While I was busy at Burning Man (more on the wines we tasted there soon!), Zev Robinson emailed to say that after filming for 45 days over five trips during the past 15 months, his documentary Life on the Douro will premier tonight, September 6 at 10pm at the Douro Film Harvest festival in the Vidago Palace. http://www.dourofilmharvest.com/en/detail_filme.aspx?id=119309&name=LIFE_ON_THE_DOURO The film is about the history and culture of the region from the point of view of those who have made it what it is.
According to Zev, a number of screenings and tastings will follow, starting the week of Nov 15 in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and at the Paso Robles Film Festival (where he’ll be showing Dinastia Vivanco as well. The film will be followed by tastings and seminars involving Roy Hersh www.fortheloveofport.com, Oscar Quevedo http://quevedoportwine.com and Luiz Alberto www.thewinehub.com, all adding their insights and wisdom about the Douro and its wines.
“The response and support for the film has been fantastic,” says Zev, “and other events in North American and European cities are being planned including a couple of tours in the spring.”
If only I had mastered being in multiple places at the same time…!
But I’ll be here in Ventura doing the #crushit twitter tasting then attending my son’s elementary school talent show (he and five other students are doing Bill Wither’s classic “Lean on Me” with guitar by a parent!)
If I could, I’d be at tonight’s 6:30pm San Francisco film screening of Zev Robinson’s new documentary Dinastia Vivanco: Giving back to wine what wine has given us at the Viz Cinema, to be followed by a wine tasting. And I’ve already seen the film–Zev sent me an advance copy. We were hoping to arrange a screening in Southern California…
The film traces the Vivanco family’s 100 year history in wine-making, and what each of the four generations contributed to the development of the business, in a unique story as much about vision, persistence and passion as it is about wine.
As a teenager in the early 60’s, Pedro Vivanco started delivering his family’s wine by bicycle, then rose to become a major but anonymous producer for well-known Rioja brands. In the process, and as a result of 40 years of collecting, he and sons Rafael and Santiago have created what many consider the world’s best wine museum, reflecting their passion for wine culture and philosophy of “giving back to wine what wine has given us.”
Canadian-British filmmaker Zev Robinson first visited the Dinastia Vivanco winery and museum in 2009 to film material for his series of documentaries on Spanish wine, and ended up creating an hour long film on the family saga that has played an essential, but little known role in the transformation of Rioja wine.
Founded in 1915 as a small, personal winery, the film traces the contributions of each of the four generations in building the winery. Now run by winemaker Rafael and Santiago Vivanco, the director of the Museum and Foundation, the documentary uses interviews with the family and others conducted during Zev Robinson’s five filming trips to create a narrative interweaving the family’s history with that of the evolution of La Rioja.
Zev is working on a few other wine related projects including one about the Douro, due to be released September 2011. He’s done two previews; this is the second one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SjhATsAiXY
And he’s doing a documentary about Catavino’s Gabriella and Ryan Opaz and the Wine Bloggers Conference. This preview includes an interview with me from last summer in Walla Walla:
Easter celebrations come big and small. My husband’s family is preparing lamb, ham, ribs, and tri-tip–and at least a dozen sides and desserts. It’s hard to know what wines to bring!
Here are some wine ideas for your Easter celebrations, whether they be small ones with just you and a friend or big ones with lots of people–like the one I’m going to with all the clergy and most of the congregation of the local Greek Orthodox church!
Just as Easter is celebrated around the world, the wines I talk about below come from near and far. They include a California Sparkler with salmon, two french wines (a gamay and a Bordeaux rose) with ham, and a Spanish Rioja with lamb.
For over five years, each month wine bloggers gathered around a virtual fire to discuss a wine related theme or prompt. For a number of reasons, about a year ago Wine Blogging Wednesday waned and fell by the virtual wayside.
But some of us blew on the embers (by some tweets, blog posts, and other social media means), and lo and behold, Lenn Thompson of the New York Cork Report got the fire going once again!
This month Wine Blogging Wednesday #70 comes to you from Ryan and Gabriella Opaz of the award winning blog catavino.net. Their prompt, not surprisingly from bloggers who specialize in wines from Iberia, is to blog about a Spanish wine today, Wednesday February 16 and to let them know about it!
On Monday February 7, I wrote about a Spanish Amontillado sherry for the Secret Sherry Society which I paired with Belgian chocolates and which was hard enough to find! I found it equally difficult to find any obscure Spanish varietals that would allow me to an obvious way to get creative.
For this post, trying to find some unusual angle, I considered visiting a local wine bar, The Wine Rack, which sells Spanish wines made from familiar varietals like cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay that taste familiar to American palates and are under $20. Owner Seana even offered to open any wines I wanted for me to taste (and write about!)
Instead, I went to the Ventura Wine Company, which, while lacking much of a selection of unusual Spanish varietals, did offer a few of one of my favorites. I settled with choosing a varietal I love grenache, or, as it’s known in Spain, garnacha, and tried two versions of it, a Vina Borgia Campo de Borja 2009 which retails between $6-10 and a Tres Picos Borsao 2008 which can be found from $15-20. Continue reading →
I’m bathing in a wealth of wine and stories about wine right now! This afternoon, I head up to Bridlewood Winery to see my Wine Bloggers Conference friend Kelly Conrad (who does PR for Gallo) to meet Bridlewood Winemaker, David Hopkins (who I already know is quite a character!) and to look around and do some tasting too of course!
Tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday I’ll be out and about in Ventura County visiting as many of the Valentine n’Wine wineries as I can, then Tuesday, I’ll be at a French industry wine tasting, and Friday is PS I Love You‘s “Dark and Delicious.” At the end of the month, I’m attending a Paso Robles tasting.
Not to mention I have tasting notes and half written blog posts about Egyptian wine, Spanish wine (beyond sherry!) for Wine Blogging Wednesday #70, plus ideas for wines for Valentine’s wines and food pairings and posts on Portuguese wine too! And more!
So please subscribe to Wine Predator and receive an email to your inbox to let you know I’ve found more on my prowls to share with you!
A Quest For Sherry (and love!) my guest post for the Secret Sherry Society is up on their website–check it out! Thank you to the Secret Sherry Society for invited me to play!
Thank you also to photographer/blogger John Nichols who shared with me his sherry stories, one of which I included in this blog post!
PS Did you know sherry pairs well with chocolate and Valentine’s Day? Go read the post! And come back for more Valentine’s wines and tips!
After a hiatus, Wine Blogging Wednesday is going again with a theme of wine from Spain as hosted by Ryan and Gabriella Opaz of the award winning blog catavino.net. The prompt:
Choose a Spanish wine or wines to taste on Wednesday the 16th of February.
Write a post about the wine, flushing it out with life and subtle detail, then publish it on Wednesday, February 16th.
Tweet about it with the tag: #WBW70 thus creating a live tasting by time zone as we go around the globe!
Finally, send an email to us with a link to your article and include the subject line: “WBW #70 Submission
I’m already in the swim of Spanish wine as I’ve been working on my guest blog for the Secret Sherry Society, published today on their site! So follow my lead and do sherry or go for a distinctly Spanish varietal or style: with Valentine’s Day coming up a sparkling cava would be fun and they’re a great value too. Or do something different: some Spanish wineries are working to capture part of the American market by growing and making familiar wines like cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay to American palates at affordable prices.
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 