Hey, Spoiler Specials listeners, Dana Stevens here. If you haven’t heard the Slate podcast Decoder Ring yet, I urge you to check it out. Hosted by our friend Willa Paskin, each episode cracks a different cultural mystery by examining its history and why it still matters today. In their new season they look at how men’s razors went from one...to two...to five blades! They explore how "method acting" became so misunderstood—there’s more to it than just Jared Leto behaving badly.

And now, we present their latest which I loved. It follows the unlikely path of a 2004 indie flick from director Alexander Payne...off the screen and onto our restaurant menus. Decades later, the American wine industry is still under the influence of “The Sideways Effect." Make sure to subscribe to Decoder Ring wherever you listen, and I hope you enjoy this episode!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices