The Culinary Institute also has a couple of good ones, Robin. Here's a link to the most focussed; they have a beverage service one as well:
http://www.ciachef.edu/enthusiasts/training/wine.asp
And, if you like, there are some really interesing wine related movies on CDs that you might want to consider as a supplement, linking to Amazon through the WLP code. I've gathered these suggestions through the years whenever folks come up with lists of movies with interesting wine content:
For example, but not exhaustive:
“A Walk in the Clouds”, 1995. Paul Sutton, a World War II vet leaves his tin-hearted wife, and pretends to marry a pregnant Victoria Aragón, whose Mexican-American family owns a Napa vineyard. Beautiful scenery: golden sun, cottony fog, sensual grape harvest and stomping; ballet of water sprinklers fighting frost; raging vineyard fire; gnarled survivor – and a totally predictable plot. Thank goodness for Anthony Quinn.
“Babette's Feast”, 1988. Axel is uniquely suited to this story of a culinary genius who spends 14 years in Jutland smoking cod. And then one day she stuns the taciturn Jutlanders by preparing a mighty feast. … And then the miracle occurs, when these stern old puritans are seduced by the baba au rhum and the champagne [Veuve Clicquot] (which is mistaken for lemonade). [The movie is based on Isak Dinesen's short story.]
“The Secrete of Santa Vittoria”, 1969. Bombolini (Anthony Quinn) is a fairly worthless drunk in the small Italian town of Santa Vittoria in the closing days of World War II. When word comes that the Fascist government has surrendered, he climbs a water tower to tear down the flag. He can't get down and someone gets the crowd to chant his name to give him confidence. The Fascist town council hears this and believes that he is the town's new leader. They surrender to him and make him the new mayor. He rises to the occasion and when he finds that the Germans plan to occupy his town and take their wine (over a million bottles) he works out a plan to hide it.
“Eye of the Devil” (1967). Vineyard owner marquis Philippe de Montfaucon is called back to his castle Bellenac because of another dry season. He asks his wife and children to remain in London, but they still come after him. His wife Catherine de Montfaucon soon discovers that her husband is acting mysteriously and that his employees are following old pagan rituals that call for the life of the marquis himself to save the crops.
“Notorious”, 1946. The film is rich with elegant shots, the most famous beginning with the camera on a landing high above the entrance hall of Sebastian's mansion in Rio. It ends, after one unbroken movement, with a closeup of a key in Alicia's nervously twisting hand. The key will open the wine cellar, where Devlin (posing as a guest) will join Alicia in trying to find Sebastian's secret. One of the bottles contains not wine but a radioactive substance used in bombs. Of course, it could contain anything--maps, codes, diamonds--because it is a MacGuffin (Hitchcock's name for that plot element that everyone is concerned about, although it hardly matters what it is). [The wine is a 1934 Grands Vins de Bourgogne - Pommard Francois Penot & Cie – “product of France”; the break-in is discovered because Devlin places the material in a 1940 bottle after the 1934 bottle is broken.]
“The Vineyard” (1989). Dr. Elson Po is one of the world's most famous wine grower. He has a magic potion which has kept him handsome and alive during the centuries. However, the magic which rejuvenates him seem to be less and less effective. As a side project he make movies and invites a group of young, aspiring actors to his island for a party, believing that the young, handsome actress Jezebel can be his new source of life.
“This Earth is Mine”, 1959. In 1931, Elizabeth Rambeau comes from England to live in California with her aunt and uncle of a winemaking dynasty, who are still wealthy despite 12 years of Prohibition. Object: marriage to the heir of another vineyard, to further consolidate holdings in the Valley. But John Rambeau, Elizabeth's illegitimate cousin, has other ideas about who she should marry, and sharply opposes patriarch Philippe's refusal to sell wine grapes to bootleggers. John's activities bring violence to the valley, and soap opera to the Rambeau family.
"Year of the Comet", 1992. Discovering the existence of an extremely rare bottle of wine, (bottled during an earlier appearance of Halley's Comet) Margaret Harwood is sent to retrieve it so it can be sold at an auction. Tim's assigned as her travel guide/assistant for the trip. However, other people want the bottle for some strange reason. A simple little trip becomes an international chase. Great tasting note: Tim: "Son of a bitch." Maggie: "Exactly."
Regards, Bob
