A Shocking Story....

The flutters had a nice evening last night centered around wine (gee…) We joined a small group of friends to mutually view the movie “Bottle Shock”. As MFO and I are not “movie people” we were among the minority that had never seen the film/DVD. As probably most of the alert readership is aware, it’s a dramatization of that famous wine tasting in 1976 which resulted in putting California wines “on the map”. More specifically it centers on Chateau Montelena, and how its Chardonnay walked away with first place in the blind tasting by some of the allegedly best wine noses/snobs in France (Pierre Tan, Raymond Oliver, etc.)). A bit overdramatic in places (well, it is a drama after all) it was great viewing.

What was even neater was that we were able to drink some of the wine featured the movie (different vintage obviously) during the viewing. We started with the ’07 Napa Valley Chardonnay, and later on moved to the ’05 Cab. Both wines were very good and didn’t need the movie for any “props”, and starred in their own right. The Chard is not overoaked, and very drinkable. I’m not sure of the pairing, but it tasted damn good along side of KFC fried chicken (another link to the film). Finished off with the Cab, nice sipping to reach the end of the drama. It was amazing that the quality of the movie went up as the level of the wine in the bottle went down…

Any movie with Alan Rickman (Severus Snape) is probably worth seeing, and he played the opinionated English wine store owner (Steven Spurrier –no relation) who came to America with pre-conceived notions of wine in the colonies, and got his eyes (and palate) opened. He tasted around Napa/Sonoma and (according to the flick) may be the reason why we now pay for tastings there. Anyway, a great actor. Also fun to see Freddy Rodriquez (6 Feet Under) as a maverick and dedicated wine person making his own wine on the property of “Mr. Garcia” played by the always regal Miguel Sandoval. Ch. Montelena’s financially beleaguered owner Jim Barret (Bill Pullman) was “saved” by his coming of age hippie son “Bo” played by a long haired Chris Pine (Star Trek - ?), with romantic interest provided by a perky summer intern “Sam” (Rachel Taylor – of no particular previous fame). The whole package is a feel good, all's well, lots of laughs experience.

I’ll stick to restaurant/food reviewing but if you’re a wine person, a great evening would be a bottle (or two, or….) from the Chateau, a bucket of The Colonel's best and a DVD of Bottle Shock.. and if you do it at home, you just might not have to

DFD