A Year in Burgundy

It is a weekend, winter is around, fireplace is on, snow arriving…. Missing the charm of those summer holidays, the joy of traveling…

Stuck to the sofa, want to enjoy and relax in the same time.

How to enjoy a good Sunday and get it close to perfection?

Just put your slippers on, and get down to your wine cellar, pick a bottle of good Pinot Noir or Chardonnay from Burgundy, on the way back to the sofa grab quickly a good wine glass and a corkscrew.

Then you can get the movie A Year in Burgundy either online on ITunes or get the DVD.

You will fly off to Burgundy for less than a plane ticket. map burgundy vineyard

The movie is done kind of documentary following San Francisco-based wine importer Martine Saunier and seven of her wineries – Domaine Leroy, Domaine Perrot-Minot, Domaine Morey- Coffinet, Domaine Bruno Clavelier, Domaine Mortet, Domaine Michel Gay & Fils, and Dominique Cornin – across the 2011 vintage year.

The kind of movie-docu that you get definitely get stuck to, inspiring wine makers, different ways of thinking, opposite wine making styles, but all resulting in well known top quality wines.

Displaying various philosophy of creating a living liquid that will often print your memory for ever. harvest burgundy Opening eyes, bringing knowledge to the viewer without him noticing he is learning a good trick ;)

Not only decrypting wine and wine makers, but also pulling the Burgundy traditions and bon- vivant feeling in front, with local parties, tastings, cellars, winemaker families, generations…

piano burgundy

Described as evocative, entertaining, rich, opulent, but still tied to traditions & roots, wine region we all envy & dream. Delicate balance of education, history, humanity, nature & personalities – Cheers to you all !

Sort of basic and without emotional or technical interest, yet honest and well done. Nice to see the land and the grapes and generations of winemakers. A large chunk of the film is spent on what I already knew, that rain around harvest can present lots of tough decisions or even disaster.

Now I need to go back and see WIne for the Confused, then A Year in Champagne and A Year in Port. Whoa I'm getting thirsty! I even looked at flights from US to Paris. Ha!

By the end I think my French comprehension had seen a tick up.

WOW. This is my first review and didn't know they had to be six hundred characters.

I am really sorry I don't speak French. I am interested in the subject of wine making & travel & really wanted to like this film. But I was disappointed. There is an English speaking narrator but most of the segments & interviews with the wine makers are in French. No surprise after all it is in France & that's what people speak there so that's all cool and very acceptable. Problem is there are no sub-titles (or at least I couldn't find out how to get them to appear) for us English speaking folks. Felt like I missed all the best and most informative parts which were when the actual wine makers were talking and explaining things. So, why no sub titles? This comes off as some snobbish move on the Directors part. So stupid Americans learn French or don't watch my film. I choose the latter option and stopped watching. 3 Stars only because I don't speak French!

The film is an in-depth look at the 2011 vintage in Burgundy, following San Francisco-based wine importer Martine Saunier and seven of her wineries – Domaine Leroy, Domaine Perrot-Minot, Domaine Morey-Coffinet, Domaine Bruno Clavelier, Domaine Mortet, Domaine Michel Gay & Fils, and Dominique Cornin through the vintage that – with its heat waves in the spring and the crop-threatening storms at harvest time, was a rather challenging year for many wine-makers in the region but a lucky break for the filmmakers. (For more on the wine-makers, see here.) Following the seasons, and finding its break points between the four seasons works well from a narrative perspective, and the filmmakers aren't afraid of getting in-depth into the wine-making at the risk of possibly alienating some non-niche folks. Telling us about the history of the region, the geographical challenges, the terroir, the wine-making methods, and all that makes up wine-making in Burgundy, the film does a fantastic job of explaining why Burgundian wine fetches the prices it does, and why it has risen to the levels it is at.

From a cinematic standpoint, the film is well-paced, beautifully shot (those extreme closeups with the wine-makers not noticing the camera are beyond intimate to the audience). What's more, it does not lean on the crutch of creating protagonists and antagonists the way many docs have done in recent years. A Year in Burgundy stays the course on delivering a solid and self-respecting story without melodrama – Mother Nature did more than her part to add drama and thrills.

This is a powerful film that inspires and delights, and is a unique addition to the all too limited pantheon of wine films.

I have to say that I did not learn very much from this movie. Oh, it's beautifully shot all right. And you do get to see grape vines, barrels, wineries, fermentation, bottling, pruning, planting, swirling, sniffing, sampling, and much else. But it's all done in a very atmospheric rather than informative way. "Pesticides are used less and less," it says (or something like that) without going into how much and why. We see a vine being planted, but no mention of root grafting. No discussion of clones. We learn that every wine tasted different, but in what ways? If you want to learn more of the truth about wine making, get Mondovino. If you want a nice pleasant and well-scented bath in a romantic region, get this movie.