(The 2026 Venice Film Festival runs September 2-9 on the island of the Lido di Venezia (Venice Lido) in Italy. HtN has coverage coming in like M.J. O’Toole’s Burgundy movie review. Seen it? Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)
Capturing slices of life with visual poetry, Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw continue to redefine the documentary genre with their newest feature, Burgundy. Transporting their viewers to the eponymous French region, also the namesake for the well-known wines, the directing duo (The Truffle Hunters, Gaucho Gaucho) captures the contemporary winemaking scene through many different professions, using their steady, fly-on-the-wall cinematography that makes nearly every frame look like a work of art. Through each subject, we see how wine shapes not only their professions, but also their purpose in life. You may walk out of this film wanting to expand your palate (mine may need a little bit of refining). Similar docs like 2012’s Somm and 2020’s Weed & Wine do provide insight into the craft and business of winemaking. But very few are as structurally sophisticated as Burgundy. It is a compassionate study of older generations preparing the younger generation to take the reins in this ever-lucrative industry that thrives on taste, skill, knowledge, and profit. What you get is a film that hums with a lust for life in every frame.
Burgundy’s wine industry is an interconnected one where wines are grown and made in the vineyards, transported to upper-class restaurants, sampled by sommeliers to serve with the right cuisines, and reviewed by critics who deeply measure the quality of flavor and feeling with their taste buds. Overseeing the creation of these wines is Bertrand, an aging aristocrat who owns the domain that grows the grapes, which has been passed down in his family for generations. Dweck and Kershaw frame him as someone who enjoys life’s pleasures, but also takes the time to pass knowledge down to those passionate about winemaking. Such an individual eager to learn is Enzo, a twenty-something new worker on the vineyard who yearns to become his own boss someday and has a debonair sense of fashion, dressed for success in fine-tailored suits with a cigar in tow. Bertrand takes the time to teach the young man how to be a high-class gentleman and even shoot a shotgun for sport.
Similar to their last two features, Dweck and Kershaw are interested in capturing the different generations within an industry or way of life, and raising the question of how the younger ones will make their own mark. They also turn the camera on Patrick, an aging maitre d’hotel nearing retirement who gently mentors a much younger waiter, Mateo, to perfect the presentation of each dining table and serve with confidence. The cultivation of wines and how one presents them are important, but even more so is learning from those who’ve lived through the business for so long. Aside from their professions and aspirations in this vibrant green region, certain subjects are going through life changes of their own. One person is Guillaume, a longtime wine critic who is trying to rediscover his passion for wine through therapy. Dweck and Kershaw observe his sessions with a certain distance and stillness, with one gorgeously shot hypnotherapy session having him express his fulfillment in drinking wine from the year he was born and the memories it conjures. “It is like drinking my life,” he admits to his therapist, reminding him and us of the deep feelings and sensations wine can elicit.
We also witness a kind of love story between Enzo and Clémence, an aspiring young sommelier earning her craft from veteran sommelier Eric, working under him in a local restaurant. Enzo’s sweetness, calm demeanor, and deeply observant nature give her a sense of comfort, especially in terms of trusting her own instincts as a sommelier. After all, Bertrand does advise Enzo to find a wife to help him run his own wine empire, so who knows what the future has in store for this pairing. The directors capture their relationship with an aesthetic of youthful bliss and lively energy that’s almost like something out of Amélie or Before Sunrise. For some people, however, passions may fade away and change, whether it’s because of circumstance or disillusionment. Whether or not they choose to pursue a path in the wine industry or the older generation retires, the grapes will keep being stomped, the empires will live on, and the wines will continue to be a commodity (even being bid on at auctions for as high as €250,000 or 290,843.10, U.S.).
There is so much beautiful footage here, giving a strong sense of flavor and location through both the wine and those who inhabit the vineyards. With Burgundy, Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw capture a region, its people, and its way of life with tranquility and elegance that will make for one soothing viewing experience. Their striking images elevate even the simplest conversations and samplings of wine to cinematic eloquence. Editor Pauline Gaillard ties each subject’s perspective together magnificently, helping make the overall themes nearly inseparable. The directors even delight us with some glorious, texture-filled close-ups of the slugs crawling through the vineyards they inhabit, almost weaving their movements into their subjects’ lives. The documentary highlights how one chooses to follow their own path in an industry that is mostly held together by tradition. How we choose to proceed depends on where our senses (primarily taste in this case) will lead us on this long, winding, and green road.
– M.J. O’Toole (@mj_otoole93)
