Q&A: Tool's Maynard James Keenan on Blood Into Wine, the New Documentary About His Adventures in Winemaking
"But hopefully they'll end up waking up one day, open up that bottle of wine and go, 'Holy shit. He's right,' and give me a nod rather than drop to their knees."
With mindless celebrities attaching their name to any vanity project that comes their way--Cadmium-laced Miley Cyrus bracelets priced to sell!--the idea of Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan's moniker on a bottle of wine seems both off-putting and absurd. Yet every year since 2003, Keenan has spent four months planning, planting and harvesting the materials for wine in his home state of Arizona via Arizona Stronghold Vineyards (a co-ownership deal with mentor Eric Glomski) and his own Merkin Vineyards.![]()
Blood Into Wine, a documentary detailing the musician's experience with the industry, is a fascinating look at Keenan's personal struggles--with lobbyists, state and federal regulators, bad soil, etc.--and achievements as one of the most inadvertently famous winemakers in the world. Even without the mercurial musical figure, a film about tending 150 acres in a region with less-than-ideal winemaking conditions makes for a compelling story. Factor in Keenan's notorious elusiveness and underappreciated sense of humor (Patton Oswalt and Tim & Eric all make appearances) and you have one of the strangest, most intriguing documentaries we've seen in a while (the film premieres tonight at City Winery). Before boarding a flight back to Arizona, the oenophile gave a rare interview to discuss the film, Tool fans, fighting city councils, and running into unexpected people at the airport.
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