A Year in Champagne (2014)

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.

Director:

David Kennard

Writer:

David Kennard

Stars:

Xavier Gonet, Martine Saunier

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Xavier Gonet	...	Champagne Maker
Martine Saunier

Storyline

Renowned wine importer Martine Saunier returns as our guide in the second installment in a trilogy of wine films. Here we get a rare glimpse behind the scenes into the real Champagne through six houses, from small independent producers to the illustrious houses of Gosset and Bollinger. In the vineyard, 2012 threatened to be 'the year of all our fears.' But most Champagne is not just the product of a specific year and its weather. Signature house styles are creations that happen behind closed doors and in the miles of cellars beneath Champagne. Pull back the curtain and see how the people of a cold, tough land with a grim history triumph in producing the drink of joy, seduction and celebration.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Did You Know?

Quotes

Champagne Maker: In a life, the life of a taster, at one point, you taste a bottle and think," That's it. That is the best." It doesn't happen often. It happens two or three times in a life. And it happened when we drank wines made by my great-grandparents and my grandparents. And I said to myself " That is what I would like to do at least once, make a wine that after 50 or 60 years, shines."

User Reviews

Flat

Subtitles are particularly crappy in this snail-paced look at Champagne. (Example: the "liqueur d'expedition" is NOT "liquor" but sweet wine.) For all the time spent ballooning over the vineyards and watching machinery turn, there's no single coherent explanation of what Champagne actually is, why there's a need to remove sediment after the second fermentation, etc etc etc.

And what's Martine Saunier doing here? She imports one of the central characters into the US but not a peep from her about how Americans perceive Champagne.

Writer-director David Kennard is also responsible for the equally dreary "Year in Burgundy."

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA France

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Un anno nella Champagne

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Color:

Color