We went out to see Ford v. Ferrari the first weekend it came out.  It is hard anymore for us to agree on a film to go see as most of the films are directed to an audience that thinks a blue screen with computer generated action is the epitome of cinematography.  Also, I do believe that my Bride and I are not in the proper demographics for a successful film, which according to some film critics must be from ages 5 to 19, and that would explain some of their poorly written reviews.  We went to see a film, that I thought would have no commercial acceptance, except perhaps for the Detroit area, and according to some of the financial figures I have seen, I was wrong.  Who would have thought that a film with dialogue and no superheroes would do well at the box office?  Thankfully, we got to the cineplex early to get a decent seat, because the room filled up.

I was afraid that my Bride would be bored and fall asleep, like I have done, on some of her choices.  She found the film captivating, and to use a racing term, she did not make a “pit stop” during the entire film.  The research and the recreations of the different stretches and turns of what the Le Mans track was like back then was incredible, plus each car was choreographed to be in the proper sequence at all times.   The film was filled with names like Shelby, Miles, McLaren, Ford, Ferrari and Iacocca.  These were names that I heard most of my professional life, as I sold and managed a ten-thousand square foot clothing store in Dearborn, which is where Ford Motor Company is headquartered, back in the day, when men dressed for success in business.  I also remember waiting on the men that actually worked for “Ford Racing” back in the day and they were not of the same bolt of cloth that most of FoMoCo was made of.  It was the heady days and these men were Mavericks in the corporate world and they kind of got away with it.  They were politically incorrect when that term hadn’t even been thought of, they were just men that liked cars and adrenaline rushes.

Lee Iacocca was one of the suits at headquarters, but he was a car-guy, a concept that I think is lost on a lot of auto-execs these days.  He had a rather colorful career at Fords and then he went to Chrysler.  This is all a segue to introduce Lee Iacocca into a wine article.  When the restaurant industry started to make changes in staid Detroit, with the introduction of some national steak houses, one of the novelties that started making an appearance was private lock boxes that would contain special liquors or wine for the people who made arrangements to have a lock box.  Lee Iacocca was a name that I saw several times around the city, in some of the finest places, back when a cigar was the perfect way to end a grand meal.  Lee Iacocca also dabbled in wine making, in all likelihood he did some investing and got his name on the wine label and it was probably a great marketing tool as well.  I have found two wines in my search for his wines that carried “vino da tavola sangiovese di S. Angelo in Colle” and the Villa Nicola name with the legend “imbotigliato per Lee Iacocca.”  One of the wines was a Rosso di Montalcino and the other one that I encountered was “Da Uva Sangiovese” and they were both from Montalcino.  Alas the bottle I had was brought to a party and it had been stored improperly and it was over the hill, which is a shame, because I have found Sangiovese wines to be quite long lived and the wine was from 1985 and the party was 2013.  This is an example of how my brain works, seeing one subject and connecting it to another subject, and for me it works.  We also give the film two thumbs up, if you are curious and we would have no problem seeing the film again.