Well, the title of this post just about says it all. Yes for our “Wine and Film, A Perfect Pairing” Podcast, on reVolver Podcasts,  this week we endured the animated feature film “Sausage Party,” and the only thing that seemed appropriate to pair is the cannabis infused, California wine from singer-songwriter, Melissa Etheridge.

Gary’s review on the film and notes about the wine are below. If you are a medical marijuana card carrier in California you have a chance to experience the smoke in her Syrah for yourself.

We’ll have our notes on part two of the show, featuring the documentary “Wiener” with a wine from a person who just can’t stop talking, up shortly.

To listen to this week’s show,  just click through here and listen to “Episode 10.” Or check us out on iTunes here, or Google Play Music. Cheers!

The Film: “Sausage Party”

I settled in to “Sausage Party” at the Alamo Draft House with a cold beer and an open mind. I like and appreciate smartened-up, irreverent, edgy humor knowing this was Seth Rogan at his most outrageous. I’m hit and mostly miss when Rogan is given freedom and a modest budget.  I loved “Superbad,” and “Knocked Up,” but immensely disliked “This Is The End” and “The Interview.”

Fifteen minutes into the 80 something minute “Sausage Party,” a sex and faith spoof that humanizes food in a grocery store, I felt like every character was yelling at me, and even worse, I walked out of the theater exhausted from not laughing. Laughing is important to me in watching a comedy.

I tried to laugh, and when I explain, “Sausage Party” to anyone, I giggle, but the film plays like fingernails on a chalk board. Drop the F-bomb all you want, but make every drop count. Have as much produce sex as possible, but please, make it funny. Make all the statements you want about religion, followers, and the great beyond, but not at the expense of assaulting my ability to just sit there and be entertained.

I realize comedy is arbitrary, and different people respond to different flavors of cinematic ice cream. Watching “Sausage Party” was like being forced to eat gelato sprinkled with crushed ants, topped with cheese curds, and a mountainous supply of congealed three day old gravy. My apologies to Canada and “Poutine.”

In the future I’ll take into consideration it might be better to be stoned, which appeared to be a small number of movie goers sitting within laughing distance. It made me jealous listening to their giggles while they munched on fries.  After all, “Sausage Party” is now well over the 70 million dollar mark and growing.

It wasn’t for me, I want the 89 minutes of my life back.

The Wine: Wine Tincture from Melissa Etheridge

In thinking of how stoned the producers of this adolescent filled comedy had to be it seems the only appropriate pairing would be “weed wine.” I have never tried it, or it.  I am more of a “high on life” girl, who prefers indulging in a good glass at night. But as more and more states move to legalize marijuana, cannabis is finding its way into new forms of edibles.

One of the most outspoken proponents of cannabis is Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge, who celebrated the use of the herb during her bout with cancer. Etheridge has created “wine tincture” in partnership with the owners of Greenway Compassionate Relief, a medical marijuana dispensary in Santa Cruz, California, and because of state laws, is only available to California residents with medical marijuana cards.

Unlike most other edibles, Etheridge’s wine tincture doesn’t involve heating the cannabis. The “cold extraction” that takes place during fermentation creates a compound that she says is far less psychoactive, so the wine won’t make you paranoid. More information available via her website, as production now is very, very small. (About 90 cases).

If you, however, prefer to keep your wine and weed separate, but want to recreate with like minded tourists?
In Willamette Valley there is a new tour company hosting “wine and weed” tours in a luxury charter bus, starting at a dispensary in Newberg, OR then going to a “premium” Dundee Hills winery where, as their website notes, not only will you get to taste wine, but you will get a “Bonus Food Plater.” Details on the options are here.

If “Sausage Party” is on your radar, indulging in both may be the way to go to get through it.
Or, just enjoy one or two Bloody Mary’s at Alamo Draft House