channel hop
When the BBC dreamed up Oz and James' Big Wine Adventure (BBC Lifestyle; Thursdays at 8pm), it brought together two of the most historic/heroic/romantic/hedonistic pastimes devised by man - motoring and wine tasting. One just hopes the Beeb hasn't completely undermined the British Department for Transport's expensive THINK! Don't Drink and Drive campaign.
In the first season, wine expert Oz Clarke (the reigning champion of the now-defunct World Wine Tasting Championship) took on the task of teaching motoring journalist James May (of Top Gear fame) a few things from the realms of oenology. The classroom of choice was French wine country, and the mode of transport was a modernised 1989 Jaguar XJ-S convertible.
At the start of their three-week trip, May wrote in his monthly column in British newspaper The Daily Telegraph: 'I am accompanied by Oz 'woody finish' Clarke, the idea being that his immense and largely inaccessible knowledge of the subject will be filtered through my own ignorance and general peevishness until it is in a form palatable to normal folk who simply want a half-decent bottle of grog to knock back with the rosbif.'
The unruly tutelage continues this season in California, in the US, where Clarke and May sample wines all the way from Venice Beach to Napa Valley up north, driving a 13-metre long Monaco motorhome and, in some episodes, a Ford Mustang.
May's mission in this season - aside from using the word 'plonk' as many times as possible - is to find a drinkable Californian wine available in Britain for under GBP10 (HK$150). Clarke, proving himself a well-connected man even in the New World, does his best to help his mate out. They meet with obscure vintners as well as mass-production moguls, such as the makers of Charles Shaw wines, which is affectionately named 'two buck chuck'.
Admittedly, the motorhome is a less sexy ride than the Jaguar, a fact May seems to protest by dinging it against lots of objects - all of them, fortunately, inanimate. Other highlights include a blind tasting by Clarke while driving a dodgem bumper car, and the unholy pairing of a chardonnay with the children's breakfast cereal Cap'n Crunch during a hunger attack. All in all, this show will not challenge the palate - but it is decidedly light and enjoyable, with some fruity top notes and an utterly nutty finish.