With UK wine now regularly winning awards across the globe, Oz Clarke OBE has been on the road this summer exploring the vast variety British shores have to offer. Joining him are his team of four tasters, largely novices, who learn increasingly more about wine and each other as the series progresses. Like A Fine Wine is not your average drink show, but a metaphysical journey into the human experience, with the symbolism of winemaking serving as the backbone.

Across five episodes recorded on location this summer, Oz Clarke and his team visit winemakers in North Wales, London, North and West Yorkshire and Sussex. Oz, together with Elaine, Malaika, Anthony and Louise will first hand meet the people behind some of the UK’s finest wine offerings and in each episode, deep dive into a key component of winemaking.

After a tour of the location, they join Oz around the tasting table to sample the wine, share tasting notes and learn more about the art of wine appreciation. As the wine flows and the conversation progresses, they’ll begin to delve into how that week’s winemaking topic relates to their own experience of life. For example, when they visit Ryedale Vineyard in North Yorkshire to discuss the importance of pruning, the group reflect on the things they have or wished they had pruned from their own lives and the effect this has had on them.

Says Oz: “I couldn’t believe my luck. In this sunniest of summers, when often the only patch of greenery in sight was a vineyard, I was able to spend my time in those vineyards, from the north to the south of our wonderful country, being thrilled by the quality of wines they produce, and delighted by the personalities of those who produce them. I was traveling with a marvellous bunch of fellow tasters, and we found time, over our glasses of wine, to ponder the wider themes of our life and times, and find many reassuring connections with the vine and with wine.”

Vineyards visited as part of the program include:
Gwinllan Conwy
Ryedale Vineyards
London Cru
Chapel Down
Bolney Wine Estate

Like A Fine Wine has been produced by Sonder, thanks to funding from the Audio Content Fund and is due for broadcast in October across 21 different community radio stations UK wide *. The series will also be available on demand across all podcast platforms.

* Stations who will be broadcasting the show include West Hull FM, Salford City Radio, Radio St Austell Bay, Beyond Radio, Wythenshawe FM, Sonder, Academy FM, Oldham Community Radio, Biggles FM, Burgess Hill FM, Andover FM, Carillon Wellbeing Radio, Chelmer Radio, Hermitage FM, Phoenix Radio, Pure West Radio, Radio Tyneside, Revolution Radio, Rhubarb Smoothies Radio, West Somerset Radio and Yowah Radio

The Audio Content Fund is a scheme to provide funding for the creation of original radio production in the UK. The ACF was part of the UK Government’s three-year Contestable Fund pilot, which ran from 2019-2022 and has now entered its evaluation stage.