A two-hour plus exposition on the global wine industry may not sound like the most gripping idea for a documentary but Mondovino is much more than a grape lover's paradise. It's a transfixing look at the human faces behind a multi-billionaire dollar industry where success and failure (and many livelihoods) can rest on the reviews of a single, albeit independent, journalist (Robert Parker), the whims of a winemaking corporation (the Mondavi family) or the reluctance of folks (the Guilbert clan) to break with traditions. The director, Jonathan Nossiter, trained as a sommelier and it's obvious that he's approaching his subject with a huge depth of knowledge. Perhaps more importantly than that, he retains a gift for clear and concise communication and cuts through swathes of information. His insistence on recording everything on hand-held cameras may be a little too jarring over the course of two hours but the insights granted by a wide array of colourful interviewees adds texture and well, body to a richly informative film. You'll never look a bottle of Chateau Nuf Du Plonk in the same light again.
