The Faith - 2e épisode de la série Wine

Review: Wine (The Faith)
February 16, 2009
Jane Anson in Bordeaux

Decanter reviews Wine: The Faith (BBC4, 23 February, 9pm), the second programme in a series focussing on the world of wine.

The BBC's wine series continues with The Faith; a year in the life of Chateau Margaux. 'Which many people,' narrator Matthew Macfadyen says, 'consider to be the world's greatest wine estate.'

Whereas the previous episode highlighted the crass reality of the en primeur circus, this is the face that Bordeaux feels more comfortable showing: the genteel life of a first growth.

The programme takes its title from 'the semi-religious fervour that surrounds these (First Growth) chateaux', and looks at the key figures that contribute to both producing the wine, and to propagating the myth. Owner Corinne Mentzelopoulos comes across as charming and unpretentious � 'I don't deserve this. I was lucky to have this man for a father... I say that every morning' � and the programme ends with her singing as she wanders through the vines with her dog Zorba.

Managing director Pontallier has a rather more mixed reception. He is seen organising a charity dinner in Beijing to raise money for relief efforts after the Sichuan earthquake. 'People have been hurt by this dramatic natural disaster and this is a good way to help them... and to introduce us to Chinese wealthy people,' he says.

In another scene, Decanter manages to scoop the BBC by four years with the story that Margaux is testing its wines under screwcap. But it is still no less fascinating to see the famous label on bottles with Stelvin and synthetic corks, and to watch as all the tasters try to outdo each other with derogatory comments. 'This definitely tastes strange.' 'Yes, and there's a strange smell.'

But the real starring roles go to Herve the butler, who looks enormously pleased to have landed such an enjoyable job, and the various teams working in the vineyard, who are invariably painfully honest.

We are told that ice cream sales in Bordeaux during August 2008 were down 73% on the previous year due to the rain, and while manager Paul Pontallier is describing the weather as, 'not a priori what I would have chosen', the camera cuts to the vineyard manager: 'if the weather continues like this, even if the grapes ripen they will be rotten.'

The Faith will be shown on BBC1 on February 23, 9pm.

# See BBC wine series stars Château Margaux, Berry Bros and South Africa
# Decanter reviews Wine: The Firm