In the photo above, you see me participating in a grape harvest, picking or vintage (Weinlese, vendange) for the first time (in the Moselle region, thanks to Erwin). Appropriately enough, the 2nd item in these Metamorphosed Margins should be about wine.
Many an engaging, challenging and entertaining documentaries have been produced. Thanks to specialised festivals, they sometimes find a larger audience than that provided by late-night screenings on Arte TV. The 'Mondovino' DVD (2005) lay on the shelves at my brother-in-law's. Thank Bacchus it did! This agreeably rambling, globally travelling documentary is about wine-making and rather contrasting attitudes, or philosophies, to viniculturer. The film features a large array of fascinating personalities, most of whom seem to be very comfortable in front of the camera, behaving and talking as if with close friends. It is of course people who make and sell wine, decide how to treat their earth, vinyards (key element of the terroir), why and for whom they make wine, etc..
Both the diversity of and conflict between the views exposed I find fascinating; confirming my view that one of the greatest pleasures of drinking wine is to try out new flavours, styles, grape varieties or regions. One shouldn't fall too much into a habit. Bordeaux sure isn't everything. Never mind the Parker points, do your own. Tasting 2-3 wines for dinner will help you enjoy each wine a little more.
It's an interesting (don't quite know why) test to talk to friends and acquaintances about this documentary. Have they seen it? What do they think of it? As I have experienced, you'll get passionate responses, highly praising and/or critical, but all of them were 'moved'. I've seen it 3 times and am nowhere to bored yet. Going to read the director's (Nossiter, Jonathan) book "Le Gout du Pouvoir) next, in which he states right at the beginning that this book is not a continuation of Mondovino by other means. We shall see.
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