Bottle Shock (DVD)

note: also appears in part on Flixster and The Student Room Bottle Shock didn't get much press when it was released last year, but be assured that it's quite a fun dramedy about the famous Judgment of Paris in 1976, where California wine, for the first time ever, beat French wine in a blind taste test. This was a monumental event and has been captured here with great humour and earnestness. Alan Rickman plays Steven Spurrier, a wine expert who is now living in France, who wants to open up the French to more exotic wines from across the world in order to prevent his specialist wine shop from closing due to lack of interest. He therefore visits Napa ...  Read the complete review

"Wine is sunlight held together by water" Whilst in Blockbuster last week, I realised that I had seen pretty much everything of note, and was struggling to find anything new that looked even remotely entertaining. I then spotted 'Bottle Shock' starring Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman and Chris Pine, and decided to give it a go. Directed by Randall Miller, the film is based on a true story, and is jointly set in both France and the USA. The snooty Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) is a wine expert living in Paris who decides to set up a tasting event where Californian wines would compete against their French counterparts. As a result, Spurrier ...  Read the complete review