on wine and television
In conversation with Amari (@vin_dealer), a New York-based wine educator and digital creator, about all things wine and television.
I’ve always felt — or at least posit, in the tvscholar universe — that wine and television have a powerful connection. In Servant, the underrated, spooky half-hour drama that helped launch Apple TV+ back in 2019, Lauren Ambrose and Toby Kebbell play Dorothy and Sean, a couple who live in a gorgeous Philadelphia brownstone with an enviable wine cellar in the basement. While a bunch of very Shyamalanian things happen in this house (a doll that turns into a baby, a nanny who may be in a cult, etc.), my favourite ritual on the show was watching Sean pick a wine to pair with his meal, and generally how wine was intertwined with the story. This Wine Spectacle article detailing Servant’s attention to detail makes me itch for a rewatch:
In the third episode of season 1, brother-in-law Julian (Critics’ Choice nominee Rupert Grint) comes home to find Leanne drinking Zinfandel with sautéed eel. He pulls a 1994 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche from the cellar. After tasting it, Leanne says she prefers the Zin. “This ’94 isn’t what I thought it would be,” sighs Julian. “I guess nothing ever is, I suppose.” Guessing what is and is not what it seems is indeed much of the show’s fun.
Obviously, I like wine in my own life too: A bottle shared amongst friends on a warm summer evening at the park, trying a few different wines from open bottles at our favourite natural wine bars (Bar Tartare, if you’re ever in Vancouver), browsing the bottle selection at shops around town. But it wasn’t until I scrolled upon Amari Collins, aka vin_dealer on Instagram, that I thought about wine as embodied joy. Her quick little Reels make natural wine seem accessible, easy, and fun, boiled down to a few illuminating words, to be enjoyed while dancing on a rooftop with a long, splashy pour.
“Let’s swirl into it,” Amari usually says. I’ve watched her platform grow over the last few months, and when I found out she used to work in television production, I knew the stars had aligned to reach out for a quick chat about all things wine and television, for a cute little newsletter to punctuate the end of the summer with a bit of joy.
Michel: So I’m kind of obsessed with your wine videos, this is such a pleasure.
Amari: It's great to meet you! I was just in Vancouver, like two weeks ago. I fell in love with it. We went for a girls trip. I'm originally from California and all my girlfriends are still out there. I had no expectations, but I was instantly in love. It's everything I could ever ask for, plus more.
I love that you loved it here! First thing’s first: What kind of wines are you drinking and loving lately?
In my fridge now, there is an open Riesling. I love German anything. Any cool climate wine I seem to be really into. I grew up with a lot of harsh reds like Cabernets and Merlots, this big dick energy. So I think in my older years and in gravitating towards the natural stuff, I tend to love a lighter wine, not from France or Italy or Spain. Literally anywhere else. Austria, Hungary.
Does your taste change on a seasonal basis?
No, it's all the same throughout. I love bubbles. I always have bubbles any time of year. I always have a light red any time of year, and then I always have a funk, a dunk, white, any time of year. Maybe I wouldn't do orange any other time than in the fall, because I don't really love a skin contact to begin with. But if I do, it's going to be in a cabin with crunchy leaves.
You used to work in television production, can you tell me a bit about that?
I had a cousin who was a producer in LA and I would go on set with her sometimes. I really fell in love with that energy. It felt like it was a lot of like-minded people and artists. I felt really drawn to that. Being a former performer myself, growing up a dancer, I found myself being realistic about my body type and my height, that I might not be a professional dancer.
Casting was really intriguing to me because I was in the world, but out of it too. It felt invigorating because I was making the decisions of what's cool and what's coming up next. So in college I moved to New York City and took a bunch of internships. I worked at a Broadway casting company. I worked for a casting director in the Upper West Side, and she was, like, world renowned. We did Homeland and a bunch of stuff. And then right after college, the only place that I could find a casting job for decent money was for reality TV shows.
At what point did you realize TV might not be for the long term?
I always knew that casting couldn't be a forever thing. I didn't know or see enough people that were doing it successfully and getting good money from it. I saw TV sort of dwindling, especially reality TV when streaming was happening. After Covid everything in casting was gone, and our whole industry had to pivot. So that was the indicator for sure.
Wine was the only other thing that I knew about. My dad worked in wine growing up, and I fell into the natural wine scene here in New York City very quickly and easily. Whenever I was in between casting jobs, I would always work at a wine shop. I would ask people, are you hiring in TV? And it was a no. I'd then ask people, are you hiring in wine? And they’d say yes. I figured out where the nooks and crannies were that needed a little bit of love and Vin Dealer was born from that.
Beyond how the pieces fell together on a career in wine, what is it about wine that makes you stick around?
