Bryan Alexander

USA TODAY

It was one line in the 2004 film Sideways, but 10 years later it still reverberates.

The set-up: Thomas Haden Church's womanizing character Jack tries to get Paul Giamatti's wine snob character Miles to join him and even drink a glass of Merlot.

Miles' retort — "If anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving, I am NOT drinking any (expletive) Merlot!" — sent shock waves.

As the film celebrates its 10th anniversary Tuesday with the release of a new Blu-Ray edition, the film's impact on the California wine industry continues. It was especially beneficial for Pinot Noir wines, which are so highly praised in the movie. Meanwhile, some believe the Miles line dealt Merlot a blow.

"You know, it was just a joke," director Alexander Payne says with a laugh. "But it sort of became the equivalent of 1934's It Happened One Night, when Clark Gable removed his shirt to reveal no undershirt. Reportedly sales of undershirts plummeted. I never would have predicted this film would hit the zeitgeist."

Sideways is a rare comedy — admired by critics and a box office hit ($72 million domestically). It launched its stars' careers (Giamatti, Church, Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh). Japanese filmmakers made their own tribute version. It even garnered Payne an adapted-screenplay Oscar.

"But somehow this line has stuck," says Payne. "It has become the standout line, perhaps its most remembered joke."

The withering blow in the hit comedy was at least a purple-colored bruise for the popular wine variety.

"People called it the 'Sideways effect on Merlot,' " says Steven S. Cuellar, chair of the department of economics at Sonoma State University. "Here in wine country when you speak to people who produce Merlot, there is a lot of conventional wisdom and folklore about declining Merlot sales after Sideways."

In the wine tempest that followed, Payne (who admits to being a Merlot fan) recalls receiving a magnum of Trefethen Merlot.

"The accompanying note read, 'Dear Alexander Payne. I'll bet Miles and Jack never tried Trefethen Merlot. Signed Janet Trefethen.' That was such a lovely gesture," says Payne. "I have been a fan ever since."

In terms of national numbers, however, Cuellar studied national grocery store sales to see that Merlot was already declining before Sideways and continued to fall at 1.4% a year after 2005. Still, it remains one of the most popular wine varieties, despite a loss in market share.

"You don't see the Sideways dagger to the heart to Merlot or that reversal of fortune," says Cuellar.

But the big winner was Pinot Noir, which an A.C. Nielsen analysis showed hitting record levels, up 16% in the months after Sideways. Cuellar says Pinot Noir sales have continued to increase at a rate of nearly 9% since.

"Pinot Noir became the rising star in wine," says Gladys Horiuchi of the San Francisco-based Wine Institute, "And Sideways had at least something to do with that."

At Sunday's 10-year anniversary screening in the film's location, Santa Barbara, Payne still handled questions aboutthat Merlot joke. But Seth Kunin, owner/winemaker of Santa Barbara's Kunin Wines, says the audience knew Sideways put Santa Barbara on the wine-destination map.

"Ten years later, it's win-win-win because of Sideways, just ask the restaurant owners and hoteliers," says Kunin. "There is no bad press about this movie. Well, except that one line."