UK wine writer Monty Waldin is to feature in a new television series on Channel 4, charting his attempt to produce biodynamic wine in France,decanter.com has learned.
The six-part series, with the working title of 'Chateau Monty', will be aired later this year on Channel 4.
The series follows the award-winning author and biodynamic expert in his bid to produce a viable wine within 18 months of renting a vineyard in the Roussillon region of the French Pyrenees.
Waldin's wine is made under biodynamic strictures, which include harvesting according to lunar cycles and a reliance on nature to protect and feed the vines.
An official tie-in book, with the same title, will be released to coincide with the series. It covers all aspects of the project, from Waldin's naïve logistical approach to harvest – 'and your estimate is based on what, exactly, Mr Monty Waldin?' asks his incredulous girlfriend – to the first tasting of the young wine by the late Bill Baker.
'It's got good fruit and should soften up after malo [malolactic fermentation],' says Baker.
Monty Waldin is one of the foremost experts on biodynamic wines. His previous books include Biodynamic Wines (part of the Mitchell Beazley Classic Wine Library series, the Organic Wine Guide and Wines of South Africa, which won the 2004 James Beard Foundation award for best wine and spirits book.
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TV shows, Internet videos, podcast are great ways to show the wine world to people. This channel 4 program is a good initiative and I hope others will follow. One that could participate next is the French very famous winemaker Stephane Derenoncourt. See the funny video he made recently while working at a Chateau in Cahors!
[See the video here]
Jean-Eric Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada
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