Wine Film Review - Blood Into Wine

The film Blood Into Wine is a documentary about the lead singer from the band Tool, Maynerd Keenan, and his mentor/business partner Eric Glomski and their production of wine in Arizona. It takes place in Jerome, Arizona, located in the Verde Valley, where the three wineries they own are located. These wineries include Arizona Stronghold, Caduceus, and Page Springs. This documentary tells about how and why they decided to plant grapes in Arizona as well as the struggles and triumphs they have faced. Some of these struggles include the local government, loss of vines to winter, expenses to plant grapes, humidity, mid-summer monsoons, and animals and pests. It also goes through the steps to produce their wines and which season each step occurs at. When each step is discussed, Maynerd and Eric are shown doing the work required to perform the step.

            The location Maynerd and Eric decided to grow grapes it not a location you would have expected to be able to grow grapes. The wineries are located in the desert where it is hot and rocky. Most are also located on a sloping hill. The grapes are southeasterly facing one a valley that use to be a lake bed. This gives the wines flavor. However, the location in Arizona they chose does get snow and frost. Both Eric and Maynerd plant a variety of grapes. Some of these grapes include Cabernet Sauvginon, Merlot, Sangiovese, Syrah, Chenin Blanc, and Chardonnay. The majority of their wines are red wines or blends. Maynerd believes that his wines have a left bank Bourdeax style. This is because the soil closely resembles that of the soil in the left bank area of Bourdeax causes the wines to have similar tastes.

Wine is becoming such a popular commodity that people are trying to grow grapes all over the place. Regions that were not originally thought of as suitable for grape growing are now producing wine. This documentary is proof that grapes can be grown in locations that are not in the big wine regions of the United States. Even the driest regions of the United States have areas that provide the necessary climate requirements to make wine. It proves that in order to be successful at growing grapes and making wine, you need to find a location that works for what you are trying to plant. It also requires a lot of research into where you would like to plant the grapes.

One of the major aspects of this documentary is the process of growing of grapes and production of wine. Some of the terms used that related to this are planting, pruning, veraison, harvest, fermentation, and bottling. All of these terms are steps in the winemaking process. Planting refers to the planting of the roots in order to get the growing started. Pruning begins in the late winter or early spring. This consists of trimming the vines to make sure the yield desired can occur. Veraison occurs in late summer and is the transition from growth to ripening of the grapes. As the vines get older, the green berries left at the end of this process disappear. The harvest occurs in late summer or early fall. The grapes are cut off the vines by hand in order to prevent the berries to be smashed and juice to leak out. Fermentation is the process of turning the grape juice into wine. Yeast is added to the grape juice in order for this process to occur. Bottling is the last step of the process. It is usually done by machines.

There were several things about wine that I learned from this documentary. I did not know that pruning was part of the wine process. I had heard about all the other steps in it just not that one. I also did not know that during fermentation, if you press on the grape juice and skins, it would foam. I thought that was kinda cool. I was also shocked to learn that a vineyard used an eighth of the water a household used. I had always thought the vineyard would use a lot of water. Along the same lines, I did not realize that grapes were such a deep rooted plant and could find the water tables below them. Another thing I learned was how hands on the winemaking process is for the winemaker. I did not realize that 90% of winemaking is labor and how much the winemaker is involved throughout the whole process.

I thought the film Blood Into Wine was a good documentary. I usually find documentaries super boring but I really enjoyed this one. I thought that it was very informative on the winemaking process and all the little things that go into it. I also enjoyed learning about how Maynerd and Eric got into the wine business. I would recommend this film to wine drinkers and those that do not drink wine. I think it gives a lot of knowledge about wine that would be helpful to young or non-wine drinkers as well as new information for more experienced wine drinkers. Overall, I thought this was a great film and would recommend others to watch it.