Gourmets of Wine

Some slightly related from Technorati and Google.

[The Littlest Blog] Mondovino: We see footage of people picking grapes, of course, but we also see the clipped exchanges between international wine consultant Michel Rolland and his driver. We see an old man fixing a roof at the winery climb slowly, laboriously from his latter. Nossiter drives home the point that wine is made by people as much as by the land they inhabit. Winemakers both big and small speak to the mystery of terroir, which literally translates as “soil,” but has come to mean a kind of essence of the earth, an organic component to the wine that cannot be synthesized.

[The Downtown Guy] Upcoming Events: About the film “Mondovino”, which screens Friday, July 1, 7:30p; Saturday, July 2, 5:30p & 8:30p. Jonathan Nossiter’s epic exploration into the modern world of wine was filmed across three continents, in five languages. With an insider’s access and an artist’s eye, Nossiter weaves together a complex tapestry of rivalries, alliances, conflicts, and conspiracies, all stemming from the production, distribution, and consumption of one of the oldest, most respected and still affordable luxuries remaining. In English/French/Italian/Spanish/Portuguese with English subtitles.

[Dr. Vino's wine blog] Water in your wine: I was at the Wines from Spain trade tasting yesterday in New York and one rep listed all the grape varietals in a D.O. wine, including many that weren't officially in that D.O. I asked him how that was possible and he replied "you're old enough to know that you can't always believe everything you read. In this case, the producer just does what he wants."

 [movies.normgregory.com] Coming Up This Year: “Batman Begins” (June 15): Barry Bonds is in a documentary this summer, but his bat could not make him Batman. The myth turns Proustian as we examine the tangled roots of Bruce Wayne, played in both his guises by daring actor Christian Bale. Along with whopper effects, there is a wealth of casting: Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe and, for variety, Katie Holmes.

[Vinography.com] Vinography: a wine blog: Mondovino: The Other Wine Movie: At best this is rude, like someone who can't have a serious conversation with you without fidgeting and staring off into space rather than meeting your eye. At worst it is a nasty way of making an unstated point about your subject, as when a rich wine estate owner is talking to the camera, but Nossiter starts filming an old man arthritically climbing a ladder to clean the man's gutters instead, or when a well-to-do winery owner is talking to the camera about the work that has gone into his winery and Nossiter starts filming the automatic pool cleaning device. Compare these types of interviews and footage, usually paired or bookended with either pop, rock, or occasionally folk music, to interviews with the aged old-world winemakers which show very little of the wandering camera syndrome and are usually paired with classical and older styles of music that conjure a nostalgic and romantic mood, and it's hard to argue that Nossiter is treating his subjects with an equal amount of respect.

[Vinography.com] Vinography: a wine blog: Taste Testing The Mondovino Premise: About Mondovino, I saw it in November and what I liked most about it was its balance. I have yet to read the posts on Parker's web site, but I thought the movie presented clearly the feelings and visions of the various players about wine making, without ever becoming judgmental about them or taking sides. It is an excellent and entertaining documentary that highlights yet another collision between old-Europe type approaches and new world entrepreneurship. Both are capable of the best and of the worst.

[Virtual-wine-guide.blogspot.com] wine guide for beginners: The smaller wineries will now be able to better compete with the larger wineries because they will have the ability to ship wine anywhere in the US. For example, a few years ago my wife and I took a trip to upstate New York and visited several wineries in the Cooperstown area.

[Declarationsandexclusions.typepad.com] A Fool in the Forest: When You Drive in Your Car to Sip Fine Pinot ...: Mondovino starts as a mournful elegy for fine wine, but it's too smart, or perhaps too honest, a film to end that way.  Instead, wine emerges as an experience open to invention and reinvention, a nebulous pleasure that can be captured only fleetingly in the strained metaphor of a critic or the romance of an Italian estate before it is reconceived as something wholly different.  Connoisseur Lawrence Osborne claims wine is '99 percent psychological, a creation of where you are and with whom.'  That's a profoundly empowering concept for a beverage once thought to be the province of elites, whether they be crass American businessmen or cranky European farmers.

[Groovygrapes.com] Groovy Grapes Blog: A thought-provoking film about wine and wine culture, MONDOVINO was made by award-winning director and sometime sommelier, Jonathan Nossiter. Filmed in five languages over a three-year period, the documentary features interviews with Michel Rolland, Robert Parker, Hubert de Montille, Aime Guibert, Neal Rosenthal and members of the Mondavi family. Juxtaposing mom-and-pop wine growers with conglomerates, Nossiter intertwines multiple family drama and uncovers a complex tapestry of conflicts, conspiracies, and alliances that all stem from the production, distribution and consumption of one of the oldest remaining and most respected luxuries. Read more about MONDOVINO.

Reflected tags on Technorati: Blog, Mondovino, Gourmets Of Wine