New series to look at the culture surrounding wine

BBC Four has produced a new series designed to take an uncritical look at the varied cultures surrounding the wine industry. Called Wine, three programmes will be aired from February to March profiling personalities from the merchant, to the chateau owner and finally, a South African winemaker.

Described as observational documentaries by producer Nick Angel, from Oxford Film and Television, the series “is about the people – these are human stories behind wine – it is not a guide on how to taste.”

Continuing, Angel adds, “The programmes are not an attack on the wine industry but a look at the intriguing nature of the culture that surrounds wine.”

The first programme, entitled The Firm, will be shown on 16 February at 9pm. It looks at wine merchant Berry Bros. & Rudd and its role in the changing face of the fine wine market during the course of last year. Filming ends after September’s collapse of Lehman Brothers, and includes Berry Bros. & Rudd’s reaction to a suddenly uncertain outlook for the fine wine trade.

Second in the series is The Faith. This programme, centred on Château Margaux (pictured is owner Corrine Mentzelopoulos), will be shown on 23 February at 9pm, and takes it title from “the semi-religious aura that surrounds these chateaux [Bordeaux First Growths]”. In particular, The Faith exposes “the strange tension that exists between the high aspirations for the wine and the unfortunate reality of the weather [during the 2008 vintage]”, explains Angel.

Finally, on 2 March at 9pm comes The Future. This profiles two unlikely South African wine producers. One is a retired professor who, six years ago, didn’t drink wine but is now running the only black-owned vineyard in South Africa. The other is a neuroscientist and Freudian analyst.

The series is narrated by actor Matthew Macfadyen.

Patrick Schmitt, 28.01.09