For one, it always surprises me. Especially with natural wine, like you can think of what you think a Chardonnay is, and then you could be at a Georgian restaurant and have a Georgian Chardonnay, and it tastes like nothing you've ever had before and that is intriguing to me. I live in New York City where the new and the exciting is on the streets as you walk out your front door. So to constantly be surprised by something is rare, I think, in this life, especially living in a city like this one. It also always brings me to the greatest people. People who like to have fun, and I'm obsessed with having fun. So wherever I can be in those spaces. Wine just happens to be it. I always say I could be pouring milk, if milk was the thing that was bringing people together.
I love that. The way you speak about wine is the way I feel about TV, I think. There’s always something new to discover, a combination of elements that come together in a way you didn’t expect. It feels so important, to me at least, to love something like that as I age and experiences maybe don’t feel as fresh or exciting as they did when I was younger.
It’s important to rediscover and recheck in with yourself in terms of what you like. I feel like when I'm watching TV, as I get older, the less interested I am in a certain genre, and the more interested I am in another genre. I always base it off of, why did I watch this before? And oh, it's because I was watching it with an ex boyfriend, or my dad. I wanted to spend time with them but I didn’t necessarily like what I was watching. Now that I actually don’t give a fuck about anything, I just want to do what I want to do and what I like. Like wine—these are the characteristics that I like in a show or a movie or a wine.
Exactly! Have you thought at all about how wine is represented on television and what it might mean about a character? I often think of Olivia Pope’s long-stemmed wine glasses in Scandal or Alicia Florrick always having an open bottle in her wine fridge in The Good Wife.
I think it either goes one of two ways, which is similar in life. It's either like drunk mom, who's just tired and wants to check out by getting fucked up at night. Or it's like, represented in a way that's to be made fun of. A snooty guy saying the tannins and the notes and varietals and trying to be impressive, like in a dating meet-cute or something. Or it’s represented in my favorite way, in French or Euro films where they're just like all sitting around the table, eating, and getting thrashed off of wine in a more casual way than in American television where it’s more rigidly representative of a person, place, thing, or idea.
Have you seen Drops of God on Apple TV+?
I thought, like anything on Apple TV, it's cinematically gorgeous, like they have the greatest cameras in the world. I thought the concept was cool. Honestly, an indicator for me to watch anything is if I'm attracted to a person or persons on the show. And there was no one hot in that show for me. [Laughs]. I couldn't sink my teeth into it, and it was stressing me out like oh god, this is what the Master Sommelier test is? People take this so seriously. I'm so like, anti. But it was beautiful. Oh and there’s that other show, Sweetbitter.
Oh the Ella Purnell show on Starz that isn’t Sweetpea. I could not get into that one…
I mean, that is what it’s like working at a restaurant!
It’s hard to make a good show about wine! The Bear has traces of it…
I haven’t seen the new season but I have seen articles about how it highlighted a Black som and stuff, that's really important. I'm glad that it's being showcased at all, because before all we had was Sideways (2004).
I need to watch that! Ok, is watching television an appropriate time to have a glass of wine, in your opinion?
Yes, duh! It's your friend that you get to kiki with when people are there or not there.
What would you pair with an HBO Sunday night drama?
Ok Euphoria would be like a bazanga, Czech, Pinotage-Riesling hybrid, where you're just like, HUH? You take one sip and it’s one thing, and then you take the second sip, and it's another. The smell is gasoline and the taste is like, hitting like, back here (*points to the back of her jaw*). You're just like, what is happening. OR, a super fruity red, like a Beaujolais. A Lambrusco would be good for Seinfeld, because it's like, crass and curt, but you're still enjoying it.
What about Succession?
Succession is a 1982 Bordeaux, something more expensive than both of our homes combined. Made in the year you were born. Opulence, you know.
Okay last one, because this is fun: Sex and the City?
Oh, my god. Champagne, obviously, bubbles. There’s this California wine called Schramsberg. It's like a classic champagne method bubble that has champagne elements, where it's rounded and brioche-y, a little buttery, but also very citrusy and tangy. Almost like salt, tequilaish. Gorgeous.
What shows are you watching and loving lately?
I’m in Love is Blind UK land. I’m also watching Sneaky Pete for the first time. I just watched Hostage. I’m watching this Australian show called Upper Middle Bogan.
Where do you see the future of your wine career taking you?
I see Swirl School just growing even bigger than it is already gonna. We're booked in London and Paris in October. I’m excited to watch that grow and continue to meet like-minded, cool people. I hope to one day white label a bottle of something, maybe a bubble.
If orange wine was a television show, which show would it be?
Gilmore Girls. Like the only fall show out there that should exist.
