Bottle Shock
Bottle Shock is the name given to the phenomenon when the character of wine is changed in transit over long distances. In 1976 the international character of wine was changed forever after a Parisian taste test that pitted French wine (the eternal standard of excellence) against the best from Napa Valley. Alan Rickman is Steven Spurrier, a British oenophile living in Paris but not financially successful at any of his wine enterprises. Looking for some self promotion and hearing rumblings of the California’s industry on the verge of blossoming he organizes a tasting competition and heads to the golden state to find contestants. He finds a hand full of unsophisticated but enthusiastic vintners who bottle some surprisingly sophisticated vino. He focuses particularly on Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) a cowboy in grape clothing whose hubris is his blessing and his curse. He and his hippy son Bo (Chris Pine) tend to have issues and his winery business is in a shambles. We don’t know how much of the “based on true events” story on screen is actually true although there’s not much guess work as to how this linear screenplay will end yet even with that the moment is uplifting. We do know for sure that there is a bottle of Barrett’s 1976 wine in the Smithsonian and we also know for sure that Alan Rickman can make anything worth watching.