At the Movies with Fatwayne

In the world of wine, what happened in 1976 shook up the status quo in that the wines of France, which were considered incomparable, were bested in a “blind” wine tasting held in Paris. This movie tells that tale and, is in fact, based on a true story.

Jim Barrett (Bill Pulllman) is a struggling vintner who has everything invested in his passion to make wine and his winery, Chateau Montelena. Things are so dire that he has taken a third loan to support his business. His banker’s words are still ringing in his ears (“you default and we take Chateau Montelena”).

To his credit, Jim does everything it takes to produce a great wine . You can, however, only do so much with the eventual outcome depending on  timing and nature. He is very much aware of this fact.

Meanwhile, across the pond in Paris, a British wine shop owner is having his own business problems. To improve his position, Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) decides to sponsor a competition between the vaunted French and the upstart Californians. Steven heads to America to do some hands on research in the Napa and Sonoma valleys of northern California.

Rickman is splendid as the snobby Brit and is a joy to watch as he eats some of the Colonel’s finest (fried chicken) and sips wine from a jar (oh, horrors!). His meeting with Jim Barrett gets off to a shaky start but thanks to Jim’s slacker son, Bo (Chris Pine) they send a sampling of their wine to compete in the contest dubbed “Judgment of Paris”.

The contest is fun to watch as all of the wine connoisseurs are seated and begin to sip (and then spit) the various wines. As mentioned, they have no idea of what they are drinking as this is a “blind” tasting. In the end our hero Jim’s Chardonnay takes first place!

Not mentioned in the movie but listed in the credits is the fact that Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon took first among the reds. Both were 1973 vintages. Also mentioned in the credits is the fact that this contest was held once again several years later and the California wines were again triumphant!

You don’t have to be a wine enthusiast to enjoy this film. The wine country was photographed beautifully and there is a lot more to the story than I have related here. Dennis Farina as Maurice Cantavale and Miguel Sandoval as Garcia do a great job in supporting roles. It is also a little piece of history in that the world of wine was changed forever by these events. To quote Steven  “you mark my words, we’ll be drinking wines from South America, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, India and China …this is not the end Maurice, this is just the beginning. Welcome to the future!”

 More quotes from this movie are at   http://www.tvmoviequotes.com/bottleshock.htm

This has all made me thirsty! I think I’ll go open a bottle of David Coffaro’s very fine 2006 Estate Cuvee! Want to join me?

Rating -  PG13  -

Fatwayne’s rating – -