It is truly amazing what a popular movie can do to generate hype and publicity for its subject. In the instance of Bottleshock, a historical and revolutionary tasting becomes an issue of pop culture. People love to see a story, become aquainted with characters, and watch events unfold. Movies can bring historical awareness to the public on a grand scale in a way that no other medium is able to do.
The movie Sideways brought awareness and a business boom to Santa Barbara County and pinot noir. Now Bottleshock has reintroduced the world to Napa Valley, as it chronicles the events leading up to the industry shattering breakthrough that was the 1976 Judgment of Paris. Bottleshock debuted at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival to critical acclaim and opened in movie theatres last week. It appeals to wine lovers, history buffs, and has a beautifully written story line to capitivate all audience members.
Today Napa Valley (which means “land of plenty”) is home to over 300 wineries. Although the first commercial winery was started back in 1861, it has been a rocky road to get where it is. Phylloxera was the first major setback in the late 1800s. 1919 brought a halt to commercial winemaking practices with the enactment of Prohibition. This lasted until 1933, and the industry has been slowly growing ever since, gaining an official designation as a recognized AVA in 1982. California vintners flocked to Napa where they began feverishly producing vintage after vintage of chardonnay and cabernet. Its global prestige is as recent as 1976, when it gained overnight fame in the Judgment of Paris.
So what is this Judgment of Paris? What makes it so important that an entire movie is dedicated to capturing it? The competition was organized by a British wine merchant named Steven Spurrier. A panel of 11 French and American judges did a blind tasting of top quality chardonnay and cabernet from France and California. The results were shocking to the wine world and promoted the expansion of California wine production (the emergence of New World wines). California wines rated the best in each category when pitted up against the French. Now, this is not to say that California wines are “better” than French wines. The main outcome of this event was to really knock France off of their pedestal and bring California onto the same level playing field as the French.
The wines that were entered into the competition are listed below:
Red Wines:
1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cab
1970 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild
1971 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello Cab
1970 Chateau Montrose
1970 Heitz Wine Cellars Martha’s Vineyard Cab
1970 Chateau Haut-Brion
1970 Clos Du Val Winery Cab
1971 Chateau Leoville Las Cases
1971 Mayacamas Vineyards Cab
1969 Freemark Abbey Winery
White Wines:
1973 Chateau Montelena Chard
1973 Meursault Charmes Roulet
1974 Chalone Vineyard Chard
1973 Spring Mountain Vineyard
1972 Freemark Abbey Winery Chard
1973 Batard-Montrachet Romenet-Prudhon
1972 Veedercrest Vineyards Chard
1972 Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles
1973 David Bruce Winery Chard
Steven Spurrier discussed the controversy of the tasting results stating, “The results of a blind tasting cannot be predicted and will not even be reproduced the next day by the same panel tasting the same wines. A side by side chart of best to worst rankings of 18 wines by a roster of experienced tasters showed about as much consistency as a table of random numbers.”
Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery
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