ideas, using the tropes of fiction within the Mondovino or documentary form (the goodies against the The World, baddies, conquests and obstacles, alliances, mistrust and betrayal, opposition of charac- Between Terroir ters, convictions but also personal behaviour and Industry and scenarios). But the underlying dynamic of the film can not just be reduced to linking the Jean-Michel Bertrand investigation (documenting is a form of pres- enting the face of the Other, despite or beyond clichés) to the divergence of egos, “characters”, ambitions (fiction is about the “me”, small or big secrets, power struggles and money issues that blow up or hide behind the storytelling), by sketching that which gives rise to virtual fiction in the real. It eventually plants a nag- ging tune in our heads that shows the auteur’s ontological insistence on (what is the world about?) and obsession with great metaphy- sical and cinematographically meditations: thus, the questions that come up, “who are they?”, “what do they want?” are inevitably followed by those that reveal the whys as well “A wine’s first name is its cépage, as the hows (to live, to cultivate, to produce): its surname is its terroir”. “what motivates them?”, “what relationships Léonard Humbrecht to the world, to nature, to what is human and to life itself have those who devote themselves Mondovino is not “simply” (and that’s already to vine and wine?”. The living, incarnated something) a documentary on the world of answers infallibly outline the shared rela- wine, the players, the hidden depths, clear tionships between the film’s characters. images and well-kept secrets, it is a major film, In other words, the film constantly emphasises, aesthetically and economically, in the way it through the questions asked by the charac- manages to connect the form to the under- ters it depicts, that basis of cinema itself, by lying meaning of the story. It must also be which we mean the tension between “sce- said that in the wine world, as shown in the nario” films and “story” films. How does one film, plot twists are legion and that the story define these notions, even summarily? Let’s is not one that can be told simply. The story just say, to keep things brief, that the scenario is told through the patient gathering of infor- involves looping impulse, libido-dominandi, mation provided by real-life players about what struggles and conquests while story films are is revealed to be the daily struggle between more open, more complex and often propose a two intractable visions of the world and of life different relationship to time, to dramaturgy itself. Indeed, wine is not just a product; it is and the notion of event, because they depend the symptom and the result of a culture, a rela- on a non-linear and unpredictable causality tionship with the world, and, in fine, an ethic. where tension develops between stories and ’s film gives a clear depiction characters. Thus, this formal tension between of the frontal or indirect clash of interests and story and scenario (that which marketing professors, however pseudo-critical, will never begin and in the way he edits their testimonies understand) finds an echo in the characters in to allow the truth to surface, crack and then Mondovino. On the one hand we have winema- break, weighed down by contradictory state- kers who focus on profit, reproducible quality, ments and the proclamations and imaginary expansion; they work in terms of short-term projections that all storytelling requires. market perspectives and long-term strategic Mirrors and images. Of oneself or more to the perspectives thus proving, by their omnipre- point, of an in-between place, because unlike sence, that their “me” or their will is imposed what we see later on in California, there is on nature and that nature must bow to their no room for narcissism and self-depiction in demands. On the other hand, we have arti- the introductory portraits : from the start of sans who do not exploit the land but work it this film Nossiter insists on the intimate rela- and respect it, knowing that theirs is the slow tionship between a winemaker, the “land” and time-frame of overlapping worlds: soil, lands- the climate, giving a platform successively to cape, climate, tradition, and culture that must Yvonne Heguburu and Batista Colombu, two be expressed in a constant dialogue that works extraordinary “characters” who produce when one adapts, not when one tries to control. that are both typical (Jurançon and Malvasia Mondovino is a complex film, a great film that di Bosa) and of great quality. Both expound explores and goes beyond its apparent subject on their reasons for making wine and the inti- matter (what applies to wine also applies to mate or humanist and social meaning it has a number of other products) and intertwines in their eyes. Yvonne Heguburu who planted three main themes. her vines after her husband died (a project they had together) tells us: “since then, the The first theme compares singular wines, over-flowing love I feel is in the vines. I talk grown in an “artisanal” fashion, that express to them…” The intimate reasons are often the terroir in which they are grown with par- based on