Perusing other wine blogs out there today underscored a fact I was already aware of but will no longer accept: mine is pretty lame. There is so much more I learned about what I drink and where it’s from and how it was made that I’d love to share, and there are new developments with all aspects of the wine industry that inspire discussion. I need more photos too. This is not just about tasting!
“Bottle Shock” on DVD
By the way “Bottle Shock” will be released on DVD February 3, 2009 so if you missed it in theaters you can still catch it at home!
“Bottle Shock”
If you haven’t seen the movie “Bottle Shock” yet, do hurry and see it before it leaves theaters, you won’t regret it. Official site: http://www.bottleshockthemovie.com/ .
This is an adaptation of the story of the legendary 1976 blind tasting competition between some of the top wine producers in France vs. a few California wineries. Had California not won, arguably many of us might not be sipping wine with friends right now, nor would we likely have much available to us from “New World” places such as Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Canada, Japan or South Africa. Combine sweeping panoramas of Sonoma & Napa Valleys, heartful wine philosophy, stellar talent from actors such as Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman, Chris Pine, Freddy Rodriguez, and many others, with a little Doobie Brothers sprinkled on top, and you have a thoroughly enjoyable film. Hey, Sundance loved it.
The best part of seeing this movie for me was doing so while in Napa Valley, right in the center of the places and people behind the story. Even my apartment was 3 or 4 blocks from that big ”Calistoga –>” sign on Rt. 29. We must have driven by Chateau Montelena a hundred times on the same road. The night my classmate friends and I saw the movie (Friday 8/15 after the CWP exam and a farewell party at Silverado Brewery) we went down to Napa and joined a group from GustavoThrace in their new tasting room around the corner from the theater . . . “GustavoThrace” as in Gustavo Brambila and Thrace Bromberger, the former being one of the prominent characters in “Bottle Shock,” played by Freddy Rodriguez. It felt surreal to be sitting several rows behind him but surely no more surreal than it must feel to be watching someone play you in a movie. Brambila is a warm and humble man who does indeed make tremendously delicious wines, and was so kind enough as to open one of his last bottles of 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon for us at the wine tasting afterparty — one taste and I HAD to buy a bottle. Bromberger is one of the most fun & gracious hostesses I’ve had the fortune to encounter. Together their wine offerings are absolutely fantastic.
Enjoy the trailer:
