"I think there's a magic, a transformation from just grape juice to this magic… there's an alchemy, an otherworldly alchemy going on in there." Maynard James Keenan
When I first spent time with Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer front man Maynard James Keenan just over ten years ago I was astonished at his passion for wine, which was threatening to overtake his passion for music. During a visit to the Penfolds winery just outside Adelaide his enthusiasm for the grape was infectious, but my budget didn’t extend to the $1000 plus bottles of red that he was quaffing on a regular basis. I didn’t hesitate to join in for a glass however - would have been rude not to - and by god I got an education in what tastes good, when and with what. I’m lucky it didn’t spoil me for life.
"I think there's a magic, a transformation from just grape juice to this magic… there's an alchemy, an otherworldly alchemy going on in there." Maynard James Keenan
When I first spent time with Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer front man Maynard James Keenan just over ten years ago I was astonished at his passion for wine, which was threatening to overtake his passion for music. During a visit to the Penfolds winery just outside Adelaide his enthusiasm for the grape was infectious, but my budget didn’t extend to the $1000 plus bottles of red that he was quaffing on a regular basis. I didn’t hesitate to join in for a glass however - would have been rude not to - and by god I got an education in what tastes good, when and with what. I’m lucky it didn’t spoil me for life.
Not long after that he paid a record $71,000 for an Imperial bottle of Penfold’s1998 Grange Hermitage at a Barossa valley auction and it was clear - man was clearly mad for his wine, and more than happy to shell out the big bucks for the best.
Flame haired songstress Tori Amos turned MJK on to wine in 1995, when she gave him a bottle of Silver Oak Napa Valley 1992. "All of a sudden it all made sense, and I caught the virus, so to speak," he has said of the moment, and the term ‘catching the virus’ is most certainly putting it mildly.
These days, at his home just outside of Sedona, Arizona, Keenan has collected about 4,000 bottles, installing a cellar about three years ago, when he had 400 bottles in his basement and realised it was time to start planning ahead if he was going to get serious about his hobby. He broke ground outside of his house to build an entire room underground that has to be seen to be believed with quotes like ‘the blood of Christ’ appearing on the floor and walls in neon.
In addition to fronting three bands and playing dad to a newborn baby girl, Keenan is also a partner in Hillmont, a hipster-friendly Los Angeles steak house where the wine list as a section dubbed "Maynard's Picks” and Penfolds naturally, features heavily.
He has two complete verticals of Grange magnums, and last time I heard was just one bottle away (1953) from an entire collection of 750mls. Maynard not only loves the wine, but is also fascinated with the story of Grange creator Max Schubert, an iconoclast whose talent and viticultural hunches were initially doubted but whose perseverance led to making the Penfolds name the huge success it is today. Inspired by the story, Keenan decided to pay homage in his own way, by planting a vineyard with similar grape varieties with the help of a local Arizona winemaker. He has land on an east-facing slope about 5,000 feet above sea level that gets sun all day.
Which brings me to the 2010 documentary ‘Blood into Wine’, which is supposedly about the Northern Arizona wine industry but focuses heavily on Maynard’s developing vineyard - and vintages - with Eric Glomski under the Caduceus brand. Critics have said of the doco that while the film contains some interesting titbits about both wine in the area and Keenan, and some unexpected humour by comedians like Patton Oswalt and Bob Odenkirk (along with a few duds), the movie never really justifies its existence except as an infomercial for Caduceus. I beg to differ (and not just because of the personal connection), and think that it is a fascinating watch for both fans of Keenan’s music (of which there are many) and those with an interest in wine. I love that it includes interesting background bits and pieces on the history of the region (told in a very irreverent way) and winemaking while making a sincere pitch for the area to possibly be the next Napa. If so ‘Blood into Wine’ has most definitely captured a moment in time, and the positives definitely outweigh the negatives introduced by a few lame scenes that I will let you discover for yourself.
As a little postscript for after you’ve watched it, Keenan and Eric Glomski recently decided that it was time to go their separate ways, with Maynard telling a local Arizona paper, “we both agree we can probably do better as individual entities just because we keep metaphorically butting heads on approach”. The frontman, who is now winemaker at his own Caduceus Cellars, clearly couldn’t resist comparing the rift to creative differences between musicians in a band. "It just doesn't quite jibe," he said. "It's not tuned properly."