When the subject of natural wine polarization arises, the debate generally spirals into stereotypes: a debate about defective funky wines, hippie producers, and definitions. But the new documentary film, “Living wine“I hope to change that trivial argument.
movie, Opened July 15th at a carefully selected theaterFocuses on a small group of natural winemakers in California. It has far more nuances than the typical one, and examines the myriad reasons they choose to work with natural wines and the many rationale for consumers to drink it.
In this context, natural wine is not presented as a trend or a generational emblem. Engagement is a conscious choice. Their reasons may overlap, but each of the film’s producers has different emphasis.
Gideon Bainstock and Salon Rice Kuro Salon In the hills of Sierra, we believe that the method makes the best wines and provides the best expression of the vineyards, so we make wines without additives.
“The fact that we don’t add anything isn’t because it’s natural,” Bainstock said. “Why do I add something? The wine doesn’t improve.”
Dalek Trowbridge Old World Winery The Russian River Valley believes in the traditional method embodied by his ancestors who planted vineyards in the area almost 100 years ago before chemical farming became the norm. He wants to portray the characteristic terroir of his vineyard, but he himself is a caretaker of nature and believes he plays a sacred role.
“I strive to do good things for the land and for the ecosystem on my farm,” he said. “The place where I live spiritually is where I want to live as a peasant, not the separation of the two.”
For Meganbell Margin wineShares production facilities outside Santa Claus with James Jerks Flores wineThe reason is more political and was born out of her sneaky experience as a young woman in a Napa Valley male-dominated winery.
“I didn’t like my job,” she said. “I liked my physical behavior, but my culture and treatment were afraid to go to work every day. No one wants to work when my abilities are constantly questioned.”
She is a minimalist and tries to work efficiently rather than create art. She mainly chose to work in grapes and areas where she believes she is ignored in the corporate wine world. Be kicked out.
“If I had worked in a better industry, I wouldn’t have started my own company,” she said.
The reason for making natural wine is mainly the cultural one of Dani Rosman. Laonda, In the hills of Sierra. He wants to separate Americans from the idea that the American wine industry dates back directly to modern Europe. Instead, he wants to focus on the shared viticulture and winemaking history that began when North and South America, and Spanish missionaries planted listánprieto, or mission vines, in North and South America. I am.
Working with Chilean farmers has given him insights into alternatives to mainstream winemaking. “All the equipment has been developed to facilitate winemaking, but that doesn’t mean it will improve,” he said.
Following their personal muse, all of these producers went outside of traditional winemaking and adopted traditional pre-industrial production methods while adopting a fertilizer- and spray-free farming style. I was drawn.
The whole thing is the climate crisis, with repeated threats of intense heat waves, droughts, and deadly and devastating fires in California. In the process of filming, each of these producers was directly affected by the fire.
While these winemakers do not say they are working specifically to combat climate change, the film addresses the tremendous harm that traditional agriculture has done to ecosystems and climate. It also has hope if the world can move away from chemical agriculture and focus on soil health and other construction. How to playAgriculture can be an important part of the solution.
Lori Miller, producer and director of Living Wine, said he was attracted to these themes because they worked on fringes.
“I love talking about people outside the normal corporate world, people who don’t play games but get inspiration from the inside,” she said in a telephone interview. “This story was unconventional.”
Miller, who holds producer credits for “They Came to Play” and “Shakespeare High,” considers himself a culinary and wine lover, but knew little about natural wine before starting this project.
Her brother, Ben Miller and his family have moved to a new home outside Santa Rosa, where the vineyards are located.They were disappointed to find that the vineyards were regularly sprayed with herbicides. Glyphosate, It may have infiltrated the wells that supplied their household water. He was introduced to Mr. Trowbridge, who started the process of pulling the vineyard away from chemical treatment.
“That was an opportunity to learn more about this,” Miller said. “I started looking at the wine I was buying, but I didn’t know.”
She said she was buying and trying to cook only organic food, and was shocked to find that most of the wine she was drinking had nothing to do with the food she was buying.
“I always thought wine was a natural drink,” she said. “But if you go to a grocery store and pull something off the shelf, it could have been cultivated with chemicals or in a terrible way to the environment.”
Miller imagines that the person watching the movie is very similar to her and is very conscious of where the food comes from, but thinks little about wine. increase. The first word of “Living Wine” comes from Mr. Trowbridge.
“The movement of natural wine lags behind the movement of organic foods by about 20 years,” he said. “We can’t see the processing, but wine is usually a machine-made product. This means an aid to getting it to work in a timely manner.
“People don’t understand that,” he continued. “I didn’t know that until I got my master’s degree in winemaking.”
With the help of two supporters of regenerative agriculture, Elizabeth Candelario When Dr. Timothy LaSalleThe film traces the rise of chemical agriculture to the conversion of a closed munitions factory after World War II. Instead, the nitrogen in the bomb was used to make fertilizer, and nerve agents became a component of pesticides.
With the support of the government and big agriculture, students and farmers were taught industrialized forms of agriculture to increase production. Industrial methods have resulted in much more specialized agriculture rather than the more natural and complex ecosystems of pre-industrial agriculture, building a reliance on Big Ag companies.
“Nature works only in the whole system,” said Dr. LaSalle. “She can’t work apart. When she brings something in, it changes and causes unexpected results.”
This movie never loses the thread between agriculture and wine. In the minds of many, it’s just a product on the shelves of a supermarket.
“Every form of agriculture is harmful to the environment, at any scale, even in the garden, but we strive to minimize our footprint,” Bainstock said.
Their winemaking facilities are rustic and far from the popular and imaginary wealthy tourist outposts. They are designed for work and labor is difficult. Motivation is more personal than profit, but choosing to work outside the mainstream is stressful in its own way.
“I’m still in the place where I’ve been getting food stamps for a year, and I’m doing other work,” said Bell at Margins Wines. “Because I put all my money into my business.”
She and Mr. Jelks of Florèz Wines equipped their practical facilities with pre-owned equipment and cast-offs. It’s not ideal, it’s not easy, but it’s free.
“We just mess up and stay elastic and never stop,” Jelks said.
As for the natural wine itself, because of the expectations that arise from drinking years of mundane examples, just as farm-grown tomatoes shock those accustomed to shiny supermarket tomatoes. In addition, the movie admits that it can take time for consumers to adapt to them.
In contrast to traditional Chardonnay and natural Chardonnay, one consumer described a traditional bottle as “everything programmed to expect Chardonnay.” The natural example was different, she said, but “perhaps a more accurate representation of what the actual grapes are.”
Like good natural wine, this movie is not without small scratches. Traditional wine portraits are too black and white. This offers far more approaches.
But producers and their idealism, selflessness, and commitment are exciting. As the movie states, less than 1% of the wines produced in California are natural wines, but they chose to act on a principle rather than despairing and resigning.
The film ultimately offers not the official California wine country cliché for a good life, but as Clos Saron’s harvesting intern Turny Shields mentions Bainstock. It’s a way to live reflexively.
“His philosophy is to think about what life looks like when you are constantly cultivating and to constantly pay attention to what you are growing.”
Climate turmoil can be overwhelming, but Miller hopes the film will motivate him.
“Even if you’re cultivating only a few acres, composting in your garden, or having small colonies of bees, you can make a difference,” she said. “I hope it’s inspiring to introduce someone who never gives up.”
