Winery workers turn camera lens on industry

BUHL - For years, Idaho wines have been overlooked by many connoisseurs, largely ignored by the industry. But vineyards are springing up across the landscape like flowers in spring and beginning to take home international awards, as Holesinsky Organic Vineyard & Winery in Buhl did recently with its rose.

The time was ripe to tell the story of Idaho wine, and into that gap have stepped the filmmaking team of Wes Malvini and Dustin Jones. The young documentarians have day jobs at Holesinsky, learning the process and helping market the product.

"We developed quite a passion for working out in the fields that grew into a passion for wine," Malvini said.

There they have seen behind the scenes of winemaking, and that's what they want their audience to witness as well. They hope their style of conversations rather than interviews, and not editing out arguments or disappointments, will bring the viewer into a winery in a way that most wine consumers have never been.

"It's always a picture frame of the romance of having a winery, you never get to see the broken-down tractors, press equipment not working, wine that isn't turning out the way you want it to," said James Holesinsky, owner and winemaker. "Watching the documentary makes you want to go out and buy Idaho wine."

Malvini and Jones are currently filming but simultaneously in post-production, so they expect the finished documentary to be available to the public by next August. It is called "Terroir in the High Desert." Terroir is a term used for wine and food that describes the characteristics that land bestows on what is grown there; it is sometimes loosely translated as "sense of place."

Once the documentary is released, the filmmakers hope to hold screenings in the towns where the featured wineries are located, including Boise, Twin Falls and Ketchum, and the audience will have the opportunity to taste many of the wines mentioned in the documentary at those events and ask questions of the winemakers.

The film is financed by Malvini and Jones, with borrowed equipment, but profits from the premiere events will go to the Idaho Wine Commission.

Both winemakers and documentarians say each Idaho wine is an expression of the personality of the winemaker, and can be tasted in the glass.

"That's what makes this film more interesting; we go into the personalities of the winemakers themselves," said Michael Gough, cinematographer. "It's very organic in the way it's being made, because we went there with an idea of how things would be, but they were exactly the opposite."

Malvini laughs as he thinks about some of the personalities, describing them as "reincarnated Indian chief" and "astrologic theologian."

The filmmakers probe past the typical questions a winemaker gets, explore failures as well as successes and guide the conversation into details that often aren't shared outside the winemaking community.

"People don't like to give out secrets, they think constantly, 'I'll say too much,'" Holesinsky said, pleased with the filmmakers' dry, sarcastic approach. "I've seen it done wrong so many times, and these guys are so precise, asking the right questions, that they can read through the bull(expletive)."

The style made the process livelier, said Neil Glancy, winemaker at Wood River Cellars in Eagle, who participated in a casual round-table discussion among winemakers for the film.

"It's a nice glimpse into how wineries discuss different wines together, different flavors together," Glancy said. "It'll be interesting to see how it comes out in the editing."

Malvini said he hopes the film will inspire Idahoans to be advocates for their home state's burgeoning industry.

"Idaho wine has a huge following in Idaho, which is awesome, but there are a lot of Idaho wine drinkers that don't go around spreading the word when they leave Idaho," Malvini said. "Idahoans will be able to stand a little prouder.

"It is entertainment first, and I guarantee this will be one heck of an entertaining movie," he said.