It's about time. Finally, someone's going to follow Darrell Corti with a camera when he visits another exotic or intriguing spot on a food-and-wine mission.
Corti and some colleagues are heading to Chile on Saturday at the invitation of the Chilean Economic Development Agency, which focuses on that country's fruit, olive and wine industries.
Corti, of course, is a world-class palate/expert on fruit, olives and wine – among so many other food-and-wine-topics – and the Chilean agency, called CORFO, wants to film Corti as he explores Chile's scene.
So he's traveling with a crew from oodleboxtv.com, a Sacramento-based Web site specializing in how-to videos on, actually, almost everything, including food and wine.
The oodlebox folks will shoot the trip and produce a travel video for CORFO with Corti as a guide. The crew will also do filming for a TV or Web-show pilot tentatively called "The Forager's Apprentice." (When Corti was inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame in 2008, Reuters called him a "forager supreme.")
A show like this and, even more, just getting Corti on film are what many of Corti's co-workers and friends have been working on for years.
"Darrell is so humble, he wants to be low-key," said Rick Mindermann, the store director of Corti Brothers Market. "But he's the most gracious teacher. You get these gems from him left and right."
Just standing near Corti at a wine event or a dinner is like hanging with a culinary Yoda, except his mini-history lessons and insight come in grammatically correct sentences.
"We promised we won't embarrass him," said Mindermann, who will be on the trip and who does videos himself for oodlebox. "We told Darrell, 'We're not selling you, we're sharing you.' This may be the only way we're ever going to get his accomplishments out of him."
Getting Mindermann to come along was easier.
"They had me with two words," he said, " 'Plane ticket.' "
Mindermann and others plan to blog about the trip on www.oodleboxtv.com.
Call The Bee's Rick Kushman, (916) 321-1187. Listen to him Thursdays at 8:40 a.m. on NewsTalk 1530 (KFBK) and 8:50 a.m. on Armstrong & Getty, Talk 650 KSTE.
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