American Wine Story The path of many American winemakers borders on cliche: with corporate and/or conspicuous consumption-driven life getting them down, a certain bottle of wine or special trip to Europe produces a great epiphany that sparks a walk down the road less traveled, that of ditching the traditional, more lucrative career in favor of risking it all on wine.
Thankfully, this documentary, which came out online this month, puts a compelling if tragic spin on this saga, mixing fresh insight from winemakers in Washington, Missouri, Arizona, Virginia, and NorCal with the untimely 2004 death of 38-year-old Oregon winemaker Jimi Brooks, and how his young son and sister deal with his legacy.
The cinematography is stunning, the energy of those interviews, including former quarterback Drew Bledsoe, GrapeRadio.com guy Jay Selman, and Oregon/Arizona pioneer Dick Erath, is inspiring, and the end result is a good doc for those who love the romance of wine.
Buy it on iTunes or at americanwinestory.vhx.tv.