Ralph Fiennes Narrates ‘Andre – The Voice of Wine’ Documentary

Ralph Fiennes lends his voice to the documentary, Andre – the Voice of Wine, which has its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival this Wednesday. The film tells the story of Andre Tchelistcheff, an innovator in the wine industry, and features in the Culinary Cinema section of the festival.

Fiennes is most famous within the Harry Potter fandom for his portrayal of Lord Voldemort in the film adaptations of JK Rowling’s wizarding series. But he’s also becoming known for his interest in the Russian people and their culture of late. Leaky previously reported that he is currently set to direct The White Crow, a film about the life of Russian ballet star Rudolf Nureyev. And it just so happens the diminutive man who revolutionized American wine also hailed from Russia.

Andre Tchelistcheff arrived in America in the year 1938, five years after Prohibition. The wine industry was virtually non-existent, with perhaps six or seven vineyards in all of Napa Valley. But Andre had escaped the Communist Revolution–this was nothing.

He traveled around the world studying microbiology and fermentation, developing techniques which resulted in world-class recognition for two of his wines in a blind taste-testing by some of France’s most renowned connoisseurs in 1976. The rest, as they say, is history.

The world began to take notice of American wine and the Maestro, as they called him, behind it. Even Hollywood paid attention, with stars such as Francis Ford Coppola modeling his own wine enterprise upon Tschelistcheff’s  process.

The director, Mark Tchelistcheff (yes, note the relation–the famous vintner is his great-uncle), spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the driving focus of the documentary. He said:

“I was interested in the terroir that produced him…the environment that shaped the man, as the soil does a wine. My great-uncle was a scientist and he was a poet. It was that combination that was the key to his success.”

Andre – The Voice of Wine is a classic tale of a hard-won and well-deserved legacy, proven by the hundreds of vineyards that now dot the state of the California, and would not otherwise. It’s a fascinating story, one that intrigued Ralph Fiennes for good reason and now looks to win over the critics of Berlin.

For the full The Hollywood Reporter article on the documentary, read here.