Last night Franck and I watched the lovely film A Year in Burgundy: A Film About Wine .
Needless to say, it made me beyond nostalgic for the days when I could enjoy all of the incredible wines of Burgundy with utter abandon. Besides that though, I felt the film really got inside the idea that a good winemaker is an artist and that a truly fine wine is one of the greatest pieces of art a human can create (with some significant help from Mother Nature, of course).
Both Franck and I found that the images of the region could have been more visually stunning - Burgundy is so gorgeous a region that that would not have been difficult. Still, this film delves into a handful of fascinating and distinct winemaking families that give the viewer a feel for the sense of history and tradition of winemaking in Burgundy.
My hands-down favorite winemaker featured was Lalou Bize-Leroy (with such a great name, how could she not be downright formidable?) - an incredible Burgundian dame who speaks about wine and winemaking with a poetry all her own. Having been lucky enough to taste her wines while I lived in Burgundy, in my mind she is an artist on par with Georgia O'Keefe or Virginia Woolfe.
I have an 80% finished paranormal romance sitting on my computer that features a young (male, and handsome to boot) Burgundian winemaker. This film made me impatient to finish that book as soon as I am done "My Grape Village." I cannot think of a more fascinating or romantic fictional character than a French winemaker, but maybe that's just me.
This film goes a little way in explaining, I feel, why Burgundy is such an extraordinarily special place. It also helps you understand why, in the words of Franck's great Oncle Georges, "La vie est trop courte. Boit que du bon." (translation: Life is too short. Drink only fine wine). That was wise advice indeed.
