A Foodie and a Wine Buff Walk Into a Web Show

By 09/02/2011
A Foodie and a Wine Buff Walk Into a Web Show

Whitney Adams of Brunellos Have More Fun and Claire Thomas of The Kitchy Kitchen have turned the task of creating a short video into an artful fun romp. We dare you to watch an episode of their series Take Out and not have a smile on your face. In each video sommelier Whitney Adams chooses a wine to drink with a dish of take-out food. Thomas then shoots video of Adams exploring the pairing by drinking the wine with the dish and exploring the combination. For anyone wondering if Ricky’s Fish Tacos goes well with a 2009 Von Buhl Armand Kabinett reisling, the answer is yes.

Shot in the style of a music video with superimposed text and cut away images of the tasting notes and flavors Adams finds in the wine. In the videos she may also be petting a cute dog or sharing a pizza with friends ensuring that all who watch would be happy to live in her delicious world.

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Tubefilter caught up with Adams and Thomas between tastings to find out more about how they bring their take on drinking wine to the small screen.

Tubefilter: How long have you been involved in the wine industry?
Whitney Adams: About 3 years. It all started when I was general manager of an Italian restaurant here in LA and because of certain circumstances had to take over managing the wine list and doing staff education. I fell in love. It just all made sense to me in a way that other things hadn’t. My interest in Italian wine was the starting point and is still my passion and focus. But working in retail now, I’ve been able to taste and fall in love all over again with so many amazing wines from all over the world.

Tubefilter: Where can we find you pouring, drinking and selling wine?
Adams: I’m a sommelier at Terroni and Italian buyer and general do everything kind of gal at Domaine LA wine shop. You can also find me talking about what I pour, drink, and sell on my blog- Brunellos Have More Fun or my podcast The Crush on Homefries.com.

Tubefilter: Where did the idea for the Take Out series come from?
Adams: I’ve been wanting to do some video content for my blog for a while now. One night a friend asked if I would start pairing wines to take out food on my blog, since she never knew what to drink with her Thai or pizza delivery. I thought that would be a great concept for the videos. I thought of only one person I would want to direct the videos and that was Claire Thomas. I approached her about it and she was game! And she had a ton of wonderful ideas to bring to the table. It has become a true collaboration.

Tubefilter: How do you choose the pairings?
Adams: I start with the food first. And I think about how I would want to experience the moment and the food. Then, I come up with of a few wines that fit a certain profile in regards to texture, acidity, fruit and how those elements will play with the flavors and textures of the food. Then I narrow it down to one. My criteria is does it make my mouth water to think about drinking this wine with this food? If yes, we’ve got a winner.

Tubefilter: What camera do you shoot the footage with? How are the videos shot? How many people are on set to make it happen?
Claire Thomas: I always shoot my tabletop videos with a [Canon] 5D, but because of the loose, intimate vibe of Whitney enjoying wine with her friends, I played around a lot in post with vintage film grains to get a soft, almost Polaroid look. I’ve been working with my DP, Yayo for about a year now and we have a total short hand. I board the shoot ahead of time, and we discuss the angles and ideas, we slap the lenses I use for food photography, lots of macro lenses, and have fun playing around. It’s basically the two of us running wild.

Tubefilter: What is the editing process?
Thomas: It’s me on my couch with my laptop. I start with rough cuts and then go on a massive music hunt. Once I find the perfect song, I polish the edit and color correct. My cousin in-law works as a colorist, so he hooked me up with a whole slate of different vintage film grains treated in different ways, which gives a really fun texture to the video. My aunt created graphics to emulate 19th century wine labels and bistro menus. She did a knock out job. I’m so happy with how the whole thing came together.

Tubefilter: In the videos there are inset shots of the tasting notes and flavors. How did that idea come about? How is that section of the video set up and shot?
Thomas: I had this idea of the videos feeling sort of languid and relaxed, and then having a beat of quick cuts, so the tasting notes were a natural fit.  Whitney always has the most inventive descriptions- I mean, sparkly diamonds was one! – which leant themselves to being visualized.

Tubefilter: How many videos do you have planned in the series?
Adams: There are several in the works to be filmed next month. We’ve expanded on the Take Out theme and, really, the possibilities are endless within this format. So, we’ll keep producing them as long as we have interesting new ideas.

Tubefilter: What are some of your favorite wine related series?
Adams: I like the things that “Finkus Bripp” of Wine on the Rocks is doing with wine media and enjoy the premise of the Stanley Tucci show on PBS, Vine Talk. I love the idea of seeing a group of people/friends enjoying wine and discussing it.

Tubefilter: Do you have more video series planned?
Adams: Claire and I are having a lot of fun. We are excited to see where this will take us and how we can develop the series and make it even better.

For more wine related topics check out Adams weekly podcast The Crush in which she and Christina Pickard cover the world of wine, cocktails and food pairings.

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