A Year in Burgundy

This is a wonderful documentary about one of the most fabled wine producing regions of the world. It chronicles 7 vineyards throughout the course of a year. From the budding of vines in the spring; to the fall crush and all that happens in between. Striking access to rare pieces of land, excellent interviews and beautiful cinematography make this film one of my Tastyflix favorites.

These plots of land are ancient- just consider how old it is and how many producers are making magic (in such a small swath of land). It’s a wonder that this region has been strong enough to weather the global economic powers, which force many special things like this to seek a mediocre equilibrium. Each producer has such a different bent on how they do what they do. The tension between generations; old school processes and modern techniques are evident. However, the general consensus remains that what they do is special and the specialness comes from surrendering to what the weather brings you. I love that.

One of the most colorful characters is Lalou Bize-Leroy, the formidable owner of Domaine Leroy and co-owner of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. She is full of opinion and style and dedication to tradition. The best line in the movie is when she is talking about pesticides. She says “We should cut out the herbicides, the insecticides, the fungicides, the pesticides all the “icides” because they all just sound like homicide”

I am all for technology, but in smaller doses. It gives me pleasure that things like this still exist and are kept alive. New is good but forgetting the past is bad. The hitch with my country is that it has no real past and what we do have is often forgotten or completely misunderstood by the lion’s share of its inhabitants. Buy the oldest bottle of wine you can afford and drink it with the people you care for. Think about what was happening when that wine was produced and all that’s happened since. We are all here for a flash-get off your laptop, look around and taste some of the creations that make life truly interesting.