Alan Rickman (left) plays Steven Spurrier and Dennis Farina plays Maurice in Bottle Shock. Photo by Ryan Lely.
Sonoma:
Fade In: A balmy, perfect mid-autumn Carneros day, somewhere deep within endless vineyards and little back roads straddling the Napa/Sonoma border. The morning sun shines deeply, the grapes hang luscious, heavy on the vines, almost ready for the picking. A few Canada geese fly practice runs overhead. The camera pulls back to see a small yellow AMC Gremlin chugging down the road. Suddenly it starts to shake and make noises, as if a tire has blown. The car pulls off to a patch of dirt beside the country road.
A man, wearing a dark three-piece suit with wide lapels gets out, looks at the blown tire, slips, falls and sits helplessly on the ground, annoyed. Soon, an old red Chevy pickup truck appears and pulls behind the yellow car. A handsome, rugged man steps out of his truck and offers to help the man change his tire. Some comments between the two men are exchanged.
This could happen in any number of rural places in Sonoma or Napa, but on that day last August, a Hollywood film crew was busy choreographing a scene from, “Bottle Shock,” which opens Aug. 15 at the Sebastiani Theatre. This fictional film revolves around the famous 1976 Paris Tasting, and the winning Château Montelena Chardonnay. Judged best white wine in the world, for the first time a California chardonnay bested the French (on French soil) in a blind competition. In reality, the film explores the dynamics between the Château Montelena winemaking father-and-son team, Jim and Bo Barrett. A love interest and other characters round out the story. “Bottle Shock” stars Bill Pullman, Chris Pine, Rachel Taylor, Freddy Rodriguez and Alan Rickman, who portrays English wine expert Steve Spurrier.
Shot entirely on location at various Napa and Sonoma sites, notably the 1,000-acre Buena Vista Carneros vineyards, and the town of Sonoma itself, the film is a love letter to wine, and wine country. Filming locations included Château Montelena, Kunde Winery, the Jack London Saloon in Glen Ellen and portions of the Sonoma Plaza, transformed to look like a Parisian neighborhood.
The film debuted at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and comes out across the nation this month. The question is, in wide release, will “Bottle Shock” advance Sonoma’s “brand?” Might it have an effect, like the film “Sideways” had, on Santa Barbara County and its wines?
The ‘Sideways’ effect
As most readers know, the 2004 Academy Award-winning film “Sideways” helped elevate pinot noir from oenophile cult status into the mainstream. Sales of pinot noir went through the roof nationally, while conversely, merlot took a tumble due to one negative line from the film’s main character, Miles. After the movie opened, Santa Barbara County enjoyed marked increases in overall tourism numbers, while the wines of the region reaped huge benefits. Wines featured in the film began flying off the shelves.
Tim Zahner, director of public relations and communications for the Sonoma County Tourism Bureau feels that “Bottle Shock” will have a positive, “Sideways-esque” effect. “Wine Country isn’t a set place, but an overall concept. We hope people will realize that it was filmed right here, in Sonoma Country.” This “Wine Country” concept may resonate for some time. “For instance, ‘The Birds’ has been forever linked with the towns of Bodega and Bodega Bay,” said Zahner. “Movies always help sell a destination.”
“This is a universal, underdog, American film, and it will apply to wine drinkers and non wine drinkers alike,” said Brenda Lhormer, one of the film’s six producers. “This film will do something for all of us – Napa, Sonoma, the wineries.” According to Lhormer, “We really wanted to work here, and it wouldn’t have been the same had we not made the film on location.”
The cast and crew lived in and around Napa and Sonoma during filming in July and August 2007, helping the local economy. Bottle Shock’s Director Miller loved filming in Sonoma’s vineyards. “There’s something romantic here, the earth, the colors, the space. There is an authenticity to the actual place – the actors feel it too.”
A wine/film veteran, Kimberly Jackson co-owns JAX vineyards in Calistoga whose wines have been prominently displayed in the hit HBO Series, “Entourage.” “Actors have more influence on consumer tastes than any other figure,” she said. “So when people who identify with Ari Gould’s character saw him drinking our wines, we received orders from all over the country.”
For years, Sonoma’s own Ravenswood has had its wines featured in various films and televisions shows. A bottle of Ravenswood zin was often consumed in the Tony Soprano household on the hit HBO series “The Sopranos.”
In 2006, a wine bar inspired by “Sideways” opened in Solvang to offer wines from around the Central Coast. According to Tastes of the Valleys consultant Bobby Moy, the link to the movie did little for sales. “It is the product we are selling, not what it is named or marketed as that sells it.”
Up at the Château Montelena winery in Calistoga, where the movie premiered in late July, Jim and Bo Barrett seem very pleased, even amused, by all the attention brought forth by this film. “I taught Alan Rickman how to spit on the floor of a winery,” said Bo Barrett. According to his father, the winery clearly benefited from the 1976 tasting results. “The nut of it was that after the tasting, we could sell more wine back east – in Manhattan, Boston and Chicago,” said Jim Barrett.
It’s too soon to tell if Sonoma wineries should be so lucky, post-“Bottle Shock.”
“Bottle Shock,” which has a running time of 112 minutes, opens Friday, Aug. 15 at the Sebastiani Theatre in Sonoma (707.996.2020; www.sebastianitheatre.com)
