'Bottle Shock': Uncorking reality on a new wine film

Opening Wednesday is the movie "Bottle Shock." Shot in Napa and Sonoma counties, the indie production loosely follows the story of wine merchant Steven Spurrier's famous Paris wine tasting, which also was written about in George Taber's book "The Judgment of Paris." (Taber's book is the source for a competing film project, which might explain why he was prematurely aged in "Bottle Shock," and not exactly a hero of the tale.) The movie takes as its focus the the relationship between Jim and Bo Barrett (played by Bill Pullman, left, and Chris Pine), the father-son team from Calistoga's Chateau Montelena, which made the winning Chardonnay in the 1976 tasting. In telling the story, certain liberties were taken; half the tale of the Judgment - the victory of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' Cabernet over France's best reds - didn't even make the cut. There are other presumed embellishments, like a Calistoga bar in the early '70s carrying a bottle of 1947 Cheval Blanc. But as Bo Barrett said recently, "This is not a documentary." (Check back in Datebook on Wednesday for The Chronicle's review.)