Have you ever seen the Jack Black film, The School of Rock?  Okay – not exactly Academy Awards material, but very good, very funny and exceptionally well-written.  Who could forget his character’s name?  Dewey Finn.  Now that’s a classic!  And the basic plot is that he’s a rock musician kicked out of his own band. (Trivia Question #25:  What was the name of the band that Jack Black’s character was kicked out of?)

Without a way to pay for rent, he masquerades as a substitute teacher . . . now there’s something original!  We’ve seen A LOT of people over the years masquerading as ‘substitute teachers’.    In this movie, Jack Black is believable as a rocker turned pseudo-teacher; his biggest challenge is turning a bunch of fifth graders into a band!  Seriously, we read four full paragraphs about the movie’s plot on  Wiki and were about to fall asleep!  It’s a fun show to watch, but don’t spend the time reading about it; holy schmoly, it’ll put  you to sleep in a heart beat.  This is an extremely funny movie and it is a must watch if you’ve got middle school kids . . . we’ve been there and saw MULTIPLE traits of our children in the characters!

So, tonight we opened a 2010 Syrah from Castle Rock (get the title?) in Calistoga, California .  .  .  who would have thought a wine like this would come from this area??  It’s a completely different wine than we expected.  Truthfully, we thought at first taste, it was a wine from Washington state.  It had so much fruit on the front end and a crispness that we hadn’t anticipated, and that was combined with a ‘green pepper-like’ finish that left us wanting – water.  Yep, this one is missing the mark from our perspective.  If we have to wait 45-minutes to an hour for this young wine to open up – it’s NOT happening!  Now, for you true wine affecionados . . . this wine may impress you.  It’s winery price tag is not less than $136.00; yep, that’s what their website says.  We DIDN’T even come close to this price, but it illustrates the value placed on a superb blend of grapes!  This particular wine according to their website, “is medium-bodied and deep ruby red in color. It is well balanced, ripe and spicy, and offers complex, concentrated flavors of dark ripe fruits, smoke and black pepper. The finish is long-lasting and harmonious with lingering spice nuances. It makes an ideal accompaniment to a variety of red meat dishes, pasta, or cheese, and it pairs well with most spicy food.”.   After all of the fuss and bother, this 2010 Syrah isn’t bad . . . it isn’t “off-the-charts-great” either, but it will definitely work! 

Do you remember the end?  According to Wiki, “At the competition, the band plays “School of Rock”, a song written by their lead guitarist Zack Mooneyham (Joey Gaydos), instead of Dewey’s “The Legend of The Rent”. Despite the strong reception from the audience, including Ms. Mullins and the students’ parents, the class loses to No Vacancy, but accept their defeat due to Dewey’s proclamation that they were not here to win and that they were going to play “one great show”. The audience, however, becomes angered by No Vacancy’s victory and shout for School of Rock to come back on stage. The band goes for an encore, playing a cover of “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)” by AC/DC with an altered ending. During the closing credits, Summer is seen arguing a deal over her cell phone as she enters the “School of Rock”, a newly opened after-school program where Dewey continues to coach the class and Ned teaches beginning music students, and the credits roll as the class, breaking the fourth wall, sings “The movie is over, but we’re still on screen”.

The movie is a classic; the wine – well, not so much, but it’s getting there.  We’d suggest that if you buy this wine that you cellar it for a while. Lay it down for six to nine months before  opening. It’s going to take a LOT of energy and enthusiasm for this wine, so you might as well give it a chance by laying it down!  We think there are some exceptional characteristics about this wine that most people never  understand.

Please remember to enjoy your favorite wine responsibly and recycle whenever possible~