The Wine Industry's Morality Play: The Ways of Wine

This film review was originally written for the online magazine, Eat Drink Films. It is used here with their permission. The Ways of Wine premiered in San Francisco on October 24th at Eat Drink Film's Food Day/Film Day celebration.

For anyone who has ever worked in the wine business—or viewed the self-congratulating documentary, Somm—seeing El Camino del Vino (The Ways of Wine) should be mandatory. This delightful mock-umentary, directed by Argentinian filmmaker Nicolas Carreras, follows the jet-set life of real life Master Sommelier Charlie Arturaola to Mendoza, Argentina. In the film, Arturaola plays a fictionalized version of himself attending Mendoza’s glamorous Masters of Food and Wine event. As he shuffles between teaching master classes to attending highbrow trade tastings and stuffy wine dinners, his exhaustion eventually catches up with him and he loses his sense of taste—a veritable nightmare for any wine professional. What happens next is a cross between Doctor Faustus, A Christmas Carol and Field of Dreams.