Luxury isn’t just around our environment anymore. Its allure and presence are felt on a silver screen or on our monitors. The newest season of the Guy Ritchie Netflix series, The Gentlemen, is living proof of that.
The Gentlemen is an action-comedy series, spun off from a 2019 film by the same director, that traces the journey of aristocrat Eddie Halstead, who inherits the family estate and discovers that it’s home to an enormous weed empire whose proprietors aren’t ready to leave.
Back for its second season, The Gentlemen is already making waves with its first episode. But not just for the usual reasons of story, plot, direction, and acting. Viewers are genuinely excited about how the show is going to progress, and how the Halstead-Glass weed-producing empire spreads to the Mediterranean, with farms spread beneath sprawling Italian castles and villas.
However, there is one other thing that caught the attention of certain enthusiasts during the first episode: Every Bottle of Wine.
In the first episode of the second season, Eddie hosts a classic English hunting weekend that culminates in a banquet with a frankly ridiculous selection of wines.
Let’s have a breakdown of those wines seen in the show.
- Pétrus, Pomerol, 2009 and 1998 – In this episode, the character of Lucky Lord Hawthorne describes a 1998 Pétrus bottle as, “One of the most highly regarded Pétrus vintages of the decade and received 100 points from Jancis Robinson.” The current market price for a bottle of the 1998 is around £4,000.
Pétrus is the kind of wine that is collected, traded, and carefully cellared, rather than just casually opened at dinner. Luxury enthusiasts who are also wine connoisseurs are extremely selective about these wines.
As for the 2009 edition of Pétrus, it is one of the most coveted wines in the world. A double magnum Pétrus would cost around £47,000. It’s nearly 12 times the price of the 1998 version. It is an outrageous flex that only a handful of Luxury enthusiasts can pull off. Serving a double magnum is less about “Would you like some wine?” and more about “Welcome to my empire.”
- Masseto – Masseto is the Italian fine wine royalty. It is a cult Tuscan 100% Merlot (same as Pétrus) from Bolgheri. Masseto is the wine that helped put Italy on the map as the “World’s Best Red Wine Producer,” right alongside some of the world’s other most prestigious bottles. It currently costs around £700 to £1,000.
- Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1989 – Mouton Rothschild is one of Bordeaux’s legendary First Growth Estates, and the 1989 is a seriously impressive and mature bottle. Mouton’s USP lies mostly in its collectability. Every vintage features a specially commissioned artist label, making the bottles more than just wine and cultural objects. Famous artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Andy Warhol have previously created specially commissioned labels. Expect to pay at least £500 to pour a bottle now.
Just as a parting thought, the show also delves into the origins of wine contested between France and Italy. It is hilarious, to say the least. As Katie Lawton, a London-based wine communicator, aptly puts it, “The French gave us Bordeaux and Burgundy; the Italians gave us Barolo and Brunello. Arguing over who is better is the perfect excuse to open a bottle of each.”
So, here’s to happy wining, and to all the luxury enthusiasts who are extremely enthused by the show; keep watching and finding more luxury-inspired elements from it.
