MONDOVINO SLANT
Fascinating how a documentary (which took well over 3 years for Jonathan Nossiter to complete) could inspire such utter distaste from the wine critique collective. Robert Parker and James Suckling, both of which were centerpieces to the film's theme, found it to be quite disingenuous (if you are not a Wine Spectator subscriber, you may not be able to view the link). The film definitely took a sympathetic, as well as romanticized perspective towards what a traditionally organic and natural animal wine can be. It was somewhat of a face-off, pitting the big bad wolf of the flying wine consultant against the old world vintner whom can only embrace neutral casks and Mother Nature’s soils. One of the most defiant battle cries shot out against the potency of numerically scored wine reviews that seem to entice a homogenous world filled with wine manipulation, coerced vinous concentration and lack of unique terroir thumbprint.

The more that I become involved w/in the wine world, the more I am able to appreciate why the wine writing public took such offense. In fact, the more I watch it (masochistically), the more bothered I am by it. From a cinema point of view, it is well defined w/ humor, character development and battle scars. Check it out if you haven't already.