Decanter reviews Wine: The Firm (BBC4, 16 February, 9pm), the first programme in a series focussing on the world of wine.
Wine: The Firm is a reminder that good documentary making is a deceptively simply exercise: film interesting people doing interesting things, and package the whole thing in an insightful and entertaining manner.
Centered on the activities of Berry Bros & Rudd, the programme takes a few elemental strands – fine wine and high finance, the contrast between Bordeaux and Burgundy, Berrys' own mix of tradition and innovation – and weaves them into an intelligent, highly watchable whole.
Above all, and unlike a lot of other modern documentaries, it has the wit to understand that holding a mirror up to this world and the people who populate it is enough – the audience can be left to draw their own conclusions.
For Wine is fortunate in its cast of characters. Not least Berrys' Bordeaux buyer, Simon Staples, likened to TV gangster Tony Soprano, but who comes across as a chubby, clubby version of Wall Street trader Gordon Gekko.
The Bordeaux/Burgundy contrast is personified on the one hand by the smooth, chilly diplomacy of Chateau Cos d'Estournel's Jean-Guillaume Prats, and on the other by the nerdy, schoolboy-ish charm of David Clark in Morey-St Denis.
In the end, nobody comes out of it too badly, despite Prats' Canute-like murmurings on the 2007 en primeur campaign ('It's not a quality problem, simply the overall perception of the vintage') and Simon Berry's rather lame comment on the perils of investing in wine ('Even if it isn't worth as much as it was the year before, you can at least drink it').
But, despite the odd jarring moment, Wine is an enjoyable hour's viewing which pulls off the increasingly rare feat of informing and entertaining its audience without ever talking down to them. Let's hope it gets an airing on a terrestrial channel soon.
The next programme, Wine: The Faith, will be aired on BBC1 on February 23 (9pm).
Have your say... To post your comment on this story, email us at news@decanter.com, making sure the relevant headline is in the subject field
How nauseating to hear so strongly thre emphasis on "Investment". Wine is for drinking, for heavens sake
Keith Sanderson, Preston, UK
In rebuttal of Keith Sanderson's comment about wine investment, from my personal perspective its the success I have gained through investing in wine which funds my personal stock for consumption. Even in these challenging times, my portfolio of investment allows my tastes to wander through the world of wine sampling vintages and producers my real salary would never allow me to buy. Whilst I agree that it has the effect of driving some prices up, in the real world we live in a market economy and that's the way the world works; if I don't take advantage of the returns available then I will deprive myself from enjoying the best that the world has to offer.
I've had great success investing, I've reaped the benefits (both monetary and subsequently the experience of great Wine) and I for one will continue to invest in the future.
Duncan Ellis, Lee-on-the-Solent, UK
How about a sequel, "Wine: The Fraud"? We could have the muy precioso wine writers, the speculators, the 400% markup restaurateurs, the snobs, and end the programme with Mr. Two-Buck Chuck blowing away these phonies with a glass of cheap California cab.
Lewis C Taishoff
Register on decanter.com absolutely free for news alerts delivered direct to your email inbox, and our fortnightly newsletter with advance notice of what’s coming up in Decanter magazine, offers, competitions and more.
PLUS registration is a one-stop shop for the Decanter magazine Archive and Decanter Fine Wine Tracker.
