Arizona continues to make inroads into the wine market, even though producers must contend with what this writer calls “grapes on the edge”. Toiling in regions that yield great tasting wines, but challenge the enologist at every turn, two winemakers have become proselytizers of the Arizona grape; Maynard Keenan, one of rock music’s most enigmatic practitioners, and his mentor and partner, Eric Glomski. They bring their passion for wine to the screen with the documentary Blood into Wine showing at the Albuquerque Guild theatre, March 13th.
These brass knuckle wine guys, or vignerons as they style themselves, are making a case for the quality and uniqueness of Arizona wines. From guitar riffs to wine notes is no more a reach than other transitions from celebrity status to wine producer. It takes passion and love, which are also two prime ingredients of becoming a rock star. Maynard is the multi-platinum artist of Tool, A perfect Circle and Puscifer. He’s also hitting the right notes with the wines he produces.
Vigneron is a French term meaning wine grower, encompassing the roles of grape grower and winemaker. These mavericks in the wine trade evidence a strong belief in the future of Arizona wine, an underlying theme of the movie. A vigneron also believes in terroir, which defines the uniqueness of a locale optimized for growing specific grapes, shaped by soil, moisture and weather.
Grapes on the edge refers to the challenge of growing exceptional grapes in a region with a scarcity of water, wide temperature swings, high elevations, dramatic changes in weather and a constant sun that can burn as well as nurture. These are the challenges Eric and Maynard set out to conquer, as Blood into Wine chronicles. This movie is a rare opportunity to gain insight into the wine trade, and sets it apart from other wine-based movies that use the vine as background for character studies. Characters you will find here, but men engrossed in the process of crafting unique wines regardless of what a fickle terroir places in their way.
Comments
Nice turn of the word in describing these guys! Can't wait to see the movie when it comes to Albuquerque -- and maybe taste some of their wine. Can we get it locally?
Great article, Jim, with the insight into the struggles of wine production.
Paul Elliott
Shreveport Small Business Marketing Examiner
What's the name of their winery? Where in Arizona is it?
Eric is the winemaker/owner at Page Spring Cellars (some really good Arizona wines!!) and Maynard w/ Eric has Arizona Stronghold plus his own label.
Eric is the winemaker/owner at Page Spring Cellars (some really good Arizona wines!!) and Maynard w/ Eric has Arizona Stronghold plus his own label.
As an Artist, Tool fan and Winemaker, I am continuously both delighted and dismayed by Maynard's persistent push into his "unknown." I appreciate his contributing efforts to Arizona's wine industry/image, which I am sure is saying the least as Arizona producers are concerned. The value of [mythical] Maynard as a celebrity spokesman is priceless. This is all well and good as wine is, of course, all about evolution and discovery. He cannot, however, make any less than concerted efforts to abate the inevitable fact that anything with his name on it is a brand, and will quickly ascend (descend?) to cult status, and develop around it snobbish nouveau riche wine drinkers (Maynardites) who mistake both wine and themselves as part of an elitist faction. Ultra-image-conscious Maynard has to realize that he can't be both Andy Warhol and a serious winemaker simultaneously. The relative sanctity of wine should be off limits for condescending illusory character use that dominates the Maynard brand.
Page Springs Cellars is in Cornville about 15 miles south of Sedona, which is in northern AZ
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