After the highly
acclaimed Sideways, comes Bottle Shock,
a movie based on the legendary 1976 Paris tasting
conducted by Steven Spurrier when Chateau. Montelena
Chardonnay 1973 was rated higher than the Burgundy
counterparts.
'Bottle Shock' was premiered last
Friday at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City,
Utah, being held from 17-27 January. It's one of two
rival movie projects about the historic wine event,
which made Napa Valley globally popular. The second
movie about the same tasting, 'The Judgment of Paris'
has not started shooting yet.
When a group of French experts rated
wines from brand-new California makers higher than
Burgundies and Bordeaux, the wine world was flabbergasted.
Chateau Montelena and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars with
its 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon have been reaping the
benefits ever since. As expected, Chardonnay is now
over the top, but the Cabernet is still delicious
and sells for about $1,000.
Focussing on Ch Montelena, the movie
reviewed by Bloomberg
is the white wine version of the Paris tasting, the
'Judgement' will be the red wine equivalent. It focuses
on the father-son conflict between the winery's colourful
owner, Jim Barrett and his son Bo.
Bo is a shown as the young surfer
who helps save the day. 'It's completely Hollywoodized,'
says Bo Barrett though, now 52. `My character has
this great girlfriend. But I had zero luck with girls
back then.''
Though the winemaker at the time,
Mike Grgich, made the winning wine, he's not a major
character. His assistant gets the key role.
The widely respected Spurrier who
I had the pleasure of meeting in London recently,
is not amused at his portrayal in the movie. He obtained
the draft of the screenplay late and is not happy
about his own portrayal as an English snob in 'completely
invented incidents'.
He was based in Paris in 1976 and
owned Academie du Vin where he developed an idea to
educate Parisians, not on French wine, but on the
new wines coming out of California.
Steven who seems to be a very relaxed
and an unassuming person in real life says, 'I'm extremely
angry at the deeply insulting and inaccurate way my
business and I were portrayed,' He has hired a London
law firm to write to Randal Miller, director and co-screenwriter
Randall Miller who has toned down his role and insists,
'In our film, Spurrier is heroic.'
But the winery owner Barrett is happy,
'I'm personally amused by the movie. It's a love letter
to the wine business.' And, of course, it will draw
attention to Chateau Montelena.
It is unlikely that the movie will
be screened in the regular theatres. Sideways, which
was highly popular overseas was watched by the wine
lovers in India only on DVDs.
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