March 15, 2024 – Eden. The word conjures up so many images, tales, myths, movies, lore and way too much symbolism. It’s almost too much weight for one word to bear. And yet, it is used time and time again as the seed of a story as old as time.
Lately, there’s been a lot of buzz around the premiere of “Eden,” a documentary by Santa Cruz filmmaker Chris McGilvray, which recently screened at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose.
Its initial goal was to shine on a light on one of the region’s most iconic brands, Mount Eden Vineyards. More than 700 people attended the premiere screening, and more than 200 stayed for the afterparty Q&A.
To say that it made a big impact on the audience understates its quiet, if slow-paced, power. Often raw, dusty and gritty, this is not a movie about wine or winemaking, but about the sacrifices the wine life involves and what a family entirely wrapped up in it endures. Far from glamorizing the wine business, it shows the constant toll and toil of the seasons, and of success.
The project started out innocently enough as an ode to the rugged beauty of this famed Santa Cruz Mountains winegrowing region, and in the process, transformed into an emotional, moody tone poem about life among the vines. Over 7 years, McGilvray and cinematographer Isiah Flores, filmed at the beautiful mountaintop property that was once owned by Paul Masson and later sold to Martin Ray. He founded Martin Ray Vineyards & Winery, which would later become Mount Eden Vineyards.
McGilvray interviewed the stewards of Mount Eden for the past four plus decades, Ellie and Jeffrey Patterson—the couple who turned Martin Ray’s dreams of glory into a brand that captured the imagination and loyalty of oenophiles worldwide. It was when he spoke with the couple’s children, Sophie and Reid, that the film went from a paeon of worship to a gritty introspective on the larger themes of family dynamics and life.
“This is a very important film,” says Ellie Patterson. “It’s not really about wine at all. It’s about identity and evolution, and family business and succession. It’s about being stewards of the lands. It’s about working hard and doing your best. It’s about the relentless seasons. In fact, it seems like the seasons are running the show.” She’s right: they do.
Patterson says that they didn’t even think about the film as they went through the process of tremendous change over those seven years. Life just happened, and some of it got captured. What the directors did with it was not up to the family.
“It’s not our film,” says Ellie. “We just answered a lot of questions and lived our lives. We wondered what the ‘story’ would be.”
The storyline started to take shape when son Reid admitted that he didn’t want to carry on the legacy. Ellie and Jeffrey came close to selling the business twice. Her favorite part of the movie is when Reid and longtime vineyard manager, Andreas, are interviewed about their relationship and Reid says, “Andreas knows me better than anyone.”
Through a great deal of personal development and introspection, Reid—who was 25 when they started filming—goes from being sure he wants nothing to do with the wine industry to coming back home to manage both Mount Eden and Domaine Eden. Now 32, he manages the vineyards at both that estate, formerly Cinnabar, as well as at Mount Eden, where his father still lives.
“He’s the star of the show!” says Ellie. “He’s so articulate!”
Reid started college in Sonoma, then transferred to Cal Poly’s Enology program, but found it sorely lacking. “He switched his major to chemistry and thrived. He was teaching courses and getting tuition credit! He was a rockstar!” she says.
He became fascinated by coffee and embarked on that path, but had a change of heart, and returned home to the vineyards.
“The relationship between father and son, which was honestly, always a stressor for me, has changed and they are working together really well now,” says Ellie, who moved off the mountain in 2020. “I think having me out of the way was in some ways good. Reid is really running the show, and is doing it his own way. Jeffrey is a loner and not a teacher. He expected Reid to just pick it up.”
The film only briefly mentions the couple’s divorce. During the premiere at Cinequest, the theater fell silent when that frame appeared on screen. Although many of the people who attended the premiere knew the Patterson’s story, many did not.
“Four years ago in April 2020, I had a spontaneous awakening and wanted to change my life,” shares Ellie. “I heard a song and it sparked something. If you’d asked me the day before I heard it if I’d do what I did, I would have said, ‘no.’”
The words of the song Between the Bars, sung by Elliot Smith in the film Good Will Hunting, inspired her.
Drink up baby, stay up all night
With the things you could do
You won’t but you might
The potential you’ll be that you’ll never see.
She couldn’t—and didn’t—let that potential slip away.
And it’s become an inspiration to many, to those Ellie knows and those she doesn’t.
After the film, a young woman in her 40s found Patterson, saying, “I have been looking for you! You are my hero and you are so inspiring!”
Patterson admits she was not expecting this. McGilvray told her that many people who see the film identify with different family members and characters in the movie. It also sparks many conversations: especially the ones that people don’t really have. And maybe should.
About the author
Laura Ness is a longtime wine journalist, columnist and judge who contributes regularly to Edible Monterey Bay, Spirited, WineOh.Tv, Los Gatos Magazine and Wine Industry Network, and a variety of consumer publications. Her passion is telling stories about the intriguing characters who inhabit the fascinating world of wine and food.
