1. "Somm." The most famous (I think) of the three, "Somm" documents the journeys of a few individuals seeking to earn the rank of "Master Sommelier" - the highest in the industry and of whom there are less than 300 in the world. It is probably the least relevant of the three from the business perspective of the industry, but excellently illustrates the breadth and depth of wine knowledge that exists at the highest levels of wine academia. Very fun film with great characters as well.
2. "Somm: Into the Bottle." Technically the sequel to "Somm," but in my opinion the association is only for marketing purposes, trying to ride on the success and popularity of "Somm." "Into the Bottle" is really about the winemaking process, and visits many different geographies, wineries, and winemakers to illustrate the impact variations in all the different steps of this process have on the final product. For anyone who is not as familiar with how wine is made, this will be extremely educational. It also has much more relevant business info, at least as pertains to wine production (supply chain management...not so much). Some of the characters from "Somm" return for commentary.
3. "Sour Grapes." This documentary is about Rudy Kurniawan, an infamous wine counterfeiter, and his exploits in the world of fine and rare wine auctions. From an entertainment perspective, the film is a fascinating crime and human interest story. But it also gives an enlightening glimpse into this unique part of the industry, where significant sums of money are changing hands for these famous bottles of wine. This is the high-end collectors side of the luxury good aspect of the industry, and makes one think about some of the issues we've discussed in class related to the connection (or lack thereof) between taste, perceived quality, and price.
Also recommend watching "Sour Grapes", which I suspect is less well-known than the others. It offers additional insight into the ultra-high-end wine tasting world, in which Rudy was a star. Fascinating to see that some of Rudy's friends, even after observing the mountain of evidence collected from his house, refuse to believe that his wines were counterfeit.
ReplyDeleteThe documentarians here seem to portray some of the high-end collectors almost tragically: we watch them come to terms with their inability to spot elaborate fakes.