(TheDrinksBusiness) - Rex Pickett, author of popular wine-themed novel Sideways, which inspired the Oscar winning movie of the same name, has released his first Pinot Noir onto the market.

Dubbed Ne Plus Ultra, meaning “the highest point” in Latin, the 2011 Pinot Noir hails from the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

For Pickett, it could only ever have been Pinot – his protagonist Miles in Sideways is obsessed with the temperamental grape variety, waxing lyrical about its delicate beauty throughout the book.

“When I decided to produce my own wine, I knew immediately it would be a Pinot Noir, the grape variety so rhapsodically celebrated in Sideways,” Pickett said.

“I looked to the Willamette, home to some of the worlds finest Pinot, and the stage on which the misadventures of Miles and Jack continue my second book Vertical,” he added.

The 13% abv wine is made from grapes grown at high altitude on Laurelwood soils at Twelve Oaks Estate Vineyard in the Chehalem Mountains AVA.

Pickett has collaborated with Oregon winemakers Drew Voit and Darcy Pendergrass on the project.