Have you ever sipped what you thought was a fantastic wine, and then someone next to you at the BBQ blurts out that it’s a “bit sharp”, a “bit rough” or “it tastes like vinegar”?
That is one of the great things about wine, it is entirely subjective. One person’s gold medal $200 bottle of Bordeaux is another person’s cooking vino.
This situation occurs in all artistic related endeavours. One person’s masterpiece is another person’s finger painting by a toddler.
Recently Bridget and I were fortunate to attend a premiere of ‘Bottleshock’, the new wine movie based around the historical and industry changing ‘Judgement of Paris’ tasting in 1976 that pitched wine from California against the best of France.
The movie combines the arts of wine and movie making.
For me there were only two highlights (actually, three if you include the credits rolling) - the stunning scenery of the Napa Valley, and the stunning Rachael Taylor who only made the scenery better!
I am not sure what it is about wine movies, but they come across all gooey & schmaltzy (the Academy Award for Schmaltz in a Wine Movie must surely go to Keanu Reeves in ‘A Walk in the Clouds’). Bottleshock doesn’t put a bung in that trend.
The ‘boxing’ scenes in Bottleshock are cringe-inducing, and what happens to the bottles of Chardonnay (I wont ruin the surprise) is certainly a winemaking first for me! And getting the wine on the plane? Air travellers were definitely friendlier back then!
On the plus side, Alan Rickman (who plays Steven Spurrier) does an admirable job as a wine snob, and the movie does portray people who are passionate about their work and love what they do.
But overall I thought that a barrel has less wood than the movie’s acting, and that parts of the story were cheesy to the point of needing some Port to wash it down!
In wine parlance, I thought Bottleshock was soft, flowery and lacked structure.
BUT THEN, I get a phone call today from my mate Wayne, who has nothing to do with wine other than being a very enthusiastic consumer.
He LOVED Bottleshock, rating it as one of his all-time best movies. Wayne’s teenage son loved it too!
So go see this movie and judge for yourself. It is entertaining and has the distinct advantage over ‘Sideways’ of at least not being cynical or showcasing boorish wine behaviour (or killing the market for Merlot!).
Let me know what you thought? Gold medal or ‘vinegar’, Academy Award or $2 DVD special at The Warehouse?
PS – Wayne’s wife and daughter walked out of Bottleshock after 15 minutes!
I really enjoy wine. I remember the first time I tried some when I was just 12 years old. My mum let me taste a bit of her red at Christmas. Right then and there I became a wine drinker. lol I would guess that I have tried quite a few hundred different wines over the years. It’s kind of fun tasting a new one and learning about how and where it was grown. I’ve been thinking about trying a wine club lately. Have you had any experience with any, or could you recommend any wine tasting clubs?
The movie showed promise with the opening shots panning across the stunning gilded vineyards of the Napa valley. This coming-of-age story of Californian wines appealed; especially that of chardonnay but I felt the movie lacked body and structure. Set in the mid seventies, did we really have to have the distracting “summer of luurve” bit where the two young wine makers, the Hispanic and the doped-out son of the wine maker locked their horns over a young blonde intern who didn’t own a bra? Did this help the story along or was it just a device to capture the decade?
Beyond the stunning scenery, there was nothing really memorable about this movie I’m afraid; no full in the mouth feel that would leave you talking about “a great little movie” for years to come.