Frontman of the legendary rock bands Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifier, Maynard James Keenan, is splitting his time between rocking like hell, and “counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm of a war drum” to make fine wines in the desert of Arizona. No, it’s not a joke. He’s totally serious about it. Real serious.

Why do I know this?  Because if Maynard puts even half the time into cultivating his vintage Judith (named after his recently passed, invalid mother) as he does his music, then that cab’s gonna be great.  The winery is called Caduceus.  Ka-Douche-us, better known as, that medical symbol thingy with the snake on it.  Seems it resembles the T shape that grape vines make as well.

The reason I bring this up is because there’s a wine documentary from True Story Films made about his transformation from Satan to Sangiovese, and I thought it was worth at look.  Maynard didn’t head out to Arizona to make wine.  Winemaking found him.  He was inspired to cultivate Arizona’s Spain-like soil with the same passion he puts into his on stage performance.  He’s a thinking man’s rocker, and his pension for not releasing an album until it’s perfect, complements the patience needed to make great wine.

Review

I don’t do too many movie reviews on this site, but I wanted to point out that I felt this movie was excellent. It’s shot on the Red One, and is scored almost entirely by Maynard, either as instrumentals or the Puscifier catalog. The inclusion of humor into the storytelling I was skeptical of, but it turns out to work very well. The opening credit sequence is done in 3D with the credits incorporated into the landscape. We’ve all seen this done before, but it still impresses me every time I see it.  You do not need to be a fan of Tool or wine to enjoy this documentary, but it helps. Blood into Wine I consider to be a great documentary about the tumultuous world of wine making, and how it takes a rebel with a cause to see it through.

Watch the trailer below.

Yes, the story moved me enough that I bought a bottle of Judith for my Rockband party – whatevs!

Here’s the alternate trailer which shows more of the great photography.