Here’s a wrap-up of the trip with some vignettes of the folks at Charron and Dos Cabezas, who graciously opened their wineries to me and shared their stories.

Everything in AZ winemaking is exactly the opposite of what you expect. In the Sonoita AVA, the problem isn’t too little water, it’s too much at the wrong time. The problem isn’t the baking heat and desiccating winds, but winter cold and spring frost. Of course, you’ll find a few expected challenges when making wine in the extremes of Arizona: snakes in the barrel room, for one.

And here you’ll also find winemakers working without a net. They’re defining a region, building it from scratch, trying to find what varietals will work the best in some of the country’s highest, driest and southernmost vinifera vineyards. You’ll find folks like Susan and Milton Craig of Charron Vineyards, who purchased a merlot vineyard between Tucson and Sonoita, where vines are tended next to prickly pear cacti. They’re refugees from the world of IT where they faced a constant struggle against “outsourcing” and “offshoring.” Making Arizona merlot is a job that can never be shipped overseas.

And in Sonoita, you’ll find Dos Cabezas Wine Works where Todd Bostock and his wife Kelly run a family operation with big ambitions, not only to create a legacy in wine for future generations of the Bostock clan, but also to prove that world class wines that evoke the unique character of the landscape where they were crafted are possible in Arizona. They want to prove the value of an entire wine region. And if releases like their Pronghorn Vineyard “El Campo” blend are any indication, they’re well on their way.

We’ve captured some great stories in Arizona and discovered that it’s a region with even more stories to tell. I’ll look forward to another opportunity to talk to folks in this region down the road.

We’ve been hitting Twitter and our other social networks harder lately because of our fundraising campaign, and as a result, Matt Compton, who co-owns Spindrift with his wife Tabitha, noticed the chatter and invited us to an industry tasting to try their lineup.

I’m a filmmaker, not a wine writer, so I’m not used writing tasting notes. But I have to say the ’08 reserve Pinot is a steal. The ’10 Pinot Gris stood out. I liked the Gewurtz from 30 year old vines, and they offered an interesting Rose made from Pinot Noir that had a twist on a blush wine…it had bright acidity like a typical WV white. I guess I’ve been learning a few things about vino since starting this project. Or at least I know what I like, and Spindrift offers enough range at great prices to make this corner of the Valley worth a visit.

Matt got his start managing vineyards and worked throughout this section of the WV before striking out on his own, and they now produce around 4,000 cases. Sometimes you don’t have to look far for wine stories, and I’m sure we’ll be touring some of Matt’s vineyards down the road.

l should also note that I ran into Claire Cady of the Oregon Wine Blog, which is in the midst of being rebranded as “WestToast,” to cover an expanded range of topics in food and wine in the Northwest.

We spent a few days with Jay Selman, Rusty Gaffney, Eric Anderson and Brian Clark as they shared the inside scoop on the origins of the show, the “epiphany bottles” that turned them into lifelong connoisseurs, and some of their favorite moments during the course of interviewing nearly five hundred of the most noted personalities in the wine industry.

We filmed the recording of one of their shows in their Orange County studio and followed Jay as he prepped for an interview with guest Chad Kearns of Giracci Vineyards, a winemaker who recently opened a tasting room in the canyons southeast of Los Angeles. We toured Chad’s newly planted Granache and Mourvedre vineyards on his 10 acre wine and horse farm and then sat in the studio for the interview on the following day.

We collected 250 gigabytes of footage, photos and audio, heard tales of wine adventures that would have made Miles from Sideways proud, and shared a few bottles of some fantastic wine during the course of capturing another side of the American wine landscape: enthusiasts with encyclopedic knowledge who use the latest technology to share their passion with thousands of fans around the world.

The indie wine media universe grows more cluttered by the day, with new blogs, podcasts and Twitter feeds popping up everywhere you look. We even have to add our own project to the mix. But the Grape Radio crew continues to outpace the field, recently winning their second James Beard Award. Once we’ve sifted through the footage we hope to show what drives them to continue to share their enthusiasm for wine and get their insight on what wine means to our culture, what’s the definition of the term wine geek, the tendency of wines to share the personality of the person who made them, and what makes this drink such a significant part of life and culture.

You’d think that this traditionalist and Burgundy aficionado would be a winemaker who arrived at his particular mature and minimalist style after a long and storied career in the wine business, but for Scott, wine is his second calling. For the past ten years he’s been perfecting the craft of making Oregon Pinot in a French style, but prior to that he was hanging out with the Beatles and planning marketing strategies for Ozzy Osbourne.

