Film - Wine for the Confused

                This film was a short overview of some of the major wines, culture, wine production, and wine tasting, hosted by John Cleese.  The film was only approximately 45 minutes and made specifically for the Food Network.  Honestly, it was a little bit simplistic for our class, at least at this point in time in our class, much of the information was strictly review, this was especially apparent when Cleese mentioned that he knew very little about wine and wanted to learn more from others.  Nonetheless, the film was still entertaining and offered a different view on wine from many different people including famous actors as well as wine producers and shop owners around California.

                The biggest point of this entire documentary was to teach uninformed people about all the various aspects of wine without making wine or wine drinkers seem like snobs.  Many aspects of wine were visited such as what to look for in reds and whites, how climate and soil affects the grapes, various aspects of smelling and tasting wine, as well as how to find well priced wines and how to store them properly.  Many topics were covered very concisely but informatively, enough for a person who has never drank a wine to get a rough idea of what it’s all about.

                The film was shot entirely in California at various different vineyards.  John Cleese visited each vineyard and talked to the owner about their different styles of wine, blends, varietals, and production.  As was mentioned, John himself did not know much about wine or wine production to begin with so he asked the vineyard owners many different questions about wine.  Each owner had his own responses because each one makes their wines slightly different based on location, grape, and personal preference.  So it was good because the viewer got insight on wine from many different and professional perspectives.  Because this film was essentially a documentary, they portrayed the California wineries quite accurately, you can get much more personal than going to the wine makers themselves and talking to them.

                Again, many aspects of wine were discussed, in particular John made an effort to taste, discuss, and ask questions about some of the most significant and popular wines as of now.  Some of these included Pinot Noir, Merlot, Chardonnay, and Riesling.  He was able to get an in depth description of each of these wines and more.  He learned about how some wines go better with certain dishes, some go better by themselves, etc.  A big issue that was covered was what makes a good wine, which he asked many different people and most said just about the same thing.  They pretty much all said, your palate is what makes a good wine and no one can tell you otherwise.  A wine expert may say one wine is delicious but to another person it could be horrible, it is all personal preference and you have to decide what wines fit your style most closely.  Another issue that was covered that is slightly controversial or at least confusing in today’s world is whether an expensive wine is always better than an inexpensive wine.  For the most part this is true, the quality and the work put into an expensive wine far exceeds that of a cheap wine.  But when a party of people were put to a blind taste test they discovered that they could not pick out the very expensive wine from the very cheap wine, about half of the guest thought the cheapest wine was the most expensive.  So really it all comes back down to the personal preference spiel, to each his own.  One other interesting experiment that was tested though was the differentiation between a red wine and a white wine when tasted blind.  Surprisingly a majority of the guests were not able to correctly identify a red wine from a white by taste alone!  This may imply that visuals also plays a large role in flavor and smell perception.  An intriguing discovery.

                As John traveled around to different vineyards his wine knowledge grew.  With all the questions he had up his sleeves he was bound to learn a thing or two about wine and teach it to the audience as well.  A few extra things he learned was how to smell and taste a wine.  Never drink the wine right away before even giving it a quick whiff.  Because smell is 90% of all taste, this is essential to getting the most out of the wine.  Swirling and smelling was also discussed, to swirl the wine and get more flavors in the air allows for greater sensory perception of the wine.  One of the most difficult aspects of wine tasting is the descriptions, being able to smell a wine and think of all the different flavors it brings out, remembering flavors seems to be one of the most difficult things for people to do.  The more complex your senses are the more easily you will be able to identify certain flavors.  Strangely enough, the glass even seems to put its own effect on the wine’s flavors, different shapes are specifically meant for different wines to accentuate the flavors.  Being in the Geography of Wine class really helped me understand and relate to everything that John Cleese was learning from various wine guru’s.  I was really able to connect and solidify some of my previous knowledge of wine thanks to this short film.

I may not have learned a whole lot of new material from this documentary, seeing as it was a very intro-type movie, but it was incredibly entertaining and thorough.  It was fun watching a movie about something that I knew a little bit about already because I was able to hear certain things and respond with, “hey, I know what he’s talking about!  I’ve done that!” or something along those lines.  The satisfaction of knowing that I have actually learned something is really great, makes me feel educated and excited to learn more.  Although I didn’t learn a whole lot, that isn’t to say I didn’t learn anything from this video though.  It had a ton of information, some of which I didn’t know at all and it was really cool to learn about it, especially all the information about each individual wine.  There is a lot of stuff to learn if you are going to go into each varietal wine individually!  I would definitely recommend this to a wine enthusiast.  Although very introductory, it still gives some new info that you may not have known, and if anything it was highly entertaining and humorous.  Definitely recommended for anyone interested in wine at any level.