Thank you, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and your “wine cave” party, for putting California back on the political and cultural map.

The image conjured up by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a rival presidential candidate, when she called out Buttigieg for having held a fundraiser with “billionaires in wine caves” was an instant media sensation.

And while Warren’s jab did little in the long-term to diminish Mayor Pete’s no-frills, Midwestern image, it did give a big boost for the image of the Golden State.

We finally got an overdue replacement for the Northern California image that was typified by the Marin hot tub of the 1980s.

Hot tub California was a symbol of a disconnected, laid back, New Age utopia.

Wine cave California is about power and progress.

It speaks to the “new” California. A land where movie stars and tech tycoons are setting the course of America’s future. A land where people have great lives, great cars and great hair.

A land where even nerds can rise to the top.

Granted, the wine cave image is a fantasy. Billionaires imbibing on $900 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon wine is about as far as one can get from the reality of the state’s countless homeless camps, out of control wildfires, high poverty rates and power blackouts.

But hey, we’ll take it.

Another boost is that wine caves are now the hottest stop on the Wine Country tours, so we are making money off the deal as well.

The wine cave where Buttigieg was hosted is owned by vintner Kathryn Hall, who was U.S. ambassador to Austria when Bill Clinton was president.

Hall is familiar face in Democratic politics, known for raising money for Democratic candidates, which the last time I checked was a good thing.

By the way, Kathryn Hall wines are also the favorite of Mayor London Breed.

Cow pad: I never played host to a political fundraiser in a wine cave, but I did have an event on a farm.

It was back when I was speaker of the Assembly. Someone felt it was important that I make an appearance in the Central Valley and plant the Democratic Party flag in the heart of the state.

They booked me into an event in a rodeo ring outside of Fresno.

I flew down to Fresno. Then I hopped into a helicopter.

About five minutes into the chopper ride, I noticed that we were flying at only about 100 feet on a course that was directly over a busy highway.

“Is this safe being over a roadway like this?” I asked the pilot.

“Sorry, but the only way I know how to get to where we are going is by car. So this is the way we’re going,” he said.

A few minutes later he dropped us down in the middle of a cow pasture, which I guess was the closest thing there was to a helipad in the area.

The event guests had seen the chopper land, and they all came out watch as this Brioni-clad city slicker trudged through the field, then had to hop over a fence to join them.

From that day on I was known in Fresno as “Farmer Brown.”

Lesson learned: I ordinarily do not comment in this column about international affairs, but protests in Hong Kong and other democratic struggles across the globe should be noted as some of the biggest stories of the year.

In this country we struggle just to get people to vote and usually see only a 50% turnout during a presidential primary run.

Meanwhile, in other countries, people are risking their lives to get or keep the right to vote.

There is something to be learned by the courage we are seeing in Hong Kong and elsewhere.

Let’s hope we learn to appreciate and exercise our vote in time for 2020 and make it an election rather than another reality show.

Movie time: The title “Bombshell” is an apt description of this movie that deals with the demise of Fox News creator Roger Ailes. Charlize Theron does a killer job playing newscaster Megyn Kelly. The real story here, however, is Nicole Kidman’s portrayal of Gretchen Carlson, the news anchor who had the courage to file the sexual harassment suit against Ailes that blew the lid off Fox News. The movie has award winner written all over it.

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”: This latest and possibly last installment of the “Star Wars” series doesn’t break any new ground or come close to competing with the original trilogy. But Harrison Ford returns for a cameo, and Billy Dee Williams has a real role in the film. Those of us who are longtime devotees of the “Star Wars” series will find comfort just to have another chapter to watch. Casual moviegoers will be easily able to pick up the plot and backstory, and at 2½ hours, it will still keep your interest.

Away we go: 49ers football in all its glory and goof-ups heads to Seattle on Sunday for the rematch against the Seattle Seahawks. The winner gets the home field advantage for the playoffs. But either way, the Niners are playoff-bound with what appears to be the best collection of entertainingly inconsistent players in the league.

We have been plagued with serious injuries and marginal-quality backups. The replacement center’s snaps appear to be higher than quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo’s forward passes.

The last Seahawks-Niners game was one of the best of the season, so the rematch is a must-see.

Plus, we have the added attraction of witnessing the late-season return of running back Marshawn Lynch to the Seahawks lineup.

The drama is back, and so are the Niners.

Let us pray it stays that way.

Want to sound off? Email: wbrown@sfchronicle.com