Mondovino director releases book

US film director Jonathan Nossiter, maker of Mondovino, has released his first book – an ”anti wine guide” which, like his 2004 documentary, slams overly influential critics and outrageous prices.

Launched in Bordeaux recently, Nossiter said the book, Le Gout et le Pouvoir (Taste and Power), aimed to demystify wine and make it more democratic.

In a veiled attack on powerful critics such as American Robert Parker, Nossiter says it is ‘treason’ to taste 300 wines and then issue mathematical calculations.

”If there were 40 people in the room tasting we would have 40 different experiences,” Nossiter said.

”This book is an anti-guide,” he said, not aimed at imposing one person’s tastes but instead at championing the taste of the individual over that of well known critics.

The book, which will be available in English late next year, “is a call to find another way to talk about wine, to find words that include people, not exclude them,” he said.

It follows hot on the heels of another recently launched book that also criticises Parker, accusing him of ‘croneyism and lack of independence’.

Aside from slamming wine buffs and their snobby talk, Nossiter also takes on outrageously priced restaurants as a barrier to enjoying wines.

Nossiter, who chose to wrote his book in French, made waves at the Cannes filmfest in 2004 with Mondovino, a documentary about the good, the bad and the ugly in world wine.