Bottle Shock (2008)

  This is one of the rare occurrences where I have actually heard of the event before seeing the 'based on a true story' movie.  I came to wine tasting late in the game but I've always been a snob in one form or another.  I read about the "Judgment of Paris" a few years back and thought it was interesting as an upset.  My mother and Rob both recommended the film to me.

The year is 1976.  Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) is a British man living in Paris, trying to break into the clique of the Parisian wine tasters.  He comes up with the idea of blind testing Californian wines against classic French ones to prove the superiority of the Old World vintages.  He goes to California first-hand in order to select the best of the best.  The vineyard of Chateau Montelena in Napa Valley is owned by Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) and his son Bo (Chris Pine).  Bill has had it with the wine-making business and is ready to just throw in the towel, but Bo convinces him to let Spurrier check out all the local places.  He chooses 13 pairs of bottles to compete against the French.  Bo is chosen to go to Paris and represent the Napa wineries.  The rest, as they say, is history.

It is an entertaining story on its own merits and is portrayed with lively enthusiasm by the cast.  It lags in places, I won't deny, but it is a fun movie and well worth a rental.