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The wines of The Man With The Golden Gun

20 December 2024 By Louis Thomas

To mark the 50th anniversary of the release of Roger Moore’s second outing as James Bond, db looks at the Champagne, Bordeaux and Thai sparkling wine that 007 drinks during the film.

Christmas is a time for friends and family, but also, more importantly, Bond films and the (moderate) consumption of alcohol.

Released onto the silver screen in the UK on 20 December 1974, The Man With The Golden Gun saw Ian Fleming’s literary creation travel across the globe from Beirut to Bangkok in search of an assassin just as ruthless and suave as Bond himself, though with a bit more bling.

In the run-up to the film’s pre-Christmas release, Moore starred in an advert for the British Milk Marketing Board with the slogan “Pick up a pinta – stay on top”. However, in the film itself Bond was fortifying himself for his ordeal with something a bit stronger than a glass of semi-skimmed.

“Right away, Monsieur Scaramanga”

In the pre-title sequence where we are introduced to Francisco Scaramanga, the eponymous man with the golden gun, his scheming servant and henchman Nick Nack carries a tray with a bottle of Guinness and a bottle of Moët & Chandon, perhaps suggesting that the villain has a fondness for Black Velvet cocktails, though he is later seen drinking the stout on its own, suggesting that the fizz is for his mistress, Andrea Anders.

Perhaps the earliest indication of Nick Nack’s evil ways is that he vulgarly pops the Champagne bottle open, allowing the contents to overflow – good for the camera, but terrible service.

As the clear shot of the brand name suggests, the Champagne was included as part of an advertising agreement, proving that product placement is nothing new in the Bond franchise. Supposedly, for filming purposes, it was not sparkling wine that was contained within, but ginger ale.

“Phuyuck?!”

While very much played for laughs, given what ‘Phuyuck’ can sound like with a slight rearrangement of its letters, this complimentary bottle of Thai sparkling wine does initially gain a coveted “I approve” from 007 before, in Bond’s signature caddish style, he then reveals that he is in fact talking about his female dining companion Mary Goodnight’s “frock”.

The wine presented to Bond is a fictional brand, and from the 1974 vintage, the year the film is set. Though, again, this is a joke at the expense of Thai wine, there is a grain of truth to it, as the country’s tropical climate means that the vines can go through multiple growing cycles, and therefore be harvested multiple times, in a year.

Thailand’s high humidity does not lend itself to growing grapes for sparkling wine (cooler climates, which can help to preserve the acidity needed for the base wine, are generally more favourable). Though there are a small number of producers, they don’t tend to use the textbook traditional method fizz grapes of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, instead opting for hardier varieties, like Colombard.

Given his Old World tastes, it’s probably best that Bond sticks to the Bollinger, although that only became the secret agent’s go-to fizz from 1979 onwards.

“A vulgar display, but I couldn’t resist it!”

When Bond arrives at the remote island lair of his adversary Scaramanga, Nick Nack greets him with a bottle of 1964 Dom Pérignon.

“I prefer the ’62 myself,” comments Bond, before Scaramanga, as played by Christopher Lee, flaunts his prowess with a pistol and shoots the cork off.

Today, both the ’62 and ’64 are well-regarded, though the latter was a notably hotter vintage in Champagne, with Dom Pérignon beginning the harvest on 16 September, as opposed to a start date of 4 October in 1962.

Perhaps Bond is, like many a modern wine critic, a fan of the freshness that comes with a cooler year and longer ripening period, or maybe his vintage preference is simply a reference to the character’s first onscreen outing in an EON production, 1962’s Dr. No.

Earlier in the film, when Bond breaks into the hotel room of Scaramanga’s girlfriend, he brings with him a hamper containing what looks like a bottle of Dom Pérignon, popping it open (sans gun), pouring a couple of coupes, and blackmailing the unfortunate Miss Anders into collaborating with him. He clinks glasses with a “bottoms up” and a raised eyebrow, before the scene cuts to a rather literal interpretation of the toast.

“Slightly reminiscent of a ’34 Mouton…”

Part of what makes Lee’s Scaramanga such a likeable Bond baddy is his fondness for living well, though it seems that his enthusiasm for fine wine is not matched by a profound knowledge of the subject. His well-filled wine rack and love of big Champagne brands certainly suggest that his one million a shot fee isn’t going to waste, however.

During a tense lunch before their duel, Bond compares the “excellent” wine served to the 1934 vintage of Château Mouton Rotschild, to which the three-nippled villain enthusiastically replies: “Then I must add it to my cellar!”

The actual identity of the wine which is served is not clear – it closely resembles a bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild, which Bond refers to in A View To A Kill as “another excellent choice” in relation to the 1959 vintage. Given the wine consumed in The Man With The Golden Gun obviously has some age on it, it would probably nicely complement the mushrooms that Nick Nack prepared for lunch.

As for the 1934 vintage, it was certainly a good one for Bordeaux: a hot growing season with high yields, and a flattering comparison for 007 to make.

Bond is a noted fan of the prestigious Pauillac producers, as evidenced in Diamonds Are Forever when he, as played by Sean Connery, realises that the waiter serving him a Mouton Rotschild ’55 is actually one of Blofeld’s henchman after he fails to realise that “Mouton Rotshchild is a Claret”.

It was actually only in 1973, the year before the film’s release, that Château Mouton Rothschild was bumped up from Second Growth to First Growth status. Lafite Rothschild meanwhile has been at the top tier since 1855.

“Got all of the glass out of the bed, I trust?”

The Man With The Golden Gun may well have the dubious distinction of being the 007 film with the most (prop) wine bottles smashed. During a fight in a Beirut nightclub a thug shatters an (empty) bottle of what looks like it could be Bollinger over our hero’s head, and when Bond and Goodnight escape on Scaramanga’s ship, Nick Nack pounces upon them whilst they are in flagrante, so to speak, and proceeds to throw more than a dozen (again, conveniently empty) bottles of wine at Bond before he is then trapped in a suitcase. The tally of broken bottles is even higher when you consider that Scaramanga’s wine collection gets blown up along with his lair.

Of course, there are elements of the film which perhaps haven’t held up as well as a ’34 Mouton – attitudes towards foreign cultures and women are criticisms often levelled against the franchise in general – but from a wine perspective, it seems that despite puffing on cigars most of the time, Moore’s Bond has quite the palate. Bottoms up.

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