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The documentary Blind Ambition follows four friends who have conquered the odds to become South Africa’s top sommeliers.Courtesy of levelFILM

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On the surface, Blind Ambition, a new documentary about Zimbabwean refugees whose dogged determination leads them to France to compete in “the Olympics of wine” conjures parallels to Cool Runnings, the Hollywood retelling of the real-life Jamaican bobsled team. They both champion underdogs whose drive and passion inspired the world.

“I don’t think anyone who would say that Zimbabwe is, in any way, famous for wine… There’s hardly wine and Zimbabwe in the same sentence,” renown British wine expert Jancis Robinson explains early in the documentary, which comes to theatres October 7.

Robinson turns out to be a crucial figure behind-the-scenes raising awareness for the efforts of budding wine professionals, Joseph Dhafana, Marlvin Gwese, Tinashe Nyamudoka and Pardon Taguzu, who left home in 2008 during Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation crisis — when the country’s economy was heavily damaged by corruption and international financial sanctions — to forge a new life in South Africa. Individually, they found a passion for wine and, in time, landed jobs as sommeliers in top South African restaurants.

Each was asked to try out for the South African tasting team, they place in the Top 12 and grasp the idea of creating Team Zimbabwe to compete in the fifth World Wine Tasting Championship in Burgundy, France in 2017. The annual competition featured 24 teams from countries around the world, which taste the same 12 wines, six whites and six reds, are asked to identify the principal grape variety, country, appellation, producer and vintage. Each correct answer earns a point.

In a blind wine tasting, tasters have no knowledge of the identity of the wine in their glass beyond its colour. Drawing from the colour intensity and structural elements, such as sweetness, acidity and tannin, as well as aroma and flavour cues, they are left to form a conclusion on a wine’s identity.

South Africa’s national wine tasting team coach Jean Vincent Ridon explains in the film that being successful requires a lot of preparation, namely tasting as many different wines from around the world as possible, a lot of knowledge and “a bit of luck.”

The inspiring film follows the four men into the 2017 competition and a return for the 2018 tasting challenge, which offers an insider’s view of the rigour and acumen needed to be successful at this level of wine tasting. But its heart is the time spent back in Zimbabwe, tracing their family roots and the painful decisions to escape in the hopes of forging a new life, new hopes and dreams. That emotional payoff is what makes this striking film hit harder than the mild entertainment of a Cool Runnings style fish out of water tale. It’s a poignant story no matter your level of interest or appreciation in wine.

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South Africa’s national wine tasting team coach Jean Vincent Ridon explains in Blind Ambition that being successful requires a lot of preparation, namely tasting as many different wines from around the world as possible.Courtesy of levelFILM

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