Thoughs on the movie "Bottle Shock"?
So... While on a few days of vacation with visiting friends from Los Angeles on a romp through the "other california" ah.. that is The California Wine Country to Tahoe... I decided we needed to see the movie "Bottle Shock".
I liked it. Of course I love films like "Hoosiers" and "Finding Forrester" so this one fits quite well in my list of those movies I recommend.
With all things that come out of Hollywood you have to wonder how much is truth and how much is artistic license. I found a Review worthy of my time... in Variety.
One liners form the review.. ' "Bottle Shock" contains too much to manage it all well, including some painfully corny sections, but has a charming aftertaste.' ...would you like salt with that corn ;-)
I suppose the corn comes in the movie one liners such as "why don't I like you" asks Jim Barrett wine maker and owner of Chateau Montelena, and Steven Spurrier (the wine snob) replies "cause you think I'm an ass ... and I'm not really ... I'm just British, and well ... your not."
The movie left me with the feeling that the Chateau Montelena 1973 Chardonnay won the ENTIRE competition... NOT! - So I started digging... It won the "California Chardonnays vs. Burgundy Chardonnays" tasting. If you look at the Wiki Pedia Page on The Judgment of Paris event you'll see that there were many different match-ups... of which some were won by the French.
Here is the original Time Magazine event write up...
So what are your thoughts on the Movie?
I liked it. Of course I love films like "Hoosiers" and "Finding Forrester" so this one fits quite well in my list of those movies I recommend.
With all things that come out of Hollywood you have to wonder how much is truth and how much is artistic license. I found a Review worthy of my time... in Variety.
One liners form the review.. ' "Bottle Shock" contains too much to manage it all well, including some painfully corny sections, but has a charming aftertaste.' ...would you like salt with that corn ;-)
I suppose the corn comes in the movie one liners such as "why don't I like you" asks Jim Barrett wine maker and owner of Chateau Montelena, and Steven Spurrier (the wine snob) replies "cause you think I'm an ass ... and I'm not really ... I'm just British, and well ... your not."
The movie left me with the feeling that the Chateau Montelena 1973 Chardonnay won the ENTIRE competition... NOT! - So I started digging... It won the "California Chardonnays vs. Burgundy Chardonnays" tasting. If you look at the Wiki Pedia Page on The Judgment of Paris event you'll see that there were many different match-ups... of which some were won by the French.
Here is the original Time Magazine event write up...
So what are your thoughts on the Movie?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steven on -
With out a doubt this was the best line ""cause you think I'm an ass ... and I'm not really ... I'm just British, and well ... your not."
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Permalink Reply by Chris Del Plato on -
I agree!
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Permalink Reply by Brian Erwin on -
I left the movie with contradictory emotions. I was stirred by the historical dramatization of an event that helped put New World wines on the map. And I thought that Alan Rickman stole the movie in the role of Steve Spurrier. But maybe I've become too hardened, for I found the whole father-son in the fight ring symbolism trite and unrealistic.
Having been raised by farmers of farmers of farmers, I know how hard that life is: squeezing the money out of the land to support your family while combatting the elements and the marketplace. Still, a head of lettuce is a head of lettuce. The art there is in growing lots of great heads of lettuce.
With growers and winemakers they not only need to grow the "lettuce," they have to do so knowing that someone with honed senses is going to be probing for the most subtle of characteristics. Like I said, I may be too close to this--seeing how hard many generations of my family worked--but I always found great drama in the act of caring deeply about the craftsmanship and art of creating wine. The fight scenes just seemed unnecessary and over the top.
All in all, it is a movie that does make you want to cheer and Rickman was terrific...even if he is British and I'm not.
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Permalink Reply by Awesome on -
The movie was not a true documentary, and the producers added some elements to add interest. We loved it! A nice, easy to watch story with a happy ending. We hosted a Bottle Shock party tasting Gustavo's wines (Freddy Rodriquez in the movie) and rented out the movie theater for 100+ people the night before it premiered! It was a great success.
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Permalink Reply by Kathleen Inman on -
I'm a little late to this discussion, but I have to agree with Brian as far as Alan Rickman goes. He definitely stole the show.
However, I really disliked the film. Having grown up in Napa, where my parents grew up and my grandparents grew up, I had a tough time looking at vertical trellising systems in Carneros when in the 70s it was all "California Sprawl" with some split canopy quadrilles and more to the point all of Careneros was pasture land full of cows. My family's idea of fun on a Sunday afternoon was to get a ice cream at Foster’s Freeze and go for a ride to look at cows on some of these same roads in the movie (yes Napa Valley was pretty exciting then!!). Moreover, when the road sign along side a vineyard read "UC Davis 2 miles" all I could think is PLEEEEEASE!!!! There isn't a vineyard like that anywhere other than on campus within 2 miles of the UC Davis campus.