Scott was once the most listened-to radio personality as a rock DJ and later a recording industry executive. The story of his transition and transformation into a hands-on winery owner is a fascinating tale of revelation, relocation and giant rabbits.

We had a fantastic interview and were able to learn the inside story that carried him from the LA airwaves to the Willamette Valley. Winemakers everywhere are storytellers, and Scott is no exception. We’re looking forward to integrating the footage from his gorgeous refurbished granary winery in the sleepy town of Carlton, Oregon.

It’s so nice to be back to some of our home wine turf after an interview with the Great Plains winegrower Michael Amigoni and then a whirlwind tour of Sonoma County. The rainy side of the Cascades is begrudgingly making way for some sunshine, and we’re looking forward to spending a lot of time in our local vineyards this season capturing footage on our trusty Canons.

But up next is a trip down to southern Cal for a chat with the godfathers if indie wine media over at Grape Radio. And we’ve got some more surprise visits coming together. Should be a productive second year of filming for Vino Veritas.

The sound is a bit rough as it’s just the safety tracks from the cameras, either onboard mics or a Rode shotgun right into the camera. We shot on Canon 7Ds and a 60D, with film sound going into a Zoom H4N

We started off interviewing Alan Baker and Serena Lourie, who are christening their brand new tasting room and launching their Cartograph label. Alan began his journey into the wine business in 2005 as he launched his famous Cellar Rat podcast on Alt NPR, documenting his move from Minnesota to Healdsburg to pursue a life in wine. They’re partnering with Christian Stark, who’s been making Syrah since 2003 and is now expanding his offerings. A former musician, Christian is a self-taught winemaker who gained an appreciation for wine in culinary school. He now balances his winemaking with the challenges of raising a young family.

Mike and Kendall Officer of Carlisle Winery are not big fans of marketing and self-promotion. But that doesn’t mean they’re not storytellers. They’ve made an incredible journey that included long stints of commuting daily from a Sonoma farmhouse to San Francisco as they launched their business, and years operating on four hours of sleep. But now they’ve developed a loyal following, especially for their old vine zinfandel. Their vineyard, planted in the ’20s, features vines that reach up from the ground like gnarled hands. Mike and Kendall are so passionate about California’s heritage vineyards, that they’re active in the Historic Vineyard Society.

I’ll have to admit that making a documentary is really just a good excuse to take a road trip, and we rewarded ourselves with greasy spoons and a bottle of Mike’s zin to toast a weekend of capturing stories of determined artisans defying the odds in a risky business, facing well-funded competition, fickle weather and a tough economy all the while. Can’t wait to see their stories on the screen. We’ll definitely be heading back to talk to more Sonoma winemakers and capture the vineyards in the late summer. We thank everyone we met on the trip and look forward to following their careers.

Kegan Sims edited together this vignette that sums up the event:

There were 30+ wineries pouring at various locations in town, and crowds were roaming the streets with wineglasses in hand. I expected that we’d be able to garner some interest, and perhaps we did. But it’s hard to approach strangers, even strangers drinking wine, and ask them for money. Our approach was soft: check out the website, give a buck or two if you’re inclined, consider following us on Facebook, tell your friends, etc.

The event itself seemed to be a success. The wineries were positioned in different stores, and participants bought a $5 glass and taste tickets at $1 each, then wandered the town. Many of the tasters seemed to be shopping and making purchases. Wineries from all over Oregon were pouring and getting exposure. We met some winemakers from various backgrounds and even landed a prospect or two for the film. It was awkward trying to pitch our film to potential donors, though. After all, would you give strangers money for a film project if they approached you in a crowded store when you were just interested in getting a one-dollar taste of some local wine? We’ll see.

We’re at 5% of our $5,000 fundraising target. Not a bad start with more than fifty days to go in the campaign. But I also know it’s going to take a lot of work to get to the amount we need.

The best thing about telling people that you’re making a film is the fact that the more people you tell, the stronger the pressure to complete the project on time and make it impressive. Even if they don’t donate to the campaign, I want these folks to be able to someday be able to brag that they knew about this movie when it was just getting off the ground.

Whatever the case, it was still a good opportunity to get word of our film out to the local community. We met some nice folks. And if you’re ever in Corvallis, stop by Oregon Camera to replace a lens cap or pick up a new 7D, and be sure to visit Corvallis Brewing Supply for the best selection of local microbrews in town, or to get your yeast, carboys and advice.