'Sideways' brings business to Santa Barbara County

BUELLTON, Calif. - Frank Ostini can't seem to keep his cocktail napkins in stock.

The owner of the Hitching Post II restaurant, featured in the Oscar-nominated "Sideways," is on pace to blow through a three-year supply of 50,000 in the next few months. Customers, it appears, are plucking napkins as souvenirs.

Since the October premiere of "Sideways," which features nearly two dozen locales including Ostini's Western-style restaurant, business has been brisk during what is usually a slow season for Southern California wine country.

Filmed primarily in the bucolic Santa Ynez Valley, 45 minutes north of Santa Barbara and 21Ú2 hours from Los Angeles, the movie about two friends on a wine-fueled odyssey before one gets married, has sparked interest in an area normally overshadowed by Northern California's wine country.

The Santa Barbara Conference & Visitors Bureau published 10,000 "Sideways" maps for tourists wanting to retrace the adventures of the movie's two buddies, Miles and Jack. Within a month of the film's release the maps were gone and 30,000 more were printed.

"We couldn't have imagined it would be this big," said bureau spokeswoman Shannon Turner Brooks. "We had faith it was going to be well-received, but thought it would be an indie or art-house movie that would have limited coverage."

Not so - "Sideways" recently won the Golden Globe for best musical or comedy and is nominated for five Oscars, including best picture. The film has made about $50 million at the box office and the Oscar buzz prompted Fox Searchlight to release "Sideways" to 1,000 more theaters last month.

Now, some businesses are offering "Sideways"-themed packages.

Guests at the Wine Valley Inn & Cottages in Solvang, for example, also receive a gift certificate for a meal at a Danish restaurant and a bottle of wine from the Firestone Vineyard, among other items. The restaurant and vineyard are two places Miles and Jack visit.

At the Sanford Winery, customers recognize tasting room manager Chris Burroughs from a scene in which he pours as Miles, the connoisseur, teaches Jack, the novice, about the subtleties of wine. Burroughs has been asked to pose for pictures and sign bottles.

"Even though I feel a little absurd, people recognize me and it's part of the experience," he said.

Burroughs adds that visitors shouldn't be misguided by some of the messages in the film, which he calls "a twisted love song to wine."

"We're not trying to put wine up on a pedestal," he said. "It's just fermented grape juice."

Still, he and other locals don't mind watching the film spread word about the Santa Ynez Valley, which despite its award-winning vintages has long been overshadowed by vineyards north of San Francisco.

"We hope that the movie creates a greater awareness that California wine is not confined to just the Napa Valley," Burroughs said.

Back at the Hitching Post, where Ostini was getting ready for customers to arrive one recent evening, advance bookings have tripled, filling the dining rooms and prompting him to consider expanding hours. Business, he says, is up 30 percent.

"The attention we've received has been incredible," said Ostini, 52. "It's taken us to a different status."

The walls of the restaurant's bar, where Miles bellies up, are adorned with pictures from the film and a giant wine bottle signed by the cast.

Indeed, the film's star might not be anyone in the cast but one of Miles' favorite wines - the Hitching Post-produced Highliner. Of 350 cases of the 2002 vintage released in December, only 100 remain. Ostini expects to release at least 600 cases of the next batch.

Ostini acknowledges he had concerns when filmmakers first approached him. He worried that portraying a couple of guys draining glass after glass might portray the wine industry in a bad light. Instead, the film seems to have inspired novice drinkers to sample different varieties.

"It's the best marketing decision we've ever made," he said. "This has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."