SET in Paris and California in 1976, Bottle Shock is based on the true story of what became known as The Paris Judgement.
It’s the early days of the Californian wine-making industry and Parisian sommelier Steven Spurrier (Alan Rickman) travels to the Napa Valley to take the best he can find for a blind taste test against French wine.
He meets Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman), whose Chateau Montelena is mortgaged to the hilt as he perfects his chardonnay.
There’s strain in Jim’s relations with his hippie son Bo (Chris Pine) and his foreman Gustavo (Freddy Rodriguez), a Mexican farmworker’s son secretly making his own wine.
Plus, there’s Sam (Rachael Taylor), a graduate student and free spirit, mutually attracted to both Gustavo and Bo.
As Spurrier organises the taste test, Jim doesn’t want to participate while Bo knows it’s their only chance.
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