On arriving in the north-eastern corner of France, in Champagne, James and Oz were shown how to blend wines in the headquarters of the House of Krug, by Rémi Krug himself. Next, they’re off to meet an independent champagne producer, the Compte Audoin de Dampierre. And of course James is more interested in looking at the Count’s vintage Aston Martin than tasting the vintage champagne!
The duo headed to Alsace and Burgundy for a lesson on barrel making, and ‘terroir’ - a catch-all way of describing the many factors that can influence the quality of a vineyard. Oz then took a sceptical James to meet one of Burgundy’s most celebrated winemakers, Thierry Beaumont, to sample Burgundies from Thierry’s three separate terroirs.
The Rhône Valley provided ample opportunity to learn about lots of different grape varieties. However, the world-renowned winemaker Michel Chapoutier provides an obvious distraction for James with his classic car collection. The father and son team of Domaine Viret, Alain and Philippe Viret, managed to extol the benefits of embracing ‘cosmoculture’, a mystical approach to grape growing involving the harnessing of the cosmic energy of the sky. And Former French rugby international and winemaker, Gérard Bertrand, challenged James to blend his very own wine using a variety of grape extracts.
Provence provides an opportunity to learn to match wine with various foods. Jean-Claude Mas, a young winemaker who uses New World techniques to improve the wine, coupled the local speciality, oysters, with his Arrogant Frog Sauvignon Blanc; Béziers, a French town with a great Spanish influence, offers steak with various red wines. And finally, there's a dessert course at Ousteau de Baumanière, courtesy of France’s champion dessert chef.
Oz Clarke attempts to educate Top Gear presenter James May about the pleasures of drinking wine. The first episode begins in the Bordeaux region, where the skeptical student learns to appreciate the nose on individual bottles, and tries to talk his way through a tasting session at ultra-posh Château Pichon Longueville-Baron. After Oz witnesses James embarrass himself, his next lesson takes them back to the basics of the winemaking process, from harvesting to crushing to bottling. James creates his own wine along the way and inflicts it upon an unsuspecting public with a blind taste test.
