A Year in Champagne (2014)

A Year in Champagne: Directed by David Kennard. With Xavier Gonet, Martine Saunier. With renowned wine importer Martine Saunier as our guide, we get a rare glimpse behind the scenes into the real Champagne through six houses, from small independent makers to the illustrious houses of Gosset and Bollinger.

“(Flash Review)u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe intent was to describe a full year, all four seasons, of growing grapes to make Champagne in the northern region of Champagne, France. An uneven amount of the focus was on how hard the cool climate is on the grapes. How much nurturing is needed and how frequently a harvest is fruitless; literally. There were the ubiquitous historic cellar shots with oodles of aging bottles. But nary a 4 minutes spent on why and how Champagne is different from wine; process or the artistic spin growers apply. There was some decent background and behind the scenes insights but maybe it just wasnu0026#39;t picturesque enough or informative enough and the key objective for me was that I was not enticed to go out and buy a bottle. As I had been after watching the two SOMM documentaries. SOMM: Into the Bottle is a much more informative and gets the figurative juices flowing.”