What is natural wine? What does it mean to make a natural wine? And how is natural wine taking hold in the vineyards and wineries of California? Those are the questions that Wine From Here, a documentary by Martin Carel and his brother Matthieu that is premiering on Thursday night in San Francisco.
Photo by Martin Carel
Wine From Here certainly has the tools to give any wine lover a good look at what natural wine is in today’s American wine production. It relies mainly on interviews with several of the winemakers who have been championing a natural approach to wine, meaning organic in the vineyard and minimally interventionist in the cellar (chiefly using fermentation without addition of cultured yeasts, and generally avoiding or minimizing the addition of sulfur in the wines).
Among those who contribute their knowledge and point of view are Tony Cotturi, a veteran and one of the most vocal champions of organic wine in California, Paul Draper of Ridge Vineyard (where the approach is presented as a form of pre-industrial winemaking), Kevin Kelley of Lioco and the Natural Process Alliance, Hank Beckmeyer of La Clarine Farm, Steve Edmunds of Edmunds-St John, Jared Brandt of A Donkey and Goat and Gideon Beinstock of Clos Saron. These vignerons are joined by Hardy Wallace, at once a commentator and now winemaker, Ian Becker of Arlequin Wine Merchant and, especially, by Alice Feiring, the wine writer most dedicated to the cause of natural wine, with her simple definition of what natural wine is: nothing added, nothing taken out.
It is interesting that Wine From Here is premiering just as Alice Feiring is releasing her new book, Naked Wine, and touring California to present it, and also just as Jamie Goode is releasing his own book, Authentic Wine, co-authored by Sam Harrop. An alignment of planets and stars worthy of the best moments of the biodynamic calendar?
Martin Carel
In any case, I’m particularly happy to see Wine From Here come to fruition, on a rather personal level. I had the pleasant surprised of being contacted, late last year, by filmmaker and fellow Quebec City native Martin Carel, who told me about his project and about the fact that this post on this very blog had given him the original impetus to start the project. That one of my posts could lead someone to start a movie project is extremely flattering, to say the least.
Since then, Martin Carel and I have exchanged emails and met once to discuss the project, and I had the chance to see rough cuts and the final cut online. I think there is a great amount of knowledgeable information in the movie, and some fascinating points of views from the vignerons who seek, first and foremost, to express the particular sense of place of the vineyards from which they draw their grapes. To make wine from “here”, in other words – wherever their “here” may be.
It’s hard for me to give the documentary an actual review, having followed its development as a close and involved observer. But what I can tell you is that I did learn things, listening to the interviews, and found some well-informed points of view on what terroir means and how you should seek to express it. I am confident that others would find it similarly stimulating and enlightening.
If you’re in San Francisco this Thursday, August 25, you can get to see the very first public screening of Wine From Here, at the Victoria Theatre on 16th Street. The screening is at 7 p.m., and it will be followed by a natural wine tasting, so you can join practice with theory. Tickets can be bought online right here. If you go, please comment on this blog. I’d love to know what other people are thinking about this movie.
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It’s official: TasteCamp is headed to Northern Virginia
What I love most about wine writing is the opportunity to discover new wine regions. Since 2009, TasteCamp, founded by my friend Lenn Thompson, has provided me with some of the best opportunities to do so, with a three-day intensive session of tasting and visiting that has taken participants to Long Island and the Finger Lakes, in New York, and in the Niagara region (on both sides of the US-Canada border).
Since last year, I’ve joined the event’s organizing committee and have been happy to work on this next edition, which will take place in Northern Virginia on the first weekend of May. After a first taste of Virginia wines at the Wine Bloggers Conference, last July, I’m happy to return for a more in-depth look at what defines this wine-producing state.
Today, we’re glad to make the first official announcement about the fourth edition of TasteCamp. Without further ado, here is the official press release about the May festivities.
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TasteCamp 2012 heads to Northern Virginia
Fourth edition of wine bloggers and wine writers’ meeting heads to Loudoun County, May 4-6.
The 2012 program will feature the combination of vineyard visits, grand tastings, conversations with winemakers and camaraderie that has made the event so successful over the last three years. Participants will also take part in what has become a TasteCamp tradition, a BYO dinner where wine lovers share special bottles in a freestyle evening of discovery and one-upmanship.
TasteCamp founder and New York Cork Report executive editor Lenn Thompson said that there was much reason for the event to head for the vineyards of Virginia: “The 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference was a great opportunity for both Virginia and bloggers, but I wanted to bring TasteCamp to Northern Virginia to offer a truly immersive experience. We want attendees to eat, drink, sleep and breathe Virginia wine for three days. It’s of course impossible to fully explore a region in just a weekend, but that doesn’t stop us from trying.”
Over its three first years, TasteCamp has generated significant attention for the wine regions where it has taken place, generating dozens of stories and articles every year. It also offers emerging wine regions an exceptional opportunity to have their wines tasted by a passionate outside audience that brings a different light to local wine production and creates new conversations with local winemakers.
Essential Virginia partners
Three of the region’s top wineries will be hosting TasteCamp participants for lunches, dinners and grand tastings of Virginia wines, where many other wineries will provide a portrait of what this increasingly important wine producing state can offer. The three confirmed host wineries are:
- Breaux Vineyards, in Purcellville overlooking the valley between the Blue Ridge and Short Hill Mountains, is one of Virginia’s most popular estates, with over 100 acres under vines.
- Boxwood Winery, founded by former Washington Redskins’ owner John Kent Cooke, is located in the historic village of Middleburg, and produces Bordeaux blends from 100% estate-grown fruit, in collaboration with renowned consulting winemaker Stéphane Derenoncourt.
- Tarara Winery is located in the foothills of the Catoctin Mountains on 475 acres along the Potomac River in Leesburg. One of Loudoun County’s oldest wineries, Tarara focuses on single-vineyard wines.
TasteCamp 2012 organizers are also excited to be counting on partnerships with two key Virginia organizations. The Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office (Virginia Wine) and the Loudoun Convention & Visitors Association (Visit Loudoun) will both be partners of the event, offering logistical, financial and/or transportation support.
Accommodations
Rooms have been set aside at the National Conference Center, in Leesburg, Virginia, only 12 miles from Dulles International Airport and a short drive from most of the vineyards visited over the weekend. A special room rate is offered to TasteCamp guests at this large-scale facility located on a quiet 110-acre campus.
TasteCamp 2012 organizers will have more announcements as the wine weekend approaches.
About TasteCamp
The concept for TasteCamp, created in 2009 by Lenn Thompson, executive editor of the New York Cork Report, is a simple one: getting enthusiastic journalists and bloggers together in a region that is new to them, to taste as much wine as possible and speak to as many winemakers as possible over the course of a weekend.
Most smaller, lesser-known wine regions in the world would love to get their wines in front of new audiences, but it can be a challenge. With TasteCamp, the new audience comes to them.
This is not a junket — attendees pay their own travel expenses, including their hotel rooms and meals. Through generous sponsors, some meals may be deeply discounted.
Follow the Latest updates on TasteCamp 2011:
• On Twitter: #TasteCamp
To participate as an attendee, contact Lenn Thompson at lenn (at) newyorkcorkreport.com
To participate as a sponsor, contact Frank Morgan at frank.j.morgan (at) gmail.com.
For more information, contact co-organizers Remy Charest (remycharest (at) mac.com) and John Witherspoon (vcuspoon1 (at) comcast.net)
Media and interview requests:
Lenn Thompson at lenn (at) newyorkcorkreport.com or
Frank Morgan at frank.j.morgan (at) gmail.com.