Film Stars Winemaking California Monks

(Wines&Vines) - Since 2000, a community of Cistercian (“Trappist”) monks has been tending vines and making wines in a remote corner of California. Now, John Beck documents their struggles in his new film “Monks of Vina,” which screens today and Sunday at the Napa Valley Film Festival.

Last year Beck released “Harvest,” which focused on Sonoma’s exceptionally difficult 2011 crush and the growers, winemakers and laborers who struggled to bring it in.

Filmed at New Clairvaux Vineyards “Monks of Vina” profiles the winemaking monks in the remote town of Vina, which is about 100 miles north of Sacramento, Calif. Although grapegrowing and winemaking are an essential element, many of the challenges faced by the monks are self-inflicted: Self-flagellation, “medieval undergarments,” poverty, chastity and “obedience.” These modern monks pray seven times daily, but limit conversation (the order was traditionally “silent.”) Their hypnotic, mournful chanting haunts the film’s soundtrack.

The brotherhood (and sisterhood: the community includes women) took up residence on this historic California site after outgrowing its “mother community” in Kentucky. The original property owner, Leland Stanford, was a founding father of California, former governor and founder of Stanford University who helped link the nascent state to the East Coast via railroad. Stanford registered a rare “fail” at Vina. He planted winegrape vines next to the railroad, but never succeeded in marketing his produce.