Tiny Vineyards was a sold-out hit at the 2019 Sonoma International Film Festival and again at the Sebastiani Theatre this past September. See it again now on Sebastiani Theatre at Home!
The Valley of the Moon is considered the birthplace of the California wine industry. Today, the 62,000 acres of vineyards in Sonoma County produce 250 million bottles of wine per year. Beneath this consolidating and increasingly mechanized monoculture of grape growing and wine production exists a subculture of hundreds of hobby vineyards planted in the front yards, backyards, side yards, and adjacent vacant lots of Sonoma.
From just a handful of vines to several hundred, these tiny vineyards are tended by home viticulturalists and winemakers dedicated to growing grapes and producing small batches of wine for all the right reasons, not the least of which is self-consumption. Blending science with alchemy, agrarian zeal with ingenuity, these amateur oenophiles can sometimes make wine rivaling that of the best commercial wineries – and, sometimes not. As uncomplicated as it can appear, winemaking is a craft fraught with disaster. An art subject to the vagaries of nature, weather, terroir and human endeavor.
Tiny Vineyards takes you through the triumphs and travails of an entire season of growing grapes and crafting a private vintage. If you’ve ever dreamt of planting a little vineyard and making your own wine, or if you’re already under the spell of Bacchus – don’t miss this movie!