Fascinated By Wine Tourism: Colin West of WineRam Productions

How can you un-boring your wine videos? This is what Colin West, Founder and Producer of WineRam Productions, thought to himself after surveying the landscape of moving images concerning the fermented grape. Except a non-word like "un-boring" probably wasn't involved. Well, let's have West explain it. Which he did during our phone conversation. Rather than just replicate what was already available, a case of someone "...grabbing a point and shoot camera, sitting it on their desk, and projecting a bunch of subjective information about wine tasting...[that] no one could relate to," West had a different idea, and explained his goal:

"Do a professional film production, not sit and taste the wine in a locked-off area but to get out and see the winemakers, and see the vineyards. And then my passion for wine tourism meant that I wanted to do more than simply just taste wine behind a cellar door. But explore the tourism experiences available in those regions. Which for me and my life has been a little more adventure-oriented."

And these adventures have taken West to not only Australia and New Zealand, but also to some unusual wine destinations in the United States. Like visiting The Infinite Monkey Theorem, an urban winery in Denver, Colorado. They've got a Wine Lab where you can check out wine in can, growler, bottle, and magnum. And the mission of places like The Infinite Monkey Theorem is probably not that much different than what West is trying to accomplish with WineRam: "I'm trying to do it in a way that's very lighthearted but also a way that absolutely anyone can understand."

Here's a trailer, giving you a taste of WineRam in New Zealand. You'll get a glimpse into the context West is trying to give to a place, illustrating WineRam's goal: "Showcase the story of the wine region, the story of that location, the story of winery, and the story of the winemaker."

This clip is full of surfing, camping, sheep-shearing and, yes, wine. Though not all at the same time.