Based on a true story, Bottle Shock (2008) tells the tale of how a Parisian wine shop owner with no customers and a cash-strapped Napa Valley vintner astonished the world in the 1976 Judgement of Paris blind wine tastings.
Bottle Shock Synopsis
Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman), a snobbish British wine shop owner in Paris, knows a lot about wine, but is not as adept at selling it. In an effort to boost sales, he decides to hold a blind tasting competition, which would later become known as the Judgement of Paris. Hearing that California might be the next big wine thing, he heads to the Napa Valley in search of some worthy adversaries for the French wines he will enter into the competition. He expects the French wines to win, thereby driving customers to his ailing shop.
On touring several of the Californian vineyards, Steven is surprised to discover that the wines are not as bad as he had imaged, particularly the chardonnay from Chateau Montelena. The owner of this estate is the surly Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman), a former real estate attorney who has given up everything to pursue his dream of producing great wine. The trouble is, he is a perfectionist and never thinks his wine is ready. He also distrusts Steven and refuses to enter the competition, believing it is an excuse to embarrass the Californian winemakers.
To make matters worse, Jim is heavily in debt and his son, Bo (Chris Pike), a long-haired surfer dude, seems to be more interested in chasing girls, including the attractive intern Sam (Rachael Taylor), than helping out on the estate. However, it is Bo who eventually realizes that entering the competition is their only chance. The results of the competition will shock the French and change the course of winemaking forever.
Alan Rickman Leads Impressive Ensemble Cast
Bottle Shock is a feel-good movie, driven by an impressive ensemble cast. Rickman as the pompous Steven provides a lot of the humor, although the flamboyant Maurice (Dennis Farina), Steven’s American friend in Paris, gets a lot of good one-liners for quite a small role. Sampling a white wine in Steven’s shop one day, something he does frequently, he holds the glass up to the light, smells the wine slowly and says, “I detect… bacon fat… laced with honey melon.” When he hears Steven’s plan to host the blind tasting, he quips, “If the French lose, they might bring back the guillotine.”
Pullman is well-cast as the gruff estate owner with a dream, while Pike is suitably irritating as his ambitionless son, Bo. The love triangle that develops between Bo, Sam and Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez), a Mexican vineyard employee, is somewhat incidental to the main plot, however, and detracts rather than adds to the story.
This aside, the movie is beautifully filmed, with lots of burnished shots of California and even more shots of wine being poured, smelled, swirled and drunk. It misses the intensity and lyricism of 2004’s Sideways, to which it has been compared, but it is enjoyable watching and is almost guaranteed to make you reach for the nearest wine glass once it is over.
Find out more on Bottle Shock’s official website.
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