Hardy Rodenstock, Rudy Kurniawan, Marge Simpson? America’s iconic animated series The Simpsons is tackling the issue of wine counterfeiting in “Bottle Episode,” an episode that premieres Dec. 29. The premise? Marge and Waylon Smithers start counterfeiting rare red Burgundy.
While Homer may prefer Duff beer, there are plenty of enophiles on the Simpsons staff. “There’s a lot of people who love wine in the [Simpsons writers] room,” says Johnny LaZebnik, who co-wrote the episode with his father, Rob, a Simpsons veteran writer and co-executive producer.
Noble Ideas, Criminal Intent and a Splash of Manischewitz
The show’s premise is a typical, tangled Simpsons tale. Waylon Smithers, Mr. Burns’ long-suffering personal assistant, is growing tired of the unethical or just plain demeaning duties his boss tasks him with. But his latest job is particularly fragile.
Burns has purchased a bottle of Gevrey-Chambertin that reportedly belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte. Naturally, Smithers is forced to ask Homer Simpson (from sector 7-G) to transport the bottle when everyone else is busy. Homer does his best to take care of the rare wine, but Marge unknowingly uncorks it and employs it to liven up a pot of stew.
Desperate to cover up the mishap, Marge and Waylon ask Professor Frink for help in concocting a substitute. Various ingredients—including Manischewitz—go into the bottle, and voila, Burns’ palate is fooled. After drinking too much wine on their own, the new counterfeiters decide to forge another bottle, auction it off and use the money for charitable endeavors. Which all sounds good until they’re busted and sent to wine jail, where they’ll stand trial. Plenty of vinous humor follows.
A Love Letter, with Plenty of Teasing
Rob LaZebnik says the story was inspired by reports on the Jefferson bottles, which Hardy Rodenstock claimed had been produced by Bordeaux first growths for Thomas Jefferson. Rob has long been fascinated with how art and objects are enhanced by the emotional and historical value we ascribe to them. “I’m fond of shows about art and collecting,” Rob explains. “I did [an episode] a few years ago called ‘The War of Art’ that was in the same area of, what is the meaning of things we collect?”
This being the Simpsons, nothing is sacred, and some of the absurdities of collecting and wine auctions are fat targets. But there’s also a recognition of what makes wine special—particularly the people who make it from unique places.
“I’m definitely a wine fan,” says Rob. “Living in California, I’ve been to many wine regions.” He even has made wine from a backyard vine, though he’s quick to say no one would mistake it for Gevrey-Chambertin. “Hopefully in some ways the show is a little bit of a love letter to wine. Obviously Marge, even though her taste runs sort of plebeian, she loves wine.”
This was Johnny’s second episode of work on The Simpsons, and he says he is definitely a wine newbie, so while his father brought Smithers’ wine expertise, he brought Marge’s newbie curiosity.
“Something that was always very important in the room was this idea that we didn’t want to end the episode by saying, you know, you can fake wine really easily,” says Johnny. “We were very staunch in the belief that we should communicate the message that wine is a real art, and there’s the science and the craft behind it.” One could say the same for first-class comedy.
“Bottle Episode” premieres Dec. 29 on Fox.
