Film Night: American Wine Story, Film Screening & Wine Tasting

American Wine Story, Film Screening & Wine Tasting

If you finally discovered
your true calling
would you have the courage
to start over?

Here’s your chance to go behind-the-scenes of a documentary film about the American wine industry and meet two of its stars. Slow Food board members Peg Champion and Brad Whitworth are hosting a special Slow Food private screening in their Windsor home of an American Wine Story. You’ll have a chance to taste the wine from Cartograph Wines, one of the wineries featured in the film, and hear firsthand from Cartograph’s owners, Alan Baker and Serena Lourie, about their wines and the making of the movie.

This screening is a fundraising event for Slow Food Russian River. Attendance is limited to the first 25 people to sign up. Your $50 ticket includes small appetizers paired with tastings of Cartograph Wines.

6:30pm Arrival with a welcome glass of wine and specially paired appetizer
6:45pm The Slow Food Story, and an introduction to an American Wine Story
7:00 – 8:20pm Film screening
8:20pm Q&A and winetasting by Alan Baker and Serena Lourie of Carthograph Wines in Healdsburg. Details will be posted here, and emailed to ticket holders, as they become available. The street address for the screening will be emailed to ticket holders.

Synopsis of American Wine Story

After an upstart winemaker’s untimely death, his sister steps in to try to save his fledgling winery for his eight-year-old son. American Wine Story blends this with other tales of risk and reinvention for those who are born again into the wine industry. This feature documentary is about the transformative power of a humble beverage to fuel passion and reshape lives.

The documentary follows dozens of winemakers and aficionados from across the country to learn what drives them and traces American wine history in the process. The film leaves audience members with a dash of inspiration to follow their own American Dream or, at the very least, pause and consider “the story behind the bottle” the next time they pull a cork.

Press Responses

About Alan Baker and Serena Lourie of Cartograph Wines

Alan Baker and Serena Lourie founded Cartograph to pursue their passion for wine after enjoying successful careers in other fields — he in public radio and she in health care and venture capital (see their bios LINK for the full story).

In 2008, Alan was working at the Crushpad custom-crush operation in San Francisco, making Pinot Noir under his Cellar Rat Cellars label. Serena, on hiatus from her job in health care, came to Crushpad to learn the craft of winemaking and wound up working with Alan. During that first season making three Pinots together, they discovered that they shared two things: a similar palate and the dream of pursuing a life in winemaking.

After a long shift at Crushpad in November 2008, Alan and Serena sat on the curb outside and hatched a plan to make that dream come true. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Healdsburg, toting two barrels — 50 cases — of the Pinot they’d made at Crushpad. That wine became the first release under the Cartograph label, with the front of each bottle showcasing a map of the winding road that brought the couple together to create Cartograph Wines.

Two years later, they opened their first tasting room in a shared space, and moved in 2013 to their own space one block north of the main plaza in Healdsburg. In 2014, Cartograph was featured in the American Wine Story documentary, which showed at several film festivals and is available online via LINK vhx.tv and Itunes. In 2016, Cartograph purchased its first vineyard.

While Alan’s focus is sourcing great fruit and making the wine, Serena runs the tasting room and manages the business. Cartograph now produces 1,300 cases of wine annually, mainly Pinot Noir, and including aromatic whites in the style of the Alsace region of France.

Alan and Serena’s goals are to make wines that impress with nuance and subtlety, and to show how elegant wine can be when the winemaking process involves sourcing from impeccable vineyards and using a light hand in winemaking. More…

About Slow Food Russian River

Slow Food Russian River is a vibrant USA chapter of Slow Food International. A worldwide organization, Slow Food is dedicated to a global food system that provides Healthy Food, a Clean Environment, Fair Pay, and Food Justice for all. We work locally, with an eye on the global.

We are active in Sonoma County, California, in an area including Windsor, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati and West County, toward the Pacific Ocean. Towns and hamlets in West County include Sebastopol, Freestone, Valley Ford, Bodega, Bodega Bay, Occidental, Graton, Forestville and – along the Russian River – Guerneville, Jenner, Duncan Mills and Rio Nido.

Slow Food Russian River’s signature project is the Gravenstein Apple Presidium, supporting apple growers and cider makers in Sonoma County.