Bodega De Edgar - Behind The Scenes

Over the past week I had the opportunity to explore the story of Edgar Torres, and his inspiring journey coming to America from Mexico in the 80’s to a prolific winemaker in Paso Robles.

Edgar came to America illegally from Michoacan with the support and sacrifices of his father Alfonso in the 80’s. His dad was a seasonal worker in NYC, who moved west to work in Cambria CA. Alfonso quickly fell in love and decided to moved his family there to start a better life. 9 people shared space in a small house they still affectionately call "La Casita Blanca”. Edgar worked from a young age and saved up enough money for college. Instead of taking the conventional American route to success, he decided to gamble on 4 barrels of wine. The rest is history. Gone but not forgotten.

In the wine world, most people come from money. They decide they want a certain lifestyle and they spend money to start a business and hire winemakers to more or less private label their product. Edgar’s story is so inherently connected to his wines, and I feel that’s what makes them special. What was so fascinating about this story to me, is the symmetry between a vines actual life cycle to bare good fruit to make great wine is dependent on struggle, and the root system of the plant digging deeply into the rock and soil. The grapes need certain conditions of suffering to build character, and that is not different than Edgar’s struggle bearing fruit because of his life journey. I tend to romanticize this sort of thing but I believe suffering builds character.

Anyone who has followed my work knows I enjoy a great underdog story, and as a matter of fact, I look for those qualities in my subjects, and push that motif through everything I do. Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to connect with resilient people from all walks of life, and have been able to share their journey with them through my craft. This project was one of those special combinations of a story with substance and heart and beautiful visuals and metaphors built right into the reality of the subjects organic life journey.

When most people think wine in America they think Napa Valley. That’s changing. Paso feels like a wild west community back in pioneer times. These winemakers are homesteading the land and are all driven to make spectacular wines, with little to no ego. Just hard work, and good old fashioned sweat equity. When I moved to LA in 2014, Desparada and Herman Story were my first exposure to Paso and winemaking in general, and since then the community has grown in a huge way. I feel very blessed to have met them and been on the ground floor of what is happening in Paso. Edgar is an example of sweat equity and hustle mixed with raw talent. Most impressive to me in his ability to be unique and honest to his own story in the wine he is making. Paso is known as the “Rhone valley” for its reflection of the French Terrior and varietals. Edgar is using the land to cultivate Spanish varietals that are an extension of his story and heritage.

I met Edgar through Russell, Vailia and Phillip Muzzy about 4 years ago, and scrambled to put together a short piece (with the help of cinematographer Jonathan Chou) on him back then because I found his story so inspiring. After we made a short film back then, Edgar seemed really apprehensive to release it, and we had a heart to heart about him sharing his story. A few years of life went by, then Edgar seemed ready to share his story in a deeper more profound way, and felt I owed that effort of vulnerability and bravery a solid film representation. So we did this one right.

I enlisted help from some of my good friends and talented crew that I started with together in Ohio. Cinematographer Tyler Clark, Grip/AC/Swing/Jack of all trades Mikey Tell, and Location Sound Mixer Luke De Jeu. Luke and I drove across the country from Ohio with a truck full of gear. Something I’ve always wanted to do and I had a blast getting to know Luke better and seeing the country. With this one I wanted the environment on set to feel like a hang between friends, instead of work. I felt it was best for the project to have that sort of climate as some of the subject matter is deeply personal and transformative to Edgar and I wanted to let that shine on camera. And it did.

This story has so many layers to it, and peeling it back was surprisingly easy. Edgar and his family opened their doors and arms to us for 5 days and the camera soaked it all in. I felt like one of the family, and I am honored to tell their story and preserve the legacy of what they all helped build together. As my friend Fabio once said: “If I wasn’t Italian I’d be Mexican.” and now I finally understand what that means. The sense of family, the camaraderie, the delicious meals, the traditions and rituals. It felt like the big Christmas dinners with my family every year, and the great food and better times.

Yeah, we had a great time, and drank great wines. We saw some of the most beautiful places in the world, that sometimes seemed like a matte painting in a looney tunes episode. This wasn’t just a film production, it was a vacation and a lesson. I’ve learned a lot about wine over the past few days and even more about myself. The best part of making stories like these is that when you make genuine connections to the people, and the personal development you get from the production itself, it makes you grow from the whole experience.

With this film I was able to explore a lot of subjects. The American dream, sacrifice, dedication, passion, hard work, farming, food, culture, heritage, history. All of which are organic extensions of my own interests. I was passionate about making this film and connected deeply to all of it and I hope that comes across on screen. Excited to start cutting this piece, and am grateful to the Torres family for the love, full stomach and the hangovers. It’s Gunna Be Great!