I really enjoyed the new documentary Blood into Wine. It follows Maynard James Keenan as he does something other than creating amazing fucking music that will bend your mind. Even non-Maynard worshipers will get a lot out of this film as it discusses the process of making wine, what wine really is, where the most famous wines are made, how wines are graded, the cost and labor that go into running a vineyard, and why Arizona wine is so special. Like one should expect from a project involving Maynard, the film is smart, funny, and challenging; and if you get it on DVD there are some really great bonus materials to check out.
Now for all of you readers out there who haven't seen the doc, you might want to stick with the first paragraph and check yourself right out of this second half. Actually you can understand my point without seeing the film.....so....I gues you can stay..Anywho, one of the major vehicles of the film is to say that Maynard's passion in making wine is completely serious and not just a short spanned Rock Star hobby. Maynard shows a lot of passion on screen for this vineyard, and countless peeps give him endless props for being a serious wine maker, and also a fairly decent wine maker (he does have a super fucking smart wine mentor). This makes a problem for me (besides the unfair swipe the film takes at Paul Stanley and his paintings). I'll explain.
It's great that Maynard likes making wine, has the drive to do it full one, persumably does it fairly well, and might have helped make a little name for Arizona wine, but why is it a success? Why do people buy Maynard's wine, or buy this DVD? When you really boil it down, the reason all of Maynard's bottles of wine sell out instantly online is the same reason Bob Dylan has art galas and Mick Foley writes children's books; the fans. Tool fans (not to mention A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer fans) love Maynard's every endeavor, and undoubtedly make up the majority of Maynard's wine market. These aren't wine enthusiast, they don't that it's from Arizona or what process or ingredients make it (though it can be a fun footnote), all they care about is the fact that their hero Maynard helped create it. It's like buy weed personally tended and grown by Willie Nelson, a fan can't resist.
So there is the irony friends. Though Maynard is trying to develop a new ethos to himself, develop a new skill outside of what others would usually expect from him, his new life endeavor is completely dependent on his former, though still existent, musical endeavors. Without the enormous success of Tool, Maynard would not have the money to buy a winery, yet alone sustain it. Without Tool Maynard would not have become a celebrity, a position allowing him the ability to promote and sell his wine in numerous fields others seeking the same goal would have no opportunity to achieve. Though the documentary doesn't face this truth head on, it does present ample evidence. The most revealing evidence being a wine autographing session by Maynard and his shown in the film. There are no wine enthusiast present in the long line, there are no average folks curious to try a new wine, there are only Tool fans, metal heads, looking to meet a legend and willing to sell out the money for a bottle of wine to accomplish this goal. No fan interviewed mentions the wine in any way, they merely discuss their love of the Tool front man. Maynard (he's not stupid for Christ sake) answers my focus here, merely stating that it may introduce wine and a new perspective to individuals who otherwise would not have experienced fine wine. True enough, but than all the subtlety and hidden flavors go to waste.
Now you may be saying to yourself, big fucking deal. So what Maynard tells his wine predominately to Tool fans, all that matters is that it sells and that Maynard does what he likes. True, but a large underlying principle of the film is proving the personality and the unique taste of Arizona wine in challenge to big name wineries and tasters. Maynard wants to be a success here like he is a success in music. Sadly it doesn't seem like that is going to happen. Granted I've never taste a sip of Judith, and neither has most wine fans avid or casual. The wine might as well be a collectors item, and autographed poster, a smashed guitar. Besides the locals, and Maynard's rich friends (and friends of friends) how are just curious to see what the guy came up with, metal fans own this product. These bottles of wines are purchased to have a piece of Maynard, a piece of Tool, not as a fine beverage to have with crackers and cheese. Sadly Maynard has, and will likely fail in the wine world. The film, the wine, and the interviews are consumed overwhelming by the same folks who consume the music, and they have little say or presence in the world of wine.
In the film an interviewee ponders how Maynard will be remembers in 20 to 30 years. Perhaps, they offer, Maynard will be remembered as the man who made Arizona wine world famous, and also happened to record music. I suppose it's possible, but realistically Maynard will be remembered as a musician, and the winery will probably be a trivia fact.
What 90s-00s metal musician also ran a winery in his spare time?
A) Trent Reznor
B) Maynard Keenan
C) Eddie Vedder
D) Chris Cornell
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