Unintended Shocks?
Bottle Shock - The Movie

December 5, 2008

When the movie-going public likes a wine movie, strange things can happen. Witness Sideways, the film that put Santa Barbara wine country on the map and impacted sales of merlot. Will Bottle Shock, Hollywood's latest wine flick, also have unintended consequences? We hope so. It loosely portrays the now famous California vs. France blind tasting event organized in Paris in 1976 by wine retailer Steven Spurrier.

No one at the time could have foreseen the revolution in wine making that this modest tasting of Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignons triggered. The prevailing French mystique that fine wine could only be made from grapes grown in French terroir with the benefit of centuries of wine-making history was shattered that fateful day.

For most audiences Bottle Shock may never be more than a rainy-day rental; but wine enthusiasts can enjoy a well done portrayal of Napa wine country in the 1970's. They should ignore Hollywood's embellishment of the facts and have fun speculating whether the film will accelerate development of the American taste for fine wine.

We experienced another benefit: inspiration to read George M. Taber's engrossing and well-researched book that chronicles the tasting and its seismic consequences: Judgment of Paris (Scribner, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.). Had the French won, as expected, the tasting would have been a non-event. In no small part because Taber wrote for Time magazine, the victory of Chateau Montelena and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars attracted attention beyond the wine world with truly remarkable consequences for California and other regions worldwide.

Click Here for a Wine Country Minute 00:60 briefing on this book.

www.BottleShock.com

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