My husband Simon spoke with the producer or director when he called in at our table at the Taste of Sonoma, and he called him on these points - "Artistic License" was his response.
Anyway with so much detail spent on historically accurate clothes (I had several of Sam's outfits when I was in high school!!) it might have been nice to have sought out vineyards with a little more historical accuracy.
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Permalink Reply by Amanda / Administrator on -
As a native Californian too, having lived in both Northern and Southern California, I have become accepting of the Hollywood artistic license in the miss use of California scenery... In "The Graduate" Duston Hoffman's character is seen headed in the wrong direction when driving through the tunnel where 101 leaves the coast and heads inland just north of Santa Barbera. In "Its a Mad Mad Mad World" they use the cliff park at Point Fermin San Pedro, but they just went through Long Beach to arrive there. Long Beach and San Pedro are on opposite sides of the Los Angeles harbor. And BTW in the movie "Chinatown" they use Walkers Cafe there in the Point Fermin Park as the locale where Jack watches the water release from the San Fernando valley flow out of the drainage system. I would think it would naturally drain to the Ocean around Santa Monica... They used Walkers Cafe in many a movie. That's where I took my children for ice cream and play in the park and watch the hang gliders soar the cliffs. Hehehe...
I kinda figured the scenery in the Napa Valley might just be wrong. In fact I thought I was seeing vistas from the Alexander Valley east of Geyserville. But its been a while since I've spent time in the Napa Valley so I can't say. But then again maybe the movie's location scout thought the Alexander Valley was the North end of the Napa Valley. hehehe...
And the Bar where Gustavo does his thing - where is that bar?
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Permalink Reply by Kathleen Inman on
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Interestingly, and a little known fact, the majority of the grapes used in the Chateau Montelena Chardonnay were apparently from Sonoma County!
I believe that the bar, if not the exact one, is modeled on one in Calistoga on the main drag - I think it was called the Sundowner [Not sure, I left Napa when I was 18 and remember going there when I came back from University once or twice - black and white tile floor - old fashioned bar and dancing and pool (? i think) at the back looked sort of familiar but not quite right].
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Permalink Reply by MaryCat on
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I have heard that The Lack London Lodge in Glen Ellen is the location used for the bar scenes. Obviously some "decoration" occurred bringing in a booth to place in front of the window that looks out onto the street ...
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Permalink Reply by Mutineer Magazine on -
In our last issue we did a piece on this film... you can check out our second issue along with the article at the following link:
http://www.mutineermagazine.com/advertise.php
Its towards the bottom of the page under downloads
By the way, you gotta love Alan Rickman!
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Permalink Reply by Amanda / Administrator on
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The published article was an affirmation of my expectations about how Hollywood takes a seed crystal idea and weaves a fictitious story for the sake of entertainment. Thanks for the link to a backstage pass.
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Permalink Reply by Antonio Trujillo on -
I just finished reading your article in the Mutineer Magazine and found it better than the movie "Bottle Shock", though I did like Alan Rickman. I must say that reading about Mike Grigh is very inspiring and a movie should be made about him and his contribution to the wine industry as a whole. I can see that your article on Bottle Shock did more research than the producers. The tasting note I would give Bottle Shock is that "it is very sweet, lacking in depth and body, & has hints of Bartel & James.
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Permalink Reply by Andrew on -
Bottle Shock is now out on CD. It's now available on Netflix either by mail or by download from the web (on PC, Roku box or TIVO; also Xbox, if you have one).
I watched the movie downloaded to my Roku box connected to my 32" LCD HD TV; the image quality was very good; your download results can vary depending on the speed and quality of your internet connection. I presume the CD's quality is as good if not better.
The movie's not a documentary and should not be judged by documentary standards. It's a very good dramatization of an historical event, with the usual "boy meets girl, loses girl, gets girl" subplot that Hollywood requires.
It was well scripted and well acted; it hits no false notes that I could detect. If you know the broad outlines of the story, it's not suspenseful but still quite interesting to watch.
Most notable for me, like the John Ford westerns shot in Monument Valley,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_valley#The_Valley_in_media
the landscape [the vineyards] play a substantial role in the movie, and the cinematography (even when viewed on TV) is outstanding. The actors are often set as figures in a vineyard landscape, quite appropriately for the drama. Good entertainment, and the most positive depiction of the land and the California wine industry that I could imagine.
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