1976 was a year of reckoning for Californian wine makers, when they found themselves not only measuring up to the best of French wines but actually beating them to emerge as winners at a blind tasting held in Paris, marking the beginning of the recognition that Napa enjoys in the present day.
The film takes more than a slightly dramatized view of the famous 1976 blind tasting in Paris, where Californian wines trumped the best French wines in the business, and put the Napa Valley on the world wine map.
The film was screened for a private audience in San Francisco and was, in the words of producer Brenda Lhomer, 'the premier of the premier.' The screening was preceded by a wine tasting session, where guests sampled the present day version of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' now-famous Cabernet that actually won in the '76 blind tasting.
Also greeting guests and pouring his wine for us, was Gustavo Brambila himself, who worked as the assistant winemaker at Chateau Montelena that year when their 1973 Chardonnay won over all the other whites at the tasting.
Gustavo is one of the central characters in the film (played by Freddie Rodriguez) who worked at Chateau Montelena in the 1970s (interestingly, there is no mention of Mike Grgich, the actual winemaker who made the winning chardonnay; apparently, he did not sanction the film in any way due to long-standing differences with Jim Barrett, the owner of Montelena).
The story is told almost entirely from the point of view of Chateau Montelena and although many liberties have been taken with actual incidents, people etc., the film flows along happily, with many Hollywood gimmicks and dramatics making it a fun film. The film follows the story of the beleaguered Chateau Montelena and its frustrated owner Jim Barrett, played by Bill Pullman, who left a lucrative career in a law office to follow his passion for making wine, a venture that as not turned out as he had hoped. His son Bo, instead of really understanding the problems of the business, is more interested in indulging his free-spirited nature.
Enter Steven Spurrier, played by the delightful Alan Rickman; although the real life Spurrier has very little in common with the on-screen character played by Rickman, he leads the story as the snooty Brit with a Tony accent who initially doesn't "… see the imminent cultivation of the Chicago vine" and is viewed with mistrust by Jim Barrett who does not appreciate the world thinking of Californian wine makers merely as 'hick farmers' and is convinced that Spurrier is trying to embarrass them when he hears about the tasting Spurrier wants to organize in Paris.
Jim's son Bo Barrett, played by Chris Pine, is definitely the young 'hero' who drops the philandering ways that cause tension between him and his father, and saves the day by entering Chateau Montelena's '73 Chardonnay into the competition against Jim's wishes.
In typical Hollywood style, the suspense element is brought in towards the end when Jim Barrett, thinking himself to be a ruined man, disposes of 500 cases of his '73 Chardonnay after all of it mysteriously turns into a brown color, with no effects on the actual taste of the wine.
Bo is the one who finds out what happened to the wine and its miraculous 'recovery' when it reverts back into a pale, straw color. He is also credited with being instrumental in ensuring that the wine is hand carried to Paris instead of risking 'bottle shock' by sending the bottles in the cargo section (and hence the name of the movie).
In real life Jim Barrett, not Bo, was the one to witness the turning of the wine back to its original color.
All in all, the film is loosely inspired by real life events and while maintaining a grain of the actual truth, it does successfully draw attention to a moment of historical significance in the recent history of wine; when the myth of French wines being superior was completely shattered and changed perceptions of wine drinkers forever.
Bottle Shock opens in major cities in the United States Aug. 6, and in Napa and Sonoma Counties Aug. 15.
I had the opportunity to chat with Marc Lhomer, one of the producers, who seemed very interested in the wine scene in India and expressed a keen desire to travel there at some point and perhaps show his delightful film as well to wine lovers. Watch this space for more on that- Natasha Vohra. |