Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2593 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-01-08
• Rating: Exempt
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 210 minutes

Synopsis
TOP GEAR'S James May joins wine-writer Oz Clarke for a road trip through France, whereupon Clarke endeavors admirably in turning May into a fellow connoisseur.

Customer Reviews

Very entertaining
A very funny and highly entertaining program of well known wine expert
OZ Clarke and Jmaes May known form Top Gear, who together travels on a
wine adventure. James knows nothing about wine, but have chosen the car
for the adventure (of course an English jaguar) and is like a rebel
boarder school boy taught by the slightly older and more distinguished
Oz Clarke, who continuously tries to learn James about the different
wines and the impressions they make. It all turns into a lot of very
entertaining and very funny situations, filled with humour, and there
is a lot to learn and view, both from the more experienced and newcomer
to wine tasting, on this fantastic wine adventure filled taste -and
sense impressions.

Entertaining-ish and informative-like.
It took a colossal amount of doing on my part to get this DVD here in America, to say nothing of getting it to play properly. (Suffice it to say my TV looked as if it was on artificial life support.)

Why is this DVD Region 2 only instead of Region-free? I can -- sort of -- understand the reasoning for feature films, but for this?

At any rate, I foud it very, very enjoyable. I rather liked that each man is an expert in a given field, and one is trying to share that expertise with the other one who is not terribly compliant. I look forward to the follow-up with James and Oz in California...I just hope that DVD doesn't present a similar headache.

Fails miserably
You can almost picture the meeting. Some guy at the BBC has just been to see "Sideways" ( a genuinely enjoyable film) and they think: hmm, a film about an odd couple of male friends, getting on surprisingly well, whilst the educated one teaches his oafish friend about wine. It was a hit as a film: let's make the TV series - and as it really will be about wine, we can tick off our "documentary" box. They replace California with France and have Oz Clarke as their expert: needing an oaf, they turn to James May.
Now, what might the plot be? Could it be that at first, they bicker as Oz Clarke's poncey attitude to wine is scorned by James May, driving a 'quirky' car, who's determined not to turn into a wine snob, and yet gradually, they come to appreciate each other's company and James turns out to appreciate the differences between wine more than he expected?
Guess what, that prediction might just come true.
I was given this as a Christmas present: it was a good idea as I like wine and I like James May.
The problem is it doesn't work at any level. As a documentary about wine, it's all but useless: you learn pretty much nothing e.g. although it's based in France, you go through Bordeaux and it doesn't explain the difference between "right bank" wines and "left bank" wines, or what grapes are in it, or "vin de pays" vs "AOC". So in terms of helping you go to a supermarket and be more informed about what to spend your £6 on to get a bottle of wine, it's pointless.
All of which would be fine if it worked as a comedy: but it just isn't funny enough. They are desperate to create a kind of off-beat chemistry between our two protagonists, but even though in other contexts May and Clarke are both really good, it never materialises. And eventually, it's too contrived. James May is too educated to be an oaf. Oz Clarke is too sensible to be a real wine ponce.
I gave up after episode three. Maybe it improves. I doubt it.
Other people seem to have liked it. I'm amazed.
If you want a wine documentary, buy "Mondo Vino". If you want a comedy, buy "Sideways". If you want James May, watch James May's 20th Century. If you want Oz Clarke, get Oz Clarke's Bordeaux.
If you buy this, you'll be wasting your time and money.