Inevitably, making a film about wine forces the assumption you’re following in Sideways’ well-lubricated viniculture footsteps. But Bottle Shock is more than a Merlot-soaked buddy pic; it’s the the true story of a little Chardonnay that could, the 1973 Chateau Montelena, a wine made in Napa Valley when all great wine was believed to be from Europe, especially France.

Everyone remembers the high-stakes drama of the US Hockey team going against Russia at the 1980 Olympics, but in 1976 American pride rested on the shoulders of a few small vineyards in California taking on the Goliath winemakers of France. Bottle Shock tells the story of those passionate vintners.

Set in the fields and vineyards of Northern California wine country, the film’s beauty is breathtaking, but director Randall Miller inconsistently lurches between lingering postcard shots and jerky, shaky, nerve-jangling direction and editing. Just as you start melting into golden panoramas, you find yourself jostled into action. Like wine, Miller mellows over time but the film’s lurching start leaves a mark.

The cast, capable and charming, is led by Bill Pullman as the vineyard patriarch Jim Barrett, Chris Pine (soon to be of Star Trek fame who looks like a love child between Peter Gallagher and Brad Pitt) is his son Bo, the mightily talented Freddie Rodriguez is Gustavo, a trusty field hand with his own inspired brew of vino, and the perennially pitch-perfect Alan Rickman is the British wine snob who initiates the California-French wine challenge. Watching Rickman nibble on a piece of KFC with pinky pointed is yet another example of why his career has spanned 30 years, and there isn’t a single moment on screen where you can find fault.

The women are the casting stumbles. Eliza Dushku mauls her dialogue, as always, while Transformers’ Rachel Taylor is merely victim to a bad writing decision. While her performance is fine, her character is completely out of place as the “I’m so sexy, I don’t even realize I’m sexy” wine intern who provides unnecessary romantic tension and a completely arbitrary love scene.

Despite slight hiccups in writing, direction and occasionally (Eliza) acting, Bottle Shock is still refreshing, savory and delightful…like a fine wine.  

SPR Rated PG-13