A fine documentary is like a fine wine; it improves with age. Jonathan Nossiter's excellent  2004 documentary Mondovino is the perfect embodiment of this statement.

Mondovino is a film about globalization and it's impacts on the art and business of creating wines. It is a statement on homogenization of a product that has always been inextricably linked in taste to the region of its production. It also offers insight into the roles played by critics and the media in the further levelling of consumer tastes. It documents view points from global players in the wine racket, such as California's nouveau Mondavi clan or the truly antediluvian Rothschilds of Europe. It also tells us that that "strong oak finish" so often attributed to wines has far more to do with using new oak barrels for each batch of wine than it does for the quality of the wine itself.

Indeed, the process of finishing wines in new oaken barrels is pin-pointed as one of the key manufacturing short cuts increasingly being taken by global wine makers in an attempt to appeal to tastes shaped by a small cadre of wine critics and international wine consultants who have been deeply involved in shaping the modern wine industry. Older wine makers on self-sustaining vinyards across France lash out against the oak glaze vs traditional terroir appeal of their classically created wines.

It's a fascinating film filled with passion, humour and thoughtful questions from director Nossiter, who comes from a wine making family. We recommend you pair a viewing with a bottle (or two) of Goats Do Roam, a spicy shiraz from South Africa.