In a recent posting on the Spirit World, I wrote about the prominent attention that wine is receiving on the big screen. In that article, I mentioned the movie Bottle Shock, which retells the tale of the 1976 Judgement of Paris. At the time I wrote the article, I had not yet had the opportunity to see the movie, but that oversight has been rectified thanks to a screening several weeks ago (Thanks, Vicky!).

I went to see this movie thinking that I wasn’t going to like it since I was not only familiar with the true story that inspired the movie, but also had attended one of the re-creations held by Acker, Merral & Condit in 2006. The Acker event was wonderful, with Steven Spurrier (creator of the original event) in attendance along with George Tabor (author and the only journalist present at the original event) and Christian Vanneque (one of the original judges and, at the time, sommelier at La Tour d’Argent).

However, I was pleasantly surprised at the screening. The plot line was relatively true to reality with only a few, minor inventions. At a Q&A with the writers after the screening, they explained the need to focus on only a few characters. In this case, they chose to feature Jim Barrett and Bo Barrett of Chateau Montelena and in doing so, provided the audience with a rich portrayal of this father and son duo. The scenery, filmed from a helicopter, is quite stunning, showing off the vineyards in all their true spendor.

As a testament to the writers’ abilities, I found myself caught up in the excitement upon the Paris pronouncement that Chateau Montelena had won, despite being aware of this eventual conclusion. Overall, I was glad that I had decided to see the movie over my initial prejudice.