CINEMA: Bottle Shock

Now here’s a film as tasty and refreshing as a well-chilled bottle of your favourite white – and the fact it is based on a true story makes it even more delicious.

Way back in 1976, no one outside of California had heard of the Napa Valley and its wine growing community’s efforts to produce top quality Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  While ex-ad man Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) is mortgaging his winery to the hilt in order to produce the perfect wine, his hippy son Bo (Chris Pine, soon to go ballistic in the Star Trek movie) is happiest hanging out and goofing off with his dad’s foreman Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez).

Meanwhile, in Paris, English wine buff Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman on his best sniffy sarcastic form) is moaning to his mate Maurice (Dennis Farina) that he can’t get the French impassioned about any wine except their own. At which stage Maurice has his lightbulb idea; why not organise a blind tasting in France of French wines against Napa Valley wines?  It is a truly inspired moment for the snobby, Old World French wine producers think they’ll win hands down over their Johnny Come Lately New World opponents. So Steven takes a road trip to the States to choose the Napa wines to enter in the competition and once there discovers a world of wine he had no idea existed.  Also waking up to reality is Bo who realises if the wine his dad has toiled so hard to perfect doesn’t make it to the ‘taste off’ and get a bit of publicity, then the winery is going to go bust.

This is a gentle movie with a lovely subtle underlying punch.  Yes, it does get a little sentimental and there’s the distraction of a wholly unnecessary love triangle, but there’s an affection for the subject matter that will resonate with everyone who enjoys a glass of the rouge or the blanc. This film actually makes you want to drink a glass of expensive, exquisite wine, rather than neck a gallon of any old plonk – something Steven Spurrier would take as a sign of success. Cheers!      Dee Pilgrim