principle. Battista Columbu, her tially “standardised” woody, vanilla-esque, faced bathed in the sublime Sardinian light flattering wines based on a taste norm that the declares she wants to continue a humanist wine critic Parker has contributed to building tradition on her two hectares. The tradition and that must be reproduced identically year of a community wine to be offered to friends after year. However, contrary to the criticism and strangers allowing everyone to make their it sometimes gets, the theme-based film does “own” wine (“the rich shouldn’t be the only not beat us over the head with its thesis; on the ones to do this”, she says: “behind the fact of contrary, it lets that thesis emerge patiently. In producing Malvasia, there is an ethical convic- other words, the filmmaker doesn’t develop his tion, a “savoir-vivre” as the French say”). point of view by exposing his own convictions Thus, before letting a “thesis” about wine in an abrupt manner. He lets the different itself emerge, Nossiter lets us see and hear players speak, thus leaving the spectator to what motivates a winemaker who is in love deduce what they want from what they glean with the land and its movements. He makes and then edits and organises the ensemble so space for reasons and for identities, because as to bring together points of view that com- these reasons are far from anecdotal and can plete, echo or totally oppose one another. be found in the characteristics of the “pro- Nossiter’s talent lies in the way he gains the duct”. Later on in the film, we understand trust of his interviewees, who inevitably end that making wine means revealing a terroir up admitting the opposite of the superficial one loves, its constancies and variations (soils, and controlled party line with which they exposure, varieties, and grapes). The desire to express what happens throughout a year consequences of micro-oxygenation, a tech- is rooted in this connection, which presup- nique that was originally used to soften the poses a dialogue and permanent tie to the tannins in Madiran and that has now spread land and its signs. to many other winemakers, in particular those A shot of a plane in the sky over , owned by the industrial side of the profes- a permanent self-satisfied laugh, celebrity sion, but it is important to know about some name-dropping, constant phone calls: the of its effects. contrast is striking between the two initial Micro-oxygenation or microbullage involves portraits juxtaposed in the introduction and the continuous injection of very small quanti- that of one of the essential players in the new ties of oxygen during fermentation in order to wine market, the wine consultant and star imitate and accelerate the natural oxygenation oenologist, Michel Rolland. This contrast is process that happens through the wood. The perfectly symbolised by the shot of the plane actual benefit of this method is very contro- landing in the Bordeaux region, shifting us versial1. It is used to accelerate the “ageing into another world, that of global business process”, to increase colour intensity thanks and huge markets. So who is organising this to the polymerisation of the anthocyanins and shift? A taste manufacturer who is partially tannins, to give a feeling of full-bodied-ness indifferent to the concept of the terroir and and fruit, to soften the tannins and decrease affirms, not without a sense of provocation that the vegetal character of certain wines. But one day men will make wine on the moon. it also reinforces the sugar levels in wines, Michel Rolland defines himself as a “flying affecting their freshness, erasing their parti- wine maker” as he works for over one hundred cularities and smoothing out their aromatic properties in twelve different countries. This profiles. In other words, it modifies what obviously means he only comes into contact makes a wine typical and what amounts to its with the vine every now and again and he expression – always different – of a terroir. generally delivers his recipes and prescrip- The film allows us to examine the issue of the tions remotely to owners, who at times know disappearance of the terroir and the finality nothing about the subject and are happy to of these interventions that, under the cover just apply the consultant’s methods. Rolland of technical modernity, result in the produc- is a modernist who, on a number of occasions, tion of standardised wines in an industrial shows his disdain for the “peasants” he consi- manner2. Of course, the notion of terroir is ders to be retrograde as they are attached or also mentioned by the Mondavis and their connected to their land, the actual place a rich neighbours in Napa or by the rich owners wine comes from and are hostile to the indus- of grand cru properties in Bordeaux, but it is trialisation of wine growing. Rolland couldn’t just mentioned in passing. It is not so much give a toss about the terroir. He emphasises a reality but a reference that is part of a struc- his “imprint” or his signature (which is his tured system of storytelling. What appears brand image) as well as his methods that, we progressively throughout the various inter- must admit, have at times helped in impro- views