Bottle Shock, the independently produced and released movie about the infamous 1976 Paris Tasting in which the California wines beat the French, steams into its second month of independent distribution playing in hundreds of theaters across the U.S. and Canada, and racking up over $3.6 million dollars in box office receipts to date. While Bottle Shock is connecting with enthusiastic audiences fueled by strong word of mouth, the film is also creating a noticeable effect in terms of increased tourism and wine sales in Napa Valley, where the film was shot last summer.

Just as underdog California wines stunned the world by triumphing at the legendary Paris tasting, Bottle Shock's robust ticket sales have surprised most film industry experts. Despite being self-distributed by the filmmakers on a shoestring budget through Los Angeles-based Freestyle Releasing, the film has significantly outperformed virtually every film that was purchased at this year's Sundance Film Festival. That includes high-profilemovies that were snapped up by Hollywood studios and independent distributors such as The Wackness (Sony Pictures Classics), American Teen (Paramount Vantage), Frozen River (Sony Pictures Classics) and Henry Poole is Here (Overture).

"Bottle Shock has turned into kind of a cultural phenomenon, both tapping into and fueling the current fascination with fine wine and food," saidfilm marketing veteran Dennis O'Connor, who oversaw the film's release."It has an amazing cast, a rousing underdog story, a breathtaking settingand a great soundtrack. Plus, I think Americans secretly love to watchtheir fellow countrymen beat the French at anything."

Director Randall Miller and his wife Jody Savin, who co-wrote and produced the film, believed strongly in the film's potential, even afterit failed to land a favorable distribution deal at Sundance. "We knew it wasa fun, upbeat film that audiences really enjoyed," says Miller. "So we decided to take a chance on self-distributing. The response has been overwhelming."

Bottle Shock focuses on the cast of characters at Chateau Montelena, which had the winning white wine at the Paris Tasting. Visits to the winery andwine sales are up significantly. While winery representatives would not providespecific data, they did acknowledge the film is good for business.

"The movie and all the buzz and news about the film, has certainly increased our brand exposure," said Greg Ralston, Managing Directorof Chateau Montelena. "We've seen an increase in visitors this summer who have seen the movie and who want to taste our wines. We're delighted with the goodwill and consumer interest the movie is bringing to Napa Valley."

Gustavo Brambila, played by Freddy Rodriguez in the film, was one of the first Mexican Americans to earn a wine degree from U.C. Davis. His first job was serving as assistant winemaker to winemaker Mike Grgich at Chateau Montelena in 1976. When Grgich left to start Grgich Hills,Brambila went with him, working at Grgich Hills until 1999 when he startedhis own winery, GustavoThrace, with partner Thrace Bromberger.

Bromberger reports increases in wine sales, increases in tourism to the Wine Country, and significant interest from the Latino community in the many accomplishments Gustavo's story represents: "GustavoThrace had its best sales month ever in August [2008], up 43% over August 2007, and Septemberis already up 39% over the same period a year ago. We've had a huge influx of customers coming to find us after seeing the film, and a tremendous number of new distributors inquiring about picking up our line of wines for distribution around the country. We are seeing visitors in our tastingroom from the Bay Area who've seen the film and say they haven't been to Napa in years; as well as visitors from all over the country flying out because the film showed them just how beautiful this area is. And we've had many calls of congratulations and requests from Latino organizations about Gustavo doing appearances and pouring wine at special events."

It's not just tourists who are more interested than ever in Napa. Last summer, as Bottle Shock was set to begin principal photography, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (which had the winning red wine at the Paris Tasting) was purchasedby a partnership between Italy's Villa Banfi and Washington State's Chateau St. Michelle. And this summer, just prior to the film's theatrical release, an announcement was made that France's Cos d'Estournel would be purchasing Chateau Montelena, establishing the quip "if you can't beat 'em, buy 'em."

Bottle Shock is directed by Randall Miller and stars Alan Rickman, Bill Pullman, Dennis Farina, Rachael Taylor, Freddy Rodriguez, Chris Pine and ElizaDushku. It was filmed entirely on location in Napa and Sonoma. Bottle Shock was screened at Sundance to five enthusiastic audiences, and also played the Maui Film Festival (Best Ensemble Cast Award and Heineken Red Star Award for Innovation, Originality, and Vision in Filmmaking) and the Seattle International Film Festival (Best Actor Award to AlanRickman).

For more information, visit: 

http://www.bottleshockthemovie.com