What do “Godfather,” “Goldfinger” and “Rio Bravo” have in common?

The answer isn’t actors, locations, themes or directors.

They’re all wines, created and served at the Movie House Winery in Morrilton.

Ken Sowers, a chiropractor, had been making his own hobby wines for years, wife Sherrie explains, and the couple both loved winery visits and wine tastings. A winery seemed like a great pre-retirement plan - but they lived in a dry county.

So they cast about for a location, and Morrilton captured their collective imagination.

“The historic downtown is beautiful, with so much potential,” Sherrie Sowers says. “We saw women jogging, people walking dogs and families pushing baby strollers. It seemed safe and peaceful.

And a lovely new high-end apartment complex was just opening.”

Across the street from the warehouse-turned-apartments was the 1930s Petit Jean Movie Theatre, which had been gutted and was in terrible shape, Sowers remembers. The couple ended up buying the structure and putting Ken’s office on one side, the winery on the other and their own apartment upstairs.

Movie House Winery opened for business in 2011.

“This is the wine and spine building,” Sowers jokes. “If one of us doesn’t fix you, the other one will.” Their wines - Sowers says she usually has seven or eight ready to serve - range from semi-sweet to dry reds to dry whites, all made in small batches and named after the movies thatinspire them.

For example, one of the best-sellers is 3 Wise Fools, a pomegranate wild berry zinfandel.

“Everyone is into pomegranates,” Sowers told Jill Rohrbach, a writer for the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. “It’s a super food. If you can blend it into your wines, why not? It’s fruity and light. We can’t keep it on the shelves.”

Another semi-sweet wine that is a little drier than 3 Wise Fools is Sideways, a black cherry pinot noir. Other semi-sweets include Baby Face (peach chardonnay), Godfather (cranberry Chianti), Goldfinger (gold kiwi sauvignon blanc, and Rio Bravo (blackberry merlot).

In the dry whites there is a Gone With the Wine, which finishes like a Riesling, On Golden Pond (chardonnay) and a My Fair Lady (sauvignonblanc). The winery also serves Harvey (merlot), Tango (a tempranillo malbec), Grand Hotel (cabernet sauvignon) and a red muscadine.

Sowers says the semisweets are most popular with women and have only about an 8 percent alcohol content.

Couples tend to find the winery because it is listed on the Arkansas Wine Trail or through advertising at tourist attractions such as nearby Petit Jean State Park, but she also hosts private celebrations such as bridal showers and “nights out” that draw female customers.

Until now, the winery has been wine only, but Sowers says in the next month or so, she’ll start serving artisan bread with cheese and sausage, and there’s a bigger menu planned.

“We have purchased another building that connects to the back of our building, and we’ll be moving our production over there,” she says, “and once we do that, we’ll have the kitchen area available to do soups and sandwiches.”

The winery is open Monday through Saturday and offers regular wine tastings and classes, along with wine and beer making supplies, custommade wine baskets and winerelated gifts.

Sowers says her overall goal is to create a comfortable and fun atmosphere.

“We are not a snobby winery. Not pretentious,” she adds.

ON THE MENU Movie House Winery

HOURS - 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday

WHERE - 112 E. Commerce St. in Morrilton

PHONE - 501-215-4899

WEBSITE - moviehousewinery.com.

Whats Up, Pages 19 on 01/31/2014