Synopsis
Bottle Shock (2008) is an American comedy-drama directed by Randall Miller, based on the true story behind wine's biggest upset — watch it online on iFILM. Alan Rickman plays Steven Spurrier, a Paris-based British wine merchant who travels to Napa Valley in 1976 looking for cheap wine he can use to embarrass California in a blind tasting back home.
Spurrier's plan is simple: let French judges pick the best wines without seeing the labels, assume France wins, generate some buzz. What he finds in Napa is Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) and his son Bo (Chris Pine), a run-down winery called Chateau Montelena, and a chardonnay that has no business being as good as it is. The real tasting — later called the Judgment of Paris — sent shockwaves through the wine world that are still felt today.
Rickman carries the film with precise comic timing, and the story is strong enough that it doesn't need to exaggerate. The Judgment of Paris actually happened, and California actually won. Stream Bottle Shock online on iFILM.
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