and testimonials is a perfectly run system ving the standard quality of Bordeaux wines, that produces a certain type of wine, a mar- but not their geographical typicality. Among keting strategy and a quest for the blessing his methods or recipes, one comes back again of the main opinion makers: in California, and again, like a recurring joke, throughout but also in Bordeaux – where it is finally the film: “Oxygenize!” Here, the issue is not admitted, after many convolutions and dif- to discuss the advantages, inconveniences and ficulties, that while remaining “themselves”, the wines adapt to the new markets. It is a opinions he shares. Parker has built an empire question of catering to a demand rather than on the editorialisation of his taste, as he clas- supplying a market. A demand that is in no sifies and grades wines, without ever asking way “natural” or spontaneous but is totally what the algebraic grading system means in manufactured by the producers themselves fact, or saying what he tastes when he tastes and by the quest for guarantees on the part of a wine; and Parker loves, above all, a type of consumers (who have often been disappointed wine that Rolland and others know how to by low quality wines with complex labels and “manufacture”. It must have a dark colour, classifications that are hard to understand). Big it must be concentrated5, be made with very industrial groups have thus developed brand ripe grapes (physiological maturity and, above name wines, sometimes “technically” well all, phenological maturity), aged in new oak made, of a standard and constant quality and casks that add body and, among other things, aimed them at a segmented clientele accor- it must have a strong taste of vanilla. Wines ding to traditional marketing principles. The produced to this method are de facto wines new classification has the merit of simplicity, that resemble one another to a certain extent so dear to English-speaking cultures accor- (one does not look for minerality or flavour) ding to Jacky Rigaux3: “basic wines, popular and that one can thus compare and confront premium wines, super premium, ultra premium with a chemically determinable model. One wines and icon”. This is intended to replace the of the most entertaining scenes in the film is more sophisticated classification according to the one where the head of Enologix, the big- terroir, that of Burgundy: appellations that gest wine chemical company in the United include “Régionale”, “Village”, “Premier Cru” States outlines that they can analyse a wine and “Grand Cru”! So industrial wine produ- and predict the grade that the different cri- cers consider that they are on the right path. tics will give the wine, as the said critics are Business Week’s European edition in September so stuck on the same model (in particular the 2001 read: “Wine War: How American and one that marked a Screaming Eagle graded Australian wines are stomping the French”, pro- between 97 and 100!6). We are now talking moting this new classification and predicting about wines made from varieties and brands, that these new technological wines would the result of a growing process in which che- triumph in the five years to come4! micals and a number of other additives play an important role. Following a logic of exten- This is more of a perfect rather than vir- sion that is common in the luxury market, tuous circle, so dear to marketing experts. we now have actual wine factories made up Wine culture and its lexicon are reworked of properties that span hundreds of hectares into immediate references and simplified producing wines for different price ranges (the labels that highlight purported attributes and main lines and the diffusion lines) and a few food matches with the end-game of aiding “iconic” wines that add to the visibility and consumption rather than addressing wine- prestige of the brand and as such to its global lovers that may wish to cultivate or deepen financial productivity level. Here, as in the their taste and knowledge. contemporary luxury industry, the brand is And this circle would be imperfect had the what makes things sell with high profit mar- new producers and consumers not found gins without necessarily playing the rarity or their guide in the opinion leader and com- quality card. pass Robert Parker, who is also a very close This is a globalised market in full expan- friend of Michel Rolland’s whose choices and sion that allows companies to make colossal profits. So it’s not surprising when the film cynically, ignoring the law and extolling the examines, in the later stages, the game of capi- virtues of Berlusconi. talism and development strategies: setting The film has a third theme that remains uns- up joint ventures between American brands poken. This ghost theme has contributed to and Bordeaux and Tuscan brands, buyouts to Mondovino’s longevity, the way it has been spread presence, establishing trans-national received and at times caricatured by its adver- empires, a desire for extension and conquest. saries and also used by its partisans to support In this scenario, the qualitative logic always convictions or strongly held prejudices. This seems a pretext for a logic that