Wine
for the Confused was a documentary for novice wine drinkers, staring and
hosted by John Cleese and directed by David Kennard. Cleese guides viewers through the basics of wine, including,
but not limited to, wine making, wine tasting, wine terminology, the grape
varieties and how to buy and store wine.
Cleese teaches beginning wine viewers about the world of wine by
interviewing wine experts, visiting wineries and even hosting a wine dinner
party. This documentary is perfect
for beginner wine lovers to learn the ins and outs of everything you need to
know about wine.
John
Cleese, a famous British actor and producer, is most notably known for his
appearances in the Monty Python films.
He is a light-hearted host, whom uses his dry British comedy and wit to
make this documentary enjoyable.
This film begins by addressing the common stereotypes about wine culture
and discusses people’s opinions on wine.
One of the biggest problems is people are often afraid of the wine
culture because they feel their knowledge of wine does not measure up to wine
experts, or as some people call them “wine snobs.” Cleese persuades the viewers to become knowledgeable about
wine and form your own opinions on the tastes of wines. We learned in wine class that everyone
has different taste palates, and therefore, different opinions when it comes to
wine. Cleese further emphasizes
that everyone must make their own judgment on whether they like a wine or not,
and do not like wine critics tell you which wines to prefer over others.
In
order for wine novices to become accustomed to wine culture, Cleese recommends
becoming familiar with descriptor words.
Descriptor words can be used to describe the smell and taste of a wine. Cleese collaborates with a wine expert
to discuss common wine descriptors.
One can use wine descriptors to describe a favorable or less than
favorable wine, according to ones own opinion. Among popular wine descriptors are words like: dry, acidic,
sweet, bitter, tannins etc. These
words are helpful when trying to describe a wine to a friend, or figuring out
which wine is complimentary to your palate. As we learned in class, you must create you own opinions
about wine, rather than taking the opinion of a wine expert as absolute fact.
Cleese
takes film viewers to a couple different vineyards in order to get a taste of
the viticulture of the wine world.
Wine is grown absolutely everywhere in the world and a variety of grapes
are used, reds and whites. Cleese
focuses on what he thinks are the 3 most popular white grapes: Riesling,
Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, and the 3 most popular red grapes: Pinot Noir, Merlot
and Cabernet Sauvignon. He
discusses how these white wines and red wines were made, including their
differences in acidity, tannins, color and tastes. As discussed, it is important to know basic descriptions
such as these in order to pick which wine to buy at the store when you have
never tasted it before.
One
of the most interesting parts of the film, in my opinion, was when Cleese
instructed viewers on what to think about when ordering wine at a
restaurant. He met with a
sommelier and chef of a restaurant.
The sommelier recommends that you should tell the server what
characteristics of wine you like and what you don’t like. He suggests that expensive wine is not
always the best wine, and that some servers might try to push you to order the
expensive stuff. The chef
instructs Cleese on how to pair your wine with your food, and gives some
interesting facts on how to compliment flavors. This part of the film was very useful and informative for
future wine/dinner pairings.
Throughout
the film, Cleese hosts a wine tasting party, attended by a variety of people, including
actor Brendan Fraser. He had the
guests describe the wines they tasted.
Most of them have had no instruction or education on wine, and
therefore, their answers were often funny or confusing. Towards the end, the guests do a blind
wine tasting. This was probably
the most entertaining part of the movie, in my opinion. Cleese had the guests taste a red and a
white wine, and asked them to tell the difference. For this blind tasting most of them got it right. However, for the other tasting, Cleese
has guests taste a variety of wines with different prices, ranging from really
cheap to really expensive. Guest
had a harder time telling which wines were cheap and which were expensive. This was entertaining to see their
reactions when they found out the expensive wine was no better than the cheap
wine to some people’s taste palates.
Once again, this reinforces the fact that everyone has their own tastes
and opinions when it comes to their
wine preferences.
I
definitely recommend this Wine for the Confused to wine beginners, and anyone
interested in knowing the basic wine concepts. It’s an easy film to follow, and although it could get a
little boring at times, there was comedic relief from Cleese. This wine documentary definitely makes wine
concepts and terms easier to understand and follow. John Cleese was a great host, and he made wine concepts
enjoyable and relatable to a wine novice in this laid-back documentary.
