No wine fit for “Ratatouille”

For anyone wondering what wine goes best with "Ratatouille," Walt Disney Co. officials have this answer: None. In a story reported earlier this week in the Los Angeles Times, Disney officials said they've backed away from an earlier agreement to allow a 2004 French white Burgundy to carry the features of Remy, the haute cuisine-loving rodent star of the movie "Ratatouille." Disney said it had second-thoughts about the popular rat-faced star appearing on a bottle of wine after getting heat from California winemakers and opponents of under-age drinking. "We decided to just not go through with it," Disney spokesman Gary Foster told LA Times reporter Marc Lifsher. "We've been getting a trickle of complaints and inquiries." The cartoon-rat wine was set to appear in the big-box aisles of Costco, Lifsher reported, but that company withdrew its plans, too. Apparently, at least according to the LA Times story, the California winemakers were upset the movie promoted a French wine, evidently overlooking the fact the entire movie was French-based. However, a spokesperson from the California Wine Institute said that group's concern was based on a code of advertising standards that bans advertising appealing to underage drinkers. C'est la vie in the life of a DVD rat.