Bottle Shock - Film Review

I watched this movie with my girlfriend, who’s also taking Geography of Wine with me.  We enjoyed a 2011 Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina while watching the film, but in hindsight, we should have gotten a Chardonnay!  While we both enjoyed the movie for what it was worth, we both questioned the factual accuracy of some the events in the film, especially when “this film is based on a true story” is the first thing you see. But at any rate, we both learned a bit about production of wines, and some of the old world versus new world issues. 

The beginning of the Bottle Shock film opens with two floundering wine businesses. Steven Spurrier, an Englishman living in France, owns an “Academy of Wine”, but clearly lacks respect and prestige among his French colleagues.  His coworker points out that his problem as a business and as an academy is his lack of representation; his wines are overwhelmingly French.  Spurrier then plans to travel to Napa Valley to find explore some of the new world style wines, hoping to gain prestige and recognition in the wine world by introducing what he hopes will be successful American wines to France.  He meets Jim Barrett, whose winery looks to be going under, and quickly. Spurrier is actually quite competent as a sommelier, and persuades his colleagues to perform a blind tasting that will pit French wines against American counterparts; however, there is a certain stigma surrounding the new world style of American wines, and Spurrier hopes that in collaboration with Barrett, he can change this.  Especially in the 1970s, American wine-makers seem to have lacked much serious recognition, as we can tell from some of the French vintners, as well as Spurrier’s obvious disdain for the “Chicago vine”.   These attitudes are quickly reversed later in the movie as some of the Napa valley wines clearly demonstrate impressive qualities that many of the French vintners seemed to think only possible from old world styles. Spurrier demonstrates this snobbery when he first meets Barrett, asserting that one cannot just become a vintner simply because one wants to become one, rather it takes years of study and a particular region and terroir to yield “palatable” wine.  This small disagreement between the two highlights the argument of new world and old world styles. 

Barrett has a team of helpers working on his Napa valley vineyard, basically his son Bo and his friend, Gustavo, along with a new girl, Sam, looking to get some experience in the wine world.  Gustavo quickly proves his expertise in the wine; when he isn’t busy hustling (in a somewhat ridiculous and unbelievable bet that he could name the vintages of 3 undisclosed wines, a rather obvious rip-off, considering his friendship with the bartender), he’s secretly busy applying his vintner skills to the production of his own wine.  This later leads to his dismissal from Barrett’s vineyard, although Gustavo demonstrates his knowledge before he leaves, explaining that he has worked on the land, and he knows the characteristics of the soil and the vines.  This scene shows viewers that terroir is still a considerable part of wine-making; Gustavo tells Jim that one has to spend time working the land in order to work in tandem with the soil and the vines to produce quality wine.

  Although he was hustling a group of bar goers, Gustavo is nonetheless very capable of identifying the flavors associated with specific grapes, going so far as to identify a wine that is 50/50 Cabernet Franc and Merlot.  He clearly has a deeper knowledge of the Napa Valley terroir than he is given credit for; his secret wine production yields excellent wine, and Spurrier ends up buying two bottles to take back with him.  Barrett himself spends time in the film explaining the concept of Napa valley terroir and viticulture to Sam, telling her how the lack of irrigation causes the vines to struggle, which in turn intensifies the flavors.  Repeatedly throughout the film, there is a discussion of soil; Spurrier explains that the production of wine begins with the soil, the vine, and of course, the grape.  The smell of the vineyard for Spurrier is connected to an ancient, primordial sub-consciousness among humans, as if it was part of the human condition.  These discussions of the basic ecological necessities really ties the wines to the land, making it a much more intriguing agricultural endeavor; some of these discussions definitely enhance the idea of recognizing wine as a truly unique yield of the planet.   

Barrett showing Sam around his Vineyards

While several grapes are discussed in the film, almost certainly the most significant is the chardonnay grape, which yields the famous wine that ends up beating the French.  I was surprised to see the “brown” Chardonnay.  I had no idea that that could really happen as a flaw.  I was, however, a little bit skeptical about the possible “Hollywood-ization of that scene; its believable that I didn’t know about it – but its less believable that a winemaker wouldn’t know about the potential flaws his wines could experience, especially one that was easily recognized by another vintner, indeed, one sitting on the side of the road.  However, I don’t know the facts of the true story, so maybe it was a less known flaw in the 1970s, that resulted from relatively newer techniques, like limiting the oxygen.  The discussion of flaws definitely resonated more with me since we have discussed some of the potential flaws that can occur in wines; Spurrier himself mentions a “scant backbone” early on in the film and a lack of acidity. 

Steve Spurrier sets out for America in order to gain some recognition in the French wine world.  He quickly finds that the experience is quite different than expected; wine tastings in front of trailers may not be what the French are looking for, but Spurrier thinks that the California wines might be.

Arguably the best scene of the film

The movie does an excellent job of really filming the entire process of wine.  Opening on vineyards, the film takes the audience through barrel rooms with stainless steel vats and oak barrels; it shows owners walking through their vineyards, with Sam, Bo, and Gustavo tending grapes.  But aside from the growing and fermenting processes shown in the film, it does an excellent job of showing the tasting part of wine drinking; it really goes through all walks of the wine world, from prestigious wine dinners in Paris to dusty country roads in California.  In a memorable scene, Spurrier tentatively tries some guacamole with a look of worried apprehension on his face; that scene in particular helped to highlight the very different culture of wine. At the same time, that American new world culture was able to produce high quality wines, ultimately changing Spurrier’s opinion on the matter.  While I found a good deal of the film was pretty cheesy, some of those plot points seemed like it would make the film more approachable for non-wine drinkers.  The flaws, growing and fermenting processes, and tastings could intrigue novice and advanced wine drinkers alike.  Class discussion about “flabby” wines and other flaws contributed to the experience of the film, just like knowledge about the different tastes (especially of chardonnays) made the tasting scenes much more relatable.  Additionally, learning about the equipment helped to make me appreciate many scenes differently; for example, the scene in which Sam is cleaning the thresher can be appreciated not only for obvious reasons, but also for the cost and effort put into maintaining harvesting equipment. 

In the end, Spurrier accomplishes his goal and gains recognition for himself and Napa Valley, proving to his French colleagues that there is something to be said for the new world styles of California (specifically Napa Valley).

I watched most of it again recently to remind myself of the actual discussions in the film.  While I still find some of the scenes a little cheesy, I appreciate Spurrier’s mission a lot more.  I feel like a small knowledge of wines, fermentation processes, growing methods, and tastings really enhances the movie; apart from the archetypal story of failing businesses having a sudden dramatic stroke of fortune, the emergence of Napa Valley and new world style wines on the international stage was a really intriguing plot, all the more because it had true elements to the story.