Have You watched "Bottle Shock"

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Scooter68

Fruit "Wine" Maker
Joined
Aug 29, 2015
Messages
4,042
Reaction score
3,421
Location
Northwest Arkansas
This past week I watched the movie "Bottle Shock" on Amazon Prime. Second time for me first for the wife.

If you Haven's watched it....Why not?

It's a loose version of the story behind the first recognition that California wines are even better than French wines.

I recommend it as a interesting story for wine makers AND I would like to see comments from those more familiar with the real story and the California wine making 'industry.'
 
This past week I watched the movie "Bottle Shock" on Amazon Prime. Second time for me first for the wife.

If you Haven's watched it....Why not?

It's a loose version of the story behind the first recognition that California wines are even better than French wines.

I recommend it as a interesting story for wine makers AND I would like to see comments from those more familiar with the real story and the California wine making 'industry.'

I saw it for the second time this past fall. It was projected on the side of a barn in a vineyard. Was really a neat event. Only about 100 people, food trucks and discounted bottles of wine. There were several thing Hollywood added but they always do.
 
Its a favorite. Love the tale although they embellished so much in the movie to make it more entertaining. Like anything else if you like the movie you will love the book even better.


51zJ5pF72NL._SX332_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
 
How true about Hollywood's "Adaptations" - In the 60's (When it first came out) I read Jurassic Park - the book. When the movie came out I said - HEY where's the opening chapter. THAT was a scary read. The movie great but the book had so much more.

I did love the portrayal (Right or wrong) of the hardscrabble life of a wine maker in the "Pre-Test" era - not a single new truck to be seen.
 
One of the huge things that was not in the movie was the fact that the Chardonnay that won and beat out all the French wines was not crafted by Bo Barrett but by Mike Grgich (Grgich Hills Winery). Grgich was cut from the movie because he did not want to be a part of the film.

Full list here:

https://www.napavalley.com/blog/bottle-shock-movie-fact-vs-fiction/
 
Typo, or are you thinking of something else? Jurassic Park was published as a book in 1990... (The movie came out in 1993.)

Wow - It seems so long ago...the memory bank must be getting faulty.

As for Bottle Shock Interesting that the actual winner did not want to be included.
 
Wow - It seems so long ago...the memory bank must be getting faulty.....

Possibly thinking about another Crichton novel. "The Andromeda Strain" which hit the shelves in 1969 and made into film in 1971. Again the book was 10X better than the movie. The movie is now one of the best sci-fi classics.
 
One of the huge things that was not in the movie was the fact that the Chardonnay that won and beat out all the French wines was not crafted by Bo Barrett but by Mike Grgich (Grgich Hills Winery). Grgich was cut from the movie because he did not want to be a part of the film.

Full list here:

https://www.napavalley.com/blog/bottle-shock-movie-fact-vs-fiction/

They have a bottle of that vintage chardonnay on display in the Grgich tasting room. And I believe Gustavo has his own small winery in Napa still.
 
We made the Judgement "pilgrimage" back in 2010. Chateau Montelena had a nice display in their tasting room. I don't recall anything in the Grgich tasting room related to it. We did stop in at Gustavo's tasting room and left with a few bottles as well.

fullsizeoutput_afb.jpeg

fullsizeoutput_43f.jpeg

fullsizeoutput_70f.jpeg

fullsizeoutput_3b8.jpeg

fullsizeoutput_33a.jpeg

fullsizeoutput_c52.jpeg

fullsizeoutput_614.jpeg

Gustavo_Thrace.jpg
 
We made the Judgement "pilgrimage" back in 2010. Chateau Montelena had a nice display in their tasting room. I don't recall anything in the Grgich tasting room related to it. We did stop in at Gustavo's tasting room and left with a few bottles as well.


View attachment 55254

View attachment 55255

View attachment 55256

View attachment 55257



View attachment 55258

View attachment 55259

View attachment 55260

View attachment 55261

Nice! What did you think of Gustavo? Worth tracking down a couple of bottles?
 
If staying in the area its worth the stop. Tasting fee was reasonable compared to everywhere else in the valley. If Gustavo happens to be on site he will pose for pics and talk about the history of Napa etc. I picked up a Bordeaux blend and a house blend called the "third bottle". Both needed some time to lay down but both were very good when (finally) opened.


Nice! What did you think of Gustavo? Worth tracking down a couple of bottles?
 
I enjoyed the movie and we even had a dinner with friends with wines from the wineries involved in the Judgement of Paris 1976 and then watched the movie after dinner. The wines from 1976 themselves are practically unobtanium and stupid $$.

If you make it to Ridge Winery (personal favorite, not to take away from Chateau Montelena) in Dry Creek, they also have an homage to the tasting AND the follow up tastings where they still come out on top, or close. It's quite interesting. They followed the same vintages, followed for 20 years and the Napa/Sonoma wines continued to shine in blind tastings.

Anyway, a good story and well worth watching even if it did get some Hollywood treatment.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top