While it may come as an affront to our local sensibilities, not everyone appreciates the wine that flows out of the Napa Valley. In Mondovino, Sommelier and filmmaker Jonathan Nossiter travels across three continents and through five languages to explain how Napa has radically reshaped the age old activity of oenology, or wine making. With a crusading style akin to Michael Moore, Nossiter pursues many culprits; from wine consultant Michel Rolland, who traverses the French countryside extolling the virtues of “micro-oxygenization” to wine critic Robert Parker, who boasts of the worldwide impact of his reviews. Labeled by one critic as the “documentary companion to Sideways,” the film reveals the complex world that goes into the bottle we eventually uncork, be it from Napa or elsewhere.

Presented as part of the Depth of Field 2009-2010 Series: Adaptology: Films of Food & Drink

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