Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Vineyard’ (‘La Templanza’) On Amazon Prime, A Spanish Period Drama With A Romance At Its Center

What do you get when you put wine, drama, and some seriously beautiful costumes together? Usually, something pretty memorable. Based on the novel of the same name by María Dueñas, La Templanza – or The Vineyard – combines period drama with romance and a lot of grapes. The series’ first season is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 

THE VINEYARD: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Workers cut grapes from vines in a sprawling vineyard. Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, 1850.

The Gist: When we first meet Soledad Montalvo (Carla Campra), she is a young woman with a bit of a fiery spirit – despite warnings from her brothers about how her grandfather might react, she helps stomp the grapes from their family’s vineyard and tends to meddle where she shouldn’t. A fancy British wine importer named Edward Claydon (Nathaniel Parker) visiting the vineyard soon takes an interest in Sol’s older sister Inés, but after a chance encounter, he shifts his sights to Sol, and the two are soon married.

Meanwhile, a young man named Mauro Larrea (César Mateo) loses his wife and is left to care for his young children alone. He leaves Spain and heads to Mexico, and after struggling for some time – and nearly losing absolutely everything – he strikes gold (well, silver) and makes his fortune. Twenty years later, we meet Soledad (Leonor Watling) and Mauro (Rafael Novoa) at very different phases of their lives; Soledad, now a mother to three daughters, discovers her family’s vineyard is in jeopardy, while Mauro feels he’s been financially ruined when an endeavor goes very wrong. They haven’t met yet, but this seems like the beginning of our two leads coming together.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? While La Templanza doesn’t necessarily evoke the same feelings as other popular period dramas like Bridgerton, Poldark, Sanditon, Versailles, or others, it will definitely appeal to lovers of sweeping romance novels and their screen adaptations.

Our Take: For much of La Templanza‘s first hour, I was bored or confused. I’m usually one who loves a period romance, but there was so much going on in such disjointed settings that I had a hard time really getting into it. I think the pilot would really benefit from a restructuring, mainly so that we are able to spend more time in each of the worlds before we jump into the next; I really wanted to get to know the Montalvos and their lives before we sailed across the ocean to Mexico to meet Mauro.

I appreciate the way we’re able to see some of the similar beats in Sol and Mauro’s journeys as they both go through pivotal life events, but I think a reorganization would have benefited the character development (and the pace of the pilot altogether) had they done things a little differently. That said, however, by the end, I was very much sold; I want to know how these people are going to come together, want to see the fires lit in their hearts after enduring all the suffering they have.

La Templanza became a lot more enjoyable when I swapped out the awkward English dubbing for its original Spanish and watched with subtitles instead; the emotions and characters felt more defined, and the world easier to immerse oneself in. The pilot may be a bit of a drag, but it does built to something that leaves you wanting more – and frankly, a good cliffhanger can make up for a lot of problems.

Sex and Skin: There is a pretty upsetting rape scene, but not much skin elsewhere.

Parting Shot: Upon learning the family vineyard’s fate, Soledad looks on in horror: “we’re going to lose La Templanza?”

Most Pilot-y Line: There are a few scenes just full of spoon-feedy, expositional dialogue that may induce an eye roll or two, like “you’re a very wealthy man, boss”, or some of the early narration that comes from both our romantic leads.

Our Call: STREAM IT… but only if you have the patience to sit through a slow pilot. La Templanza takes a lot of time to pick up steam, but by the end of its first hour, you’ll be dying to know what happens next.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines and harboring dad-aged celebrity crushes. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

Stream The Vineyard on Amazon