Another true story

One of the film critics I listen to says the sure way to know if a movie is pure fiction is if the poster says "based on a true story."

Bottle Shock (2008), "Based on a true story of love, victory, and fermentation," is enjoyable enough, but nothing of great weight.

The true story upon which it is based is fabulous. The movie was inspired by the 1976 blind wine tasting arranged by British wine dealer Steven Spurrier (played by Alan Rickman in the film) that pitted French wines against wines from California. It was a complete upset as the French experts judged the California wines as not only competitive, but actually superior to the French in two categories: the chardonnay from Chateau Montelena (featured in the film) and a cabernet sauvingnon from Stag's Leap.

Alan Rickman's character, no surprise, shines as the most intriguing of the bunch. And his American ex-pat friend Maurice (Dennis Farina) is a hilarious foil. The Californian-storyline and characters, however, feel contrived and never ring true. There is this father-son tension that you never quite care about as neither is likable (and the surfer-dude son's wig was a constant distraction for me), an alleged love triangle with no love or sizzle, and a hint of race/class issues that is never fleshed out (but left me wishing for more about Gustavo Brambilla and other Mexican-American winemakers in California).

Interested in the historical event? All indications are that you would be best served by reading George Taber's 2005 book Judgment of Paris. (I'm putting it on my "to read" list.)

Love Alan Rickman and gorgeous scenery of California vinyards? See this movie. It's enjoyable enough.

Oh yes, and the title/term "bottle shock" is what happens to wine when it is transported. You know, like when you move your ficus tree across