Ricardo Kanakari has one foot in the vineyard and an eye on the silver screen. He's the executive producer of "Wine Nation: The Movie," a film set for an October release.
These days Kanakari is scouting locations and finishing the script. Don't expect "Wine Nation: The Movie" to be a scathing documentary à la "Mondovino" or a buddy flick like "Sideways."
"It's a positive film about the wine business," says Kanakari. "Everything will be filmed at wineries, and all the principal characters are involved somehow in the wine business. It'll be fairly low-budget, but we're going to get creative."
Kanakari knows the subject matter well. He entered the wine world as a writer, publishing a magazine from 1980 until 1985 called "Grappa: The California Wine Magazine."
Then he went to a place some might call "the dark side" – the wine industry itself. He did stints including operations manager with Buena Vista Winery and sales manager for Chateau Souverain.
He even started his own brand, Pavona Wines, in 1995, though the label is now defunct.
Kanakari divides his time between Monterey and Lodi, exploring wine's multimedia possibilities.
Along with his film project, Kanakari is the creator and co-host of "Wine Nation TV." The show started in 2006 on Comcast cable, but now streams over the Web at www.winenationtv.com.This Internet broadcast is somewhat in beta form, and part of the Wi-FiTV.com network, but features interviews with wine personalities and event coverage.
"We're going to expand over the next year and a half," says Kanakari. "We're going to take it on the road and cover winemakers from all 50 states. We've also got a huge reservoir of material from California."
He'll be juggling that with upcoming work on "Wine Nation: The Movie."
Kanakari bills the film as "part documentary, part drama, part comedy." Shooting starts in July.
Call Bee food and wine writer Chris Macias, (916) 321-1253.
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