is quantitative is, in fact, one of the particularities of cinema, and measurable. especially when the subject matter is current This theme with all its plot twists, surprises, affairs, the way it allows the audience to project upswings, betrayal between divided Florentine their own clichés. This absent theme, or should families, plagued by exacerbated rivalry has we say present in an underlying way and actua- all the elements of a drama about power and lised in everyone’s imagination, involves a money. The second part of the film reveals the dual, ill-defined comparison. In short, it com- hidden secrets of rivalries that under very well pares technological wines and natural wines policed covers and masks (we are in the aris- on the one hand, modern techniques that tocratic milieu of olden-day culture) evoke the allow scientifically-based interference and most Machiavellian manoeuvres and intrigue those that let a wine live and finally, it com- of the Florentine palaces, with strings being pares the big guys with the small guys, the pulled by the Mondavis in order to up their powerful capitalistic companies with inde- market penetration in Europe. On the surface pendent, real winemakers. Curiously, the the film becomes more confused or at least film that was shown in the cinema does not harder to follow as it juxtaposes testimonials approach these questions head on, and in that go into manoeuvres, buyouts and alliances any case, doesn’t put them in perspective or about which we know nothing and that we as part of the debate. The subject, the thread need to reconstitute from the bits of informa- running through the film is definitely taste, tion scattered throughout the narrative. In its uniformisation due to marketing-based tandem with this complexity, it provides us conformity or, taste as the expression of a ter- with some extraordinary portraits of this lan- roir and its fascinating complexity. It is easy to downing nobility that is constantly controlled understand, however, how both critics and par- and presenting a front that says little, except to tisans use the film to keep the discussion going admit to a hankering for the days of Mussolini into what isn’t actually said. Some to protest and their close friendships with a few crowned against the way it simplifies the issues and to heads. There are also a few portraits of some deny any form of comparison between wines young and rich post-modern heirs that think of and production methods (while, at the same the world in terms of authority and brand uni- time, knocking “natural” wines for their ins- verse and compare the pretention of Bordeaux, tability or varied levels of quality). According Paris, Hermès and French football to a new to them, Mondovino is wrong to compare the generational art de vivre associating Armani or completely incomparable: structure and capi- Ferragamo clothing, Florence, Rome, Venice talistic vocation and quality or sincere respect and wines from the Super-Tuscans, in par- for the terroir. But this means criticising the ticular those from the property film for what it doesn’t actually say. Nowhere that was bought out by the Mondavis then does it say that a big property can not produce associated with the Frescobaldi and, more a great wine (Pontet Canet is proof of this). In the same way, while it does criticise chemistry tells its story with a feeling for framing and and questionable manipulations of wine by the correct distance that make cinema what it oenologists, it does not propose an orthodox is: a way of showing faces and through them, or dogmatic definition of “natural” wines and the protagonists’ strength of emotions and cannot be used by the players in their own inner struggles (the superb idea of depicting internal debates. As such, these different pro- the Mondavis through the association of the jections are used just as extensively as they verbose son and the super-human, emotionless are supported by what is not said, due mostly father and godfather figure). If the potency of to the comparison between formatted wines a piece of cinema relies at times on the pre- and untouched wines from the terroir. What is sence of its characters, then Mondovino is a unsaid concerns the profession of winemaker great piece of cinema. Throughout the film, and all of the acts he or she is supposed to carry the audience feels the mental and physical out to make the ground come to life, cutting, landscape that emanates from the face, the harvesting, pressing, ageing, and blending. It thinking and vibrating opposite of the exterior is all the more effective as the term “nature” being presented. The link between the face is not without its own ambiguity. The word and the words: the meaning of what is said is has a double value, whether it designates a not a question of a command of the language way of growing that respects the soil, a way of in general, but, as Gilles Deleuze said “of a harvesting, sorting, then ageing without any language whose significant traits are indexed external additives or, on the contrary evoking on specific facial traits”. The feeling of har- a force that is superior and independent of mony that comes from a sense of belonging man. That it is enough to passively obey. Does to a world seems to be compared to the obses- this then minimise or block out the notion sive and neurotic coldness of those who wish that what matters is knowledge, “savoir-faire” to possess it. These faces burst through the and the complex decision-making process of screen and produce truth. They are the evi- each individual winemaker at every stage of dence for the prosecution in a game where no its production? one is fooled as to the intentions, values and However, while I have taken the opportunity practices of others. So, just like in a Hollywood to underline if not an ambiguity in the film feature film but without the artifice of fiction, at least its blind spot with which the contro- the film shows faces that seduce us and others versial interpretations and representations can that repulse us. Goodies and baddies? It’s up connect, in no way do I mean to criticise its to each viewer to decide what garners their opinions or its propos. These opinions mean sympathy and what constitutes a founding in it can tackle some essential questions that ethic or what appears to be the confiscation may have been hidden with too much nuance. of experience by interest. But while the film These questions are not in any way “insi- plays on this difference, it does so in good diously” dissimulated in the body of the film. faith without attempting to zealously prove The filmmaker and the small film crew are a point. In fact, the deciding factor in where actively present, visible in the shot, empha- our sympathies lie comes from the agreement sising their dual position as interlocutor and that exists between cinema – that take its time witness. They do not make any comments on and explores the side roads – and characters the voiceover avoiding the pronouncement of that are not calculating, while the others seem a definitive thesis or point of view. This makes to come out of a audiovisual programme that the direct testimonials, none of which are merges party-line based communication where forced or extorted, so powerful. Mondovino rallying to an opinion becomes a permanent advert. Our sympathy is evidence also of cine- Terroirs” sector and the “Médico-Psycho-social” sector ma’s revenge on the spectacle of that which in executive education, two training and research sec- only looks good on TV. tors in psychoanalysis and knowledge of terroirs and wine tasting. Each year, he organises Les Rencontres Mondovino, like many other open films, on the internationales Henri Jayer, that take place in January border between cinema and the real, plunges or early February at the château de Gilly-les-Cîteaux, us into a universe that makes all of us citizens a centre of Cistercian wine growing. 30 to 40 wine of a possible and liveable world rather than growers passionate about the philosophy of the ter- spectators fascinated by one scenario. And roir take part. 4. The wine world by Jacky Rigaux : http://gje.mabulle. while it follows a very tense thread, it doesn’t com/index.php/2013/03/01/206202-le-monde-du-vin- neglect the comic aside (a magnificent portrait par-jacky-rigaux-extrnmement-long of a landowner that buys work by the artists 5. This quest for concentration happens at times to at the head of the “chart” of the moment with the detriment of laying down and ageing options. The systematic enthusiasm and points out, afte- 92 Bordeaux that tried to correspond to Parker’s were often extracted at too high temperatures and lack the rwards, everything the domain owes to the acidity and capacity needed to age well. skill of the Mexican workers who work there 6. An imperial of the Screaming Eagle vintage was who are rewarded every year with t-shirts and sold at auction in Napa Valley Association during a baseball caps, or the capture of chance, the charity sale for the impressive sum of 500 000 dol- chance that gives, to those who know how to lars (400 000 euros). take it (light, colour, expression, landscape), a feeling of the intense and fragile beauty of reality.

Jean-Michel Bertrand Associate Professor, IFM; Lecturer in Film Analysis, ENSAD

1. We can refer to the study carried out by M. Salmon, a researcher at the INRA, entitled: “L’oxygène au cours de la fermentation alcoolique, mécaniques d’ac- tions, gestion des apports, et risques associés. (Oxygen during alcoholic fermentation, mechanics, managing supply and associated risks). http://www.oenologues- defrance.com/gestion/fichiers_contenu/79_JROE09_ Jean_Mic.pdf 2. On this topic, the film is rich in revelations. The fraud office in the Finance Ministry explicitly men- tions “traffic” aimed at corresponding to the Parker model. But above all, Alix de Montille who elabo- rates whites for prestigious brands announces that she is going to resign so as to avoid condoning the fact that brands that are supposed to produce terroir- based reds can claim they are the makers of a wine that is not aged in their cellars and fill their bottles with the same mass-produced wine. Bottles that are supposed to be different in fact contain the same pro- duct sold under different brands. 3. Jacky Rigaux is an engineer and a researcher at the université de Bourgogne, in charge of the “Vigne, Vin,