‘Under the Vines’ pops cork on a new season

Big on charm and modest in scale, AcornTV’s New Zealand dramedy “Under the Vines” begins its third season Monday night.

Set in the country’s picturesque wine-growing region, “Vines” has vineyard partners Daisy Monroe (Rebecca Gibney) and Louis Oakley (Charles Edwards) facing an attempted takeover of their small Oakley Wines vineyard, Daisy’s upcoming wedding and pregnant staffers.

Few New Zealand series have achieved global popularity and Gibney, 59, executive producer as well as star, knows why.

“Look,” she began in a Zoom call, “I think the show itself is wonderful. But I look at what’s going on in the world and what we’ve come out of and think everyone needs a little bit of joy, a little bit of light. This show has love, laughter, a beautiful setting with really fun characters. And there’s wine! What’s not to love?”

Gibney was initially approached with “Vines” set in South Australia.

“I’d been living in Australia at the time but having been born in New Zealand, I knew particularly, the Queenstown Clyde area in Otago, a wine making district. Physically, it’s one of the most beautiful parts of New Zealand.

“I asked if we could make the show here. When they said yes, I was also involved quite heavily in the scripting and casting. Being an executive producer, which I’ve done before, meant that I was much more hands on. I had input into the music, the edit, everything.

“So it feels like it’s partly my baby as well and I’d love it to go on and on. It’s one of the most joyous shows I’ve had the pleasure of doing in my career.”

What’s unusual is having its two stars not romantically attached couple. Daisy’s planning her wedding — and it’s not to Louis, her vineyard partner.

“Well yes, this show has always been a, ‘Will they? Won’t they?’ kind of thing. And you know, they’re mismatched. People who are very, very different from very different walks of life.

“So Season 3 is all about: Will they or won’t they? And you’ll have to watch to find out, Will she go through with the wedding?

“What I love about it,” Gibney added, “it’s an older couple dealing with all of that romance stuff. People think when we get into maybe the second or third quarter of our lives, that that sort of stuff goes away. And it doesn’t!

“Because in your head, you still feel like a 35 year old. I think there’s a large portion of people out there who want to see romance. They want to see this kind of thing on screen.

“That’s,” she said with a laugh, “what we plan on delivering anyway.”

“Under the Vines” streams a 2-episode premiere of Season 3 Monday on Acorn TV 

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