When I think about drinking and Mad Men, I think booze. I think of Don Draper and his Old Fashioneds, Roger Sterling and his vodka, and SCDP meetings where creatives sip liquor like coffee.
But there's another side to the drinking on my favorite show: wine. Over the course of six seasons, wine has made inroads into Mad Men's cocktail culture, and Alyssa Vitrano has been tracking it along the way. Vitrano is the proprietor of Grapefriend.com, which tries "to teach people a little bit about wine through what they're seeing in pop culture," by tracking everything from what Justin Timberlake served at his wedding to the number of bottles that appear in each season of Mad Men. Recently, I corralled Vitrano, who also works as a digital and social strategist, to ask her what wine means in the context of Mad Men.
Mad Men is famous for its drinking, but usually we think of cocktails or hard liquor, not wine. But is wine a big factor on the show?
AlyssaVitrano: It's a minor factor. In the first few seasons, which took place in the early 60s, we didn't have many characters drinking wine. But now in the later 60s we get a little more wine happening. And Megan, whose background is French, drinks the most wine of anyone. So whenever her parents come, there's lots of wine happening at home or out at dinner. This season was awesome when Marie (her mom) came to visit--they drank a lot of wine and when they got home Marie even drank straight from the bottle, which was gif's all over the place. She's hilarious.
Does that change in wine-drinking reflect how things actually evolved across the 60s?
AV: Absolutely. Basically, wine in America didn't really get started until 1965, when Robert Mondavi broke away from his family and established his own winery. He was a pioneer for winemakign in America, really modernizing it and changing a few things to make it better. Prohibition really set us back (and obviously, we're a way younger country anyway) so the 60s were really when we got our grape groove on. But the series is only at 1968 I think, so Mondavi was still not known in this country that much. Megan drinks all French, and so do the other characters pretty much. Every once in a while there's a Chianti.
Are there particular bottles you recognize on the show?
AV: Oh yeah--either I recognize it or I do these massive fun searches to try to figure it out. I've become like a wine detective because they don't feature the labels. But I'll ask my friend at Wine Spectator or do searches based on what I can detect--the shape of the bottle or an image or a word on the label. Two weeks ago all I could make out was "Grand Cru" and "Les Clos" and after searching I figured out it was a really good Chablis. And this season they've also gotten into Lancer's and Blue Nun, which is hilarious. That's what wine people really were drinking in the 60s, so it's very accurate. Joan had Lancer's at dinner when her friend visited, and Arlene Brought Megan a bottle of Blue Nun when she came over. Megan would never drink Blue Nun! She's all Bordeaux and Burgundy for the most part.
So people's wine tastes are getting simultaneously more and less sophisticated?
AV: Well, in America they didn't really have a palate at all yet, so Lancer's and Mateus and Blue Nun were kind of their first entry into wine. For Megan it's much different because her parents drink French wines, so her palate's very sophisticated. Even Betty served a Bordeaux at dinner in Season 2 though--people were getting curious about wine and French wines were really the main game in town. Julia Child came out with a cookbook in 1961, I believe, and that's what got Americans all into French food and wine culture.
Have you tried any particular wines that have been featured on the show?
AV: I don't think so--I can't always tell the exact producer for the French ones, and I've never had Lancer's or Blue Nun though it would be fun to try them and see what they're like. They're not supposed to be very good, but they're value wines so who knows if they're a good-for-the-price kind of thing.
Have there been any really surprising wines?
AV: Hmmm, not that I can think of. If they're being accurate (which they are) it would probably be hard to be surprising. All that was really available were some French and Italian wines, and those few American ones. I guess I'd be surprised if they busted out a German Riesling, or if I saw a Mondavi on the table. Not sure what was imported to this country in the late 60s, but probably not much. And "new world" wines from New Zealand and South Africa weren't being made yet either, and would never have been imported.
Let's play a game: I name a character, and you name the wine that best represents that character. OK?
AV: Love it.
Don Draper
AV: Cab for sure! Manly, deep, dark, brooding, structured and not always forgiving.
Peggy
AV: I'd go with Syrah. She's got a lot of nerve and backbone, but also has a softer side underneath. She's also trying to play with the big boys and is up and coming.
Roger Sterling
AV: Grenache! He's all about the schmooze, and it's an amazing blending grape (usually blended with Syrah and Mourvedre in the southern Rhone). But on its own, it's light and lovely.
Joan
AV: Merlot Merlot Merlot. She's curvaceous, smooth, and super feminine. Merlot is the best counterpart to Cabernet's masculinity, softly rounding it out.
Sally Draper
AV: HA! She's a minor, but has major attitude. I'd have to go with what I call a "somm" wine--a wine that sommeliers love but other people often find tough to drink. And that would be a white from the Jura for me--it's like "You don't like me, WHO CARES?" All in your face and odd, but can be pretty cool to experiment around with.
Pete Campbell
AV: Beaujolais--he's kind of fruity and tries to please. Can we do Betty?
Sure.
AV: She's DEFINTELY a Riesling. But Rieslings come in both sweet and dry styles, and obviously she'd be the dry style. Super acidic and a nerve of steel running through it. The best Rieslings have a killer balance of acidity and sweetness, but she's all acid.
Bob Benson
AV: Oh, I love him! He's kind of dreamy. I'd go with Chardonnay. He's another one who aims to please everyone, and Chard is pretty palatable. Right now he's very simple, but everyone keeps trying to figure out if he has more to him than what we're getting right now. Right now he's like a California Chardonnay but he has potential to be more Burgundian with lots more mineral and layers.
Finally: Ginsburg
AV: Ha! I could go with Manischewitz since he was on that account, but I don't even know what it's made of. I'd go with Malbec for him: earthy and gritty.
What's the perfect wine to drink while watching Mad Men?
AV: Chateauneuf du Pape--it's a blend of grapes (13 are legally allowed) from the southern Rhone that all intermingle with each other in complex ways. Plus it's freaking awesome!
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