KEY POINTS:
Inhaling cowpats, maturing wine in the boot of a car and comparing the flavours of a fine bordeaux to a lowly brand of sweets are all scenes from Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure - who said wine wasn't entertaining enough for the telly! For those who've been enjoying the duo's exploits over recent weeks, you may be wondering why there wasn't more wine on the box.
If you've missed this series on Prime so far, it follows the endeavours of wine expert Oz Clarke to educate Top Gear petrolhead James May about the finer points of wine as they power around France's wine regions in a vintage Jag. Oz hams it up as the wine boffin, while James plays the pleb with aplomb, blowing the whistle he dubs an Ozzilater when he thinks Oz is being a wine bore.
With its final episode airing on Sunday, the series has served up lots of laughs and slipped us a few wine facts into the bargain. James gets Oz admitting that white wines can smell of body odour with age, and he tries to impress an attractive female winemaker with his pairing of a rough French white with spam and beans - and it seems to work!
By no means a comprehensive guide to les vins francais or wine more generally, with information often sacrificed for entertainment, it's still a creditable attempt to translate wine into visual fare and succeeds in offering a snapshot of wine culture beyond the two personalities driving the show.
As the country's interest in food and wine has grown, there's hardly a night when you can't tune into Jamie, Gordon, Peta or various versions of Chef Idol to take you on a journey through local and international food, but rarely wine.
A pure wine programme is indeed more rare than the old bottles of Bordeaux that James is flabbergasted to discover may never be drunk. There was Toast New Zealand in 2003, but since then wine has largely made its television appearances as a guest on cookery shows. So why are broadcasters shying away from putting wine in the spotlight?
"My guess is that if it is more of a `how to' guide, and unless you have it hanging on a personality, it would be too niche," thinks Melanya Burrows, publicist at TVNZ.
However at Food TV Karen Duggan notes that "there is quite a lot of interest in wine - a lot of the people we're broadcasting to are interested in food-wine matching". Nevertheless, wine accounts for just a soupcon of this culinary-focused digital channel's offerings.
Some programme-makers are steering clear of wine for fear of falling foul of the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) guidelines on showing liquor on the television. These state that a programme must not advocate liquor consumption, which I'd say was difficult to avoid in any show focused on wine appreciation.
However, the reality highlighted by the BSA's legal manager, Christina Sophocleous, is that the code kicks in when drink is portrayed in a socially irresponsible way - she cites someone downing a yard glass of beer and drunken students at their university games as recent complaints upheld.
"The broadcaster must balance providing information with the promotion of consumption," she says.
I'm not sure what the BSA made of James' philistine philosophy towards the start of series that "you drink wine so you can speak balls to your friends".
But if there were more programmes which stimulated people's interest in appreciating wine rather than just necking it, there might be less balls spoken and low-quality booze abused.
TV DRINKERS
Some great value wines with real interest
SOUTHERN SEDUCER
Vini Menhir Trelune Malvasia Nera, Salento, Italy 2005 $17.90
This rich and ripe red from the heel of Italy has lashings of spice and soft dark berry and prune fruit lifted by an intriguing note of violet. Lovely stuff at an attractive price.
From wine stores including Wine Vault, Don Johnson's.
ITALIAN INFLUENCE
Pikes Luccio Sangiovese Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Clare Valley, Australia 2005 $20
Made predominantly from Italy's flagship grape sangiovese, this is a spicy expression from Australia with midweight blackberry and cherry fruit, liquorice, earthy notes and the variety's characteristic juicy acidity.
From Blend Wine Store, Milford Cellars, Don Johnson's, Liquorland Waipapa.
TOASTY AND TEXTURAL
Southbank Estate Hawkes Bay Chardonnay $20.99An elegant and toasty chardonnay with subtle stone fruit, racy citrus and more texture than is usually to be found at this price. Pair with your favourite food programme to get those juices flowing.
From New World, Glengarry Victoria Park, Balmoral Wines & Spirits, Hiway Liquor, Advintage.
