Winelands: Sour Grapes

As part of this year's Winelands Festival in Lewes, enjoy a special one-off screening of Sour Grapes at Depot cinema, accompanied by a post-film wine tasting in the auditorium and an afterparty in the Depot garden.

Presented by director Jerry Rothwell, Sour Grapes is a 2016 documentary exploring how notorious wine fraudster Rudy Kurniwan befriended rich and powerful wine collectors to sell fake wine through top auction houses. With pockets full of cash, charisma and a preternatural memory for vintages, an unassuming young Rudy Kurniawan earns the reputation of a wine savant, surrounding himself with some of the world's most fervent wine connoisseurs. But when Bill Koch, a top US collector, and Laurent Ponsot, a Burgundian wine producer, discover suspicious bottles, an investigation begins into one of the most ingenious cons of our time.

The tasting will be led by Lewes Master of Wine Mike Best, who presented Battle of the Bubbles right here in Lewes in 2025. There will be two wines to try in a blind tasting after the film, one a genuine Burgundy from the famous Clos des Mouches vineyard in Côte de Beaune, the other a concoction of much less expensive wines designed to fool even the most experienced tasters into believing it is worth over £100 per bottle! Wines will be supplied by Symposium in Lewes.

Following the film and tasting event, you will be invited to share a glass of sparkling or still wine from a local Sussex vineyard in the Depot garden (or in the Gallery in the event of rain).

The film, blind tasting, and afterparty are all included in the price of the ticket.

Schedule:

18:00 - Screening of Sour Grapes with introduction by director Jerry Rothwell, followed by blind tasting of two wines led by Lewes Master of Wine Mike Best
20:00 - Afterparty featuring local wines and a cash bar