AS recently as 30 years ago, California wines were considered something of a joke by connoisseurs. Even most Americans were familiar only with gallon jugs of Gallo that sold for $5 or so.
Randall Miller’s crowd-pleasing “Bottle Shock” tells the incredible but true story of how that abruptly changed in 1976, when a small Napa winery shocked the wine world by winning a major French blind-tasting contest with a 1973 Chardonnay.
The Bicentennial-themed tasting is organized by Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman), who is trying to promote his faltering wine shop in Paris.
Encouraged an American pal (Dennis Farina) who hears good wines are being made back home, Spurrier heads to the US to recruit contestants for the competition, fully expecting they will come up short when compared to his beloved French vines.
Spurrier’s first encounter is with Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman), who turned his back on a law career to stubbornly run Chateau Montelana in Napa.
Jim is bemused by the idea that the foreigner would actually pay to sample his wares and those of his neighbors, but is convinced the contest is rigged in favor of the French.
Barrett runs the chateau with his hippyish son Bo (Chris Pine), who competes for the attentions of comely intern Sam (Rachael Taylor) with employee Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez), who is secretly pursuing his own winemaking ambitions.
What unites all of these disparate and well-drawn characters is a taste and passion for wine shared by the filmmakers – including Jody Savin, Ross Schwartz and Lannette Pabon, who crafted the complex but pleasing story out of true events.
Beautifully shot by Michael J. Ozier, the dominating taste in “Bottle Shock” is Rickman’s beautiful performance as a snob – a snob who is secretly open to being delightfully surprised.
BOTTLE SHOCK
Best wine film since “Sideways.”
Running time: 112 minutes. Rated PG-13 (profanity, sex, drugs). At the Empire, the Kips Bay, the Union Square.