Bottle Shock: Wine 'Wars' UncorkedBy Daniele Thomas Easton
If you've joined the cohorts of Americans bashing French fries and all things
French, you'll love Bottle Shock, a new film about about the opening salvo, more than 40 years ago, in the then-naissant wine 'wars' between French and California vitners. Alas, you'll be loving it for the wrong reasons!
If you're French, with a soupçon of chauvinism (chauvinism, unfortunately, does
not come in small doses in France), don't see it. Or, be ready to be submitted to
a lesson of humility.
And if, you, like me, have lived long enough in the United States to reach the sage
conclusion that both countries balance the good and the bad evenly; that you can
eat in some fine Philadelphia eateries as well as you would in some
Paris bistros; that bread from the Metropolitan Bakery can beat baguettes from
some French supermarkets; that some new American cheese, made in the right way
(read unpasteurized milk) can taste pretty good, you, too, will enjoy Bottle
Shock.
Based on a true story, Bottle Shock, while not a documentary, chronicles in detail the events leading up to the famous 'Judgment of Paris' tastings, blind tastings that pitted traditional French 'grands crus' against California upstarts. Taking place in 1976, at the time the United States was celebrating its bi-centennial, this refreshing tale is a summer treat, crisp as the Chardonnay from a small California winery that may well hav e
changed the history of wine forever.
Go and savor Bottle Shock, then raise a toast to 'Vive La Difference.'
Bottle Shock will open in Philadelphia on 6 August at the Ritz East
(Daniele Thomas Easton, a former French consul in Philadelphia, can be reached via Writers.Clearinghouse@comcast.net. Subject line: Daniele).
If you've joined the cohorts of Americans bashing French fries and all things
French, you'll love Bottle Shock, a new film about about the opening salvo, more than 40 years ago, in the then-naissant wine 'wars' between French and California vitners. Alas, you'll be loving it for the wrong reasons!
If you're French, with a soupçon of chauvinism (chauvinism, unfortunately, does
not come in small doses in France), don't see it. Or, be ready to be submitted to
a lesson of humility.
And if, you, like me, have lived long enough in the United States to reach the sage
conclusion that both countries balance the good and the bad evenly; that you can
eat in some fine Philadelphia eateries as well as you would in some
Paris bistros; that bread from the Metropolitan Bakery can beat baguettes from
some French supermarkets; that some new American cheese, made in the right way
(read unpasteurized milk) can taste pretty good, you, too, will enjoy Bottle
Shock.
Based on a true story, Bottle Shock, while not a documentary, chronicles in detail the events leading up to the famous 'Judgment of Paris' tastings, blind tastings that pitted traditional French 'grands crus' against California upstarts. Taking place in 1976, at the time the United States was celebrating its bi-centennial, this refreshing tale is a summer treat, crisp as the Chardonnay from a small California winery that may well hav e
changed the history of wine forever.
Go and savor Bottle Shock, then raise a toast to 'Vive La Difference.'
Bottle Shock will open in Philadelphia on 6 August at the Ritz East
(Daniele Thomas Easton, a former French consul in Philadelphia, can be reached via Writers.Clearinghouse@comcast.net. Subject line: Daniele).