If the first series of Under the Vines proved that New Zealand’s Central Otago region could double as the most picturesque backdrop for romantic comedy since the Amalfi Coast, the second doubles down on everything that made it work, while wisely complicating the formula just enough to keep things interesting like a Grüner Veltliner. Now, I had to look that up as I no almost nothing about wine, but i do know a slightly cheeky, Sun-drenched, and approachable TV show when I spend the entire afteroon watching one. .
Picking up where we left off, Daisy (Rebecca Gibney) and Louis (Charles Edwards) are still circling each other with the kind of romantic tension that only exists in shows where everyone is too emotionally articulate to simply say what they mean. Before you spend too long shouting at the screen “can’t you see you’re perfect for each other!”, the arrival of Louis’estranged wife Simone (Sara Wiseman), puts paid to any easy resolution to the will they won’t they, have they dynamic. Louis’ attempt to salvage his marriage gives Edwards some of his meatiest material on the show yet, and he handles the push-pull with genuine warmth and just enough bumbling charm (Hugh Grant would be proud) to keep you firmly on his side.
Elsewhere, the ensemble continues to be the show’s secret weapon. Dean O’Gorman, reliably excellent, gives Griffin’srekindled romance with Gus a quiet tenderness that offsets the broader comedy elsewhere. Cohen Holloway and Carrie Green as the expectant Vic and Nic bring the sort of easy, lived-in chemistry that feels genuinely earned. And Sarah Peirse, a New Zealand screen legend, attacks her role as rival winemaker Marissa with delicious relish, particularly once a flashy French vintner arrives to fan the flames of the Oakley Wines and Shimmering Lake feud.
The show’s pleasures are deliberately familiar, much like Darby and Joan, the scenery steals the show despite some routinely strong performances from their respective casts. Naturally, there are misunderstandings, weather emergencies, comic side characters, and sunlit vineyard vistas that could sell wine by themselves. What series two ultimately offers is more of what we tuned into for series 1 only slightly more refined, confident, and willing to take a few creative swings. The relationships feel deeper, the stakes marginally higher, and the landscape, as ever, impossibly gorgeous. It is warm, breezy, thoroughly escapist television, executed with enough care and craft to feel like proper drama rather than just comfort food, or should that be drink. Pour yourself a glass something decent, I’m having a glass chilled Vimto, settle in and give your mind a mini-break.
Under the Vines series 2 is out now on Digital and DVD.
