Alan Rickman, as Steven Spurrier, at the formal wine tasting held in France. Image courtesy of 20th
Bottle Shock is a full-bodied film with a wonderful blend of characters imbued with the warm undertones of California’s vintner’s history.
In 1976, the international world of wine changed forever, and the California wine industry could no longer be overlooked. Chronicling a blind taste test competition in Paris, France where American wines shocked oenophiles around the world when they took the top prices for both Cabernets and Chardonnays.
Bottle Shock presents a delightful walk through the young California wine industry, just as it was coming of age. Bill Pullman stands out as Jim Barrett, an attorney turned California vintner, who is obsessed with creating the perfect Chardonnay. His relationship with his son, Bo Barrett, played by Chris Pine, is turbulent, fractured, and loving like so many relationships between parents and their twenty-something kids.
Another excellent performance was handed in by Freddy Rodríguez, as Gustavo Brambila, a young native California winemaker who is struggling to create his own label as he works for the Barretts. His story line is the only thing in the movie that felt truncated at the end. Somehow his story is just dropped after the writers and director have hooked us on his story. I wanted just a little more of this character’s story at the end of the film.
Of course the actor that virtually walks away with the film is Alan Rickman, the uppity Englishman Steven Spurrier, who arranged the wine tasting competition in France. In a classic piece of dialog, director Randall Miller and his wife Jody Savin who co-wrote the script, sum up his character and Rickman delivers it with perfect English dispassion.
(A short exchange between Bo Barrett, Bill Pullman, and Steven Spurrier, Alan Rickman.)
Bo Barrett: “Why don’t I like you?”
Steven Spurrier: “Because you think I’m an ass, and I’m not really, I’m just British and, well, you’re not.”
Laughter and occasional tears punctuate an all around delightful story, making this one of my favorite films so far this year. This story of a pivotal time in California’s history is so important that the two winning wines are actually part of the Smithsonian collection. Bottle Shock becomes a wonderful way to interest students in the story of how the wine industry became such an important part of the California economy. One of the charming pieces of trivia presented in the film was the issue of paying for a tasting. Steven Spurrier may or may not be the actual origin of payments for wine tastings; however, Bottle Shock portrays his visit as the pivotal event that created an entire tourist industry.
Chateau Montelena is the center of activity in Bottle Shock, and I find myself eager to visit this historic winery. Although it’s not possible to visit Napa in its BP (Before Paris) innocence, the spirit undoubtedly can still be found down the dusty roads leading to the wineries that helped globalize the wine industry in the 70s.
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