Yup, you heard me.  I said Disney, Flubber, and Pinot Noir.  What do they have in common?  Do you know?  Hmmm…Let’s see….Disney and Flubber – the connection is easy, right?  The Absent Minded Professor (1961), Son of Flubber (1963), and plain old Flubber (1997) were all Disney movies, right?  Professor Brainard and his wacky invention (Flubber) were central to the theme of all three pictures.

So, where does the wine come it?  Well…The star of both The Absent Minded Professor and Son of Flubber, the man who played Professor Brainard, was none other than Fred MacMurray.  If you look at the label on our selection of wine for this evening, you’ll notice it says “MacMurray Ranch”.  And, YES, the Ranch once belonged to THE Fred MacMurray.  Tah-Dah!  It all falls into place!!!

Fred MacMurray – Born Frederick Martin MacMurray (1908-1991)- began his acting career in 1929.  He starred in many movies including Double Indemnity (1944), The Caine Mutiny (1954), and The Apartment (1960).  He’s well remembered for playing the character Steve Douglas in My Three Sons on TV from 1960 to 1972 (I LOVED that show!).   Fred MacMurray purchased the MacMurray Ranch (then known as The Porter Family Ranch) in 1941 and, while enjoying his acting career, managed to make the Ranch a home and working farm.  He was particularly interested in raising (from the MacMurray Ranch website) “Milking Shorthorns, Romeldale Sheep, Rhode Island laying hens, orchards & vegetable gardens.  Fred spent nineteen years breeding & improving the great Angus breed beginning with the imported bull, Pyros of Islip, from Scotland.”

A wonderful history of the MacMurray Ranch can be found here.

From the MacMurray Ranch website:

“The Ranch

An Enchanted Place

Nestled in the Middle Reach of Sonoma’s Russian River Valley, our ranch has been a farmstead since the 1850s, when Col. George Porter built a home here for his family beside a small stream – now called Porter Creek – that flows into the nearby Russian River. Generations of Porters farmed livestock and crops on the rich silt soils of the valley floor until Hollywood legend Fred MacMurray bought the ranch in 1941. Fred embraced the rancher’s lifestyle, raising prize-winning cattle, while his children rode horses through the hills.

Wine grapes were first planted here in the mid-1990s. Today, 450 acres of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris vines flourish where cattle once roamed. The original buildings have been faithfully restored, and the 1,500-acre property is now home to old-growth oaks, redwood trees, birds and indigenous wildlife. And, of course, our collection of world-class wines.”

Well, there you have it.  Disney, Flubber, and Pinot Noir, all tied up with a neat bow.  I’m going to go enjoy a glass of that wine now and you can tell me if you guessed right off what the connection was from the clues in the title of this post.