Documentary about Wine or Infomercial?
Blood into Wine is an epic documentary that humors its audience with a heavy array of actors and comedians, while teaching them in a beautiful and spiritual way about wine. Maynard James Keenan is well renowned musician and philanthropist. He is the front man of successful bands such as, Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer. Maynard Keenan, an affluent man of much fortitude, decided to make wine in a place no one would ever expect; Jerome, Arizona. Nestled away in the Verde Valley Canyon, Jerome used to be a ghost town twice over. Maynard Keenan is bringing life back to the nearly deserted town with his winery, Caducesus and Merkin Vineyards, to a population just fewer than 400. Blood into Wine is surely an interesting documentary about wine, and not an infomercial for all things Maynard James Keenan.
Directed and written by Ryan Page and Christopher Pomerenke, Blood into Wine was released in February of 2010. Ryan Page and Christopher Pomerenke are known for another hit documentary in 2009 involving celebrities and musicians called The Heart is a Drum Machine. In this documentary, numerous celebrities speak about how music affects them in a scientific and spiritual way. The celebrity testimony in both films is shot in much of the same way, giving them interesting twist compared to most bland documentaries out there. The directors’ mission to make people feel enlightened with their film-making about physically and emotionally stimulating concepts is very clear in these two documentaries.
Maynard James Keenan is just one of the characters in Blood into Wine. Though it is easy to overlook anyone that may be in Keenan’s shadow, there are quite a few people who contributed to this film. Eric Glomski, Keenan’s business partner, has a lot to offer considering he is a master winemaker. Keenan is merely Glomski’s novice apprentice, thirsting for wine knowledge and learning as he goes. Glomski establishes his credibility by giving some of his background information. He moved to Arizona in his teens initially to go to college. In the early 1990’s Glomski graduated with a degree in river ecology. During one of his first big contracts, he hiked hundreds of river miles, and he had picked some heirloom apples to take back home with him. After experimenting with home brewing before, he decided to brew his own wine. As Glomski states in a very conscious way, “I’ll never forget that first whiff; it brought me back. I could smell those grasses. I could hear that babbling brook. I could smell the Ponderosa’s”.
Keenan and Glomski formed their partnership rather quickly over a couple of meetings. Eric Glomski had already started his own vineyard in the same area, they both shared a passion for wine, and they both were entrepreneurs. Glomski’s wife recalls when he had first met Keenan, and her account is rather amusing. She states that Glomski described Keenan showing up in a limo, dressed in gothic attire, with a woman that was wearing a dog collar. Keenan attests this statement with great resistance, and claims with a couple of swear words that he would never do such a thing. All humor aside, Keenan speaks very highly of Glomski. In the late 1990’s, they began their quest of growing grapes together, beginning the ever long process of wine making.
Along with Maynard Keenan, there are a few other well known celebrities that grace this documentary. There is a one on one with Keenan and Milla Jovovich. Jovovich is in many movies, but a couple of her most well known are Fifth Element and the Resident Evil trilogy. The one on one is very casual as they speak about her singing contributions the band Puscifer; one of Keenan’s many side projects. With their closeness very obvious, Jovovich is even curious as to why Keenan would want to make wine. Coincidently, earlier in the documentary, Keenan compares Milla’s character, Lilo, in Fifth Element to the wonders of grapes. Lilo is considered the Supreme Being with a much more complex DNA strand than other humans. Keenan continues the thought by saying, “The complexity within a grape is so far beyond than that of other fruits. The processes of fermentation, consumption, and the complexities of enzymes swirling around in your glass; it’s a supreme being”. With that being said, Keenan clearly feels deeply for wine and finds all of its wonders intriguing.
Other celebrities that have small, somewhat pointless roles in the documentary are Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim of the Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Patton Oswald the comedian, and Tim Alexander, drummer of the band Primus. Heidecker and Wareheim host a silly segment throughout this documentary called Focus on Interesting Things, where they continually give Keenan a hard time about how uninteresting wine is. Oswald’s small bit of commentary is pretty much nonexistent and honestly only good for a couple of chuckles. Though, Alexander brings home a good base of information on the background of why Keenan initially came to Arizona in the first place. Alexander lived in Jerome, Arizona for a good portion of his life, finding the area to be very peaceful and powerful – a vortex of energy. After partnering up with Keenan to work in the band Puscifer, Tim Alexander convinced him to take a trip to Jerome to see if he felt the same; as a result Maynard Keenan is making some of the best wine in the country.
The cost of planting a vineyard and running a decent winery could almost be considered astronomical. In Arizona, planting grapes runs about $35,000 an acre. For the winery, expect to pay upwards of two million dollars. They say, the best way to make ten million in the wine business is to lose 100 million first. Due to winter colds and animals, Keenan has had to replant many acres of his vineyards. Considering that the wine business is a black hole for money, it further proves Maynard Keenan’s dedication.
One of the main goals for Keenan’s wine making mission was to find a place with water. The desert would most certainly not be the first place to look, but interestingly enough vineyards conserve much water. The mines in Verde Valley, Arizona control the water supply, and give a very limited amount to Jerome, Arizona. Whereas most crops such as corn and cotton eat up water supply, grapes do the complete opposite. There is one eighth the usage of water with a vineyard compared to an average family household. In a way, Merkin Vineyards is a great economic uplift for the small town Jerome, and that makes Keenan very welcome to the town with his business.
Much of the process of enjoying wine is smelling it; similarly, introducing oneself to one of our five senses in an extreme way. In Blood into Wine, they list many of the ways that people describe what they smell. Examples of the smells being forest floor, strawberry, or even a creative way that defines what the person is feeling with their other four senses. Keenan and Glomski’s wines are most impressive when it comes to taste and smell. Most people comment that it’s some of the best wine they’ve ever had. Neil, a wine reviewer sums it up in a perfect way, “I’m listening to Tool’s Ænima album, and am reminded of the crafted, complex pro-duction that one can expect when listening to a Tool record. Tool of course is one of the bands that Keenan fronts, and after tasting his 2005 Nagual de la Naga, I can say that similar production techniques are applied to the wine, as the results are equally crafted and complex”.
Napa Valley, which is where the Verde Valley resides, is becoming a booming area for wine making. Tourists will come from across the country to hit each of the wineries located in the heart of where all these wonderful wines are brewing. While Caduceus may be a novice winery, it is making a serious impression in the wine making industry. Keenan is proud to announce that Caduceus and Merkin Vineyards has, “received top awards at the Arizona Wine Growers Association event. Four gold, one silver, and four bronze” which is an astounding accomplishment for such a young business. The anticipation and love for Maynard Keenan’s wines is not just about his celebrity; moreover, it is about the wine itself.
Many people do not consider what goes into wine making or consider what an amazing feat the end result establishes. Those who are clueless to the wine making process never really wonder what sort of passion and goodwill it takes. Wine making takes decades of hard work and true dedication. Though Maynard Keenan expresses in the documentary that he never had a desire to live in Arizona, thinking that it was nothing more than sand and tumbleweeds, he had a powerful feeling come over him that was beyond his control it seemed. Keenan is consistent in never letting his audience or consumers down. Whether or not one believes that Blood into Wine is serious, the proof is in the pudding as they say. The only fool proof way to completely enjoy this documentary is to taste the wine, and then perhaps the truth will be known. Blood into Wine is exactly how the title states and it is nothing but for the people that wish a simple, though worldly explanation.
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