Bottle Shock, starring Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman, Rachael Taylor (the hot chick from Transformers) and Chris Pine (the hot guy from the Star Trek movie), is the story of the early days of the Californian wine industry, including the famous 1976 “Judgement of Paris” tastings where Californian wines (Stag’s Leap cabernet and Chateau Montelena chardonnay) outscored French wines in a blind tasting.
If you liked Sideways… don’t bother renting this. Neither the story nor any of the characters are particularly interesting, although Alan Rickman is always fun (even if he always plays Alan Rickman).
From a foodie perspective, some of the actors perform the wine tasting scenes like they were rinsing with Listerine. And the scene where Rachael Taylor (playing a conveniently hot “wine intern”) tastes Freddy Rodriguez’s wine, and it’s soooo good that she has to shag him immediately – oh puh-LEASE. The only bit I found really interesting was the part where the chardonnay turns brown in the bottle – apparently caused by “too perfect” reductive winemaking techniques where contact with oxygen is minimised – and then changes back to its regular colour after a couple of days.
The thing that really ruined the movie for me is that it comes across as so overtly commercial – it’s pretty much a Chateau Montelena PR shill-fest, disguised as a movie. The little New World battlers! Can they save the winery from the bank’s evil clutches?! Will they defeat the dastardly French? Meanwhile, Stag’s Leap doesn’t get a single mention until the postscript at the very end, even though their cabernet win was just as important as Chateau Montelena’s.
Maybe I’m partly biased after visiting Napa Valley in May this year. I did go to Chateau Montelena and found it pretty snooty – they charge US$20 for a tasting of three wines! For one person! (And they’re regular sized 20ml tastings, in case you were wondering.) They ain’t battlers any more, that’s for sure.
I’m going to see Julie and Julia tomorrow – here’s hoping it’s a more satisfying mouthful.
KATE
Sounds pretty good, don't know if it's something I would pay to see, but it's entertainment to say the least. Here in Chicago, I try to stick to the free wine tasting events, plenty of them to go around, lol!
Hi Kate,
Great review, couldn't agree more. I watched it last weekend and was really pleased that I had missed it at the movies.
Also looking forward to seeing Julie & Julia, just checked times at Westgarth and can't make it to the 3 they have this weekend. Best I don't read your review until I see it.