results will give you advanced tips on the best wines at the Festival.

Feb. 21--North Coast Wine Society Valentine’s Week 4-course, 5-wine wine dinner. Jot down a short love poem, which will be read between courses and the best will win a bottle of Champagne. Call (541) 265-3044 for info.

Feb. 27, 28, 29-- 27th Annual Newport Seafood and Wine Festival across the bridge in the Marina. Go on Friday (2 to 8 PM) or Sunday (11-5 PM) to avoid the crowds on Saturday.

Cheers!

Joseph Swafford is owner of The Champagne Patio Restaurant & Wine Shop, located at 1630 N Coast Hwy in the Sea Towne Courtyard, Newport. Phone (541) 265-3044 or email him at jcswaf@charter.net.