Inspired by true events, this independent American comedy focuses on a debt-ridden Californian vintner who gets invited to have his wines compete in a prestigious blind wine tasting competition in France. Bill Pullman is solid (as always) as the wine producer in question and Alan Rickman is also fine as the British wine connoisseur who offers Pullman the invitation, but there is not really much else driving the story and the film's attempts to pad out the plot to standard feature length generally do not a work. There are, for instance, lots of quirks in the mix, whether it be Rickman trying to get his mouth around a piece of KFC chicken, a bare breasts incident with a highway patrolman or Pullman insisting that all disputes are settled through boxing, but the film is never really funny for all its eccentricities. A lot of attention is also directed at Pullman's son, played by Chris Pine, and aside from a small-time wine tasting hustle, the actions of Pine and his hippie friends are never very exciting. The biggest problem with the film though is that Pullman's pigheadedness in not wanting his wines to enter the competition is never understandable. His reluctance seems to only exist for dramatic tension; after all, he unequivocally believes that his product is the best. The film certainly has its strong moments, such as Rickman's clever bypassing of airport security/customs, but there is a lot to wade through in between. Those who love their wine and have a strong interest in viticulture may, however, find quite a bit of interest here. Suffice it to say, one's mileage may vary.

"There is hardly a word that is true in the script and many, many pure inventions as far as I am concerned"....Steven SpurrierSteven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) is one of the main characters in this film and the real life Spurrier thought the film was almost complete fiction. Likewise, the character Gustavo Brambila did not even work in Napa until AFTER the famed tasting in France. I also am pretty sure the one-bottle FAA limit scene never could have happened, as I carried LOTS of wine/beer in carry-ons before the recent changes due to worries about terrorism. And then there was the law office that just happened to have a spare sword lying about...so, at least from a historical standpoint, "Bottle Shock" is not a good film. And, as a retired history teacher, I was dismayed that so many instances of artistic license occurred with the movie. "Bottle Shock" was adored by many when it came out and I got around to watching it today. I was NOT as enamored with it and apart from the historical inaccuracies, I thought the characters were pretty much ALL annoying and poorly written (especially Pullman's). I can only assume that many of the folks who adored the film did so out of a sense of nostalgia for the time period and the wines. As for me, I've been on wine tours in many regions in the world (including Napa and Sonoma) but that just wasn't enough to make the film work for me. The only things that really worked were the music and cinematography. Otherwise, I just wasn't enthralled.

This is very much worth watching! And you don't really even need to know anything about wine to enjoy it.A wonderful story and well made film, it sets the tone early on, and gives every character a chance to tell their story, one way or another. It does very well about not going into great depth about the how and why winemakers/vintners and judges go about what they do, but you see and hear just enough about it to satisfy any curiosity.Coupled with a very good cast, this movie is also easy to watch, which adds to the enjoyability. The costuming seems to be done quite well, and a standout of the 'set dressing' to put you into 1976 is well done - particularly with the vehicles!

We finally caught up with this movie that we had been wanting to see since we missed it at the local movie theaters. As new Californians the pride we have in California wines is nothing compared to the passion that Napa valley vintners had in their local wines which 35 years ago were hardly recognized world wide as compared to French wines.This movie, which is based a true story, centers on Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) a Brit living in Paris who had a wine store there and his pal and confidant (Dennis Farina). Spurrier decided that he would stimulate interest in buying wine by showing that in the 1976 bicentennial anniversary year, the upstart Americans still could not make wine, which could hold a candle to the established French products. He travels to America and meets Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) owner, but deeply in debt, of the Montelena Château and his son Bo (Chris Pine) as well as a group of other California vintners. He convinces 12 of them to give him two bottles each to enter into a French wine tasting event in which the wine would be blindly judged. The California group knew that "if one wins, they all would win." As they say, the rest is history. There are a few subplots which include Sam (Rachel Taylor) the beautiful graduate student wine intern, Bo, Barrett's son who gets boxed around by his father and Gustavo (Freddy Rodriquez), the Mexican-American farm hand who is owner of a small wine maker operation with his father (Miquel Sandoval). The movie also stars the beautiful green California grape yards, the spirited Napa Valley Wine growers and the very French wine guys in Paris. There is the expectable dramatic blind wine tasting contest in Paris which has subsequently come to be known as Judgment in Paris. There were no big surprises although you do come away from the movie feeling good and also having learned an important history lesson about a product many people love and revere. (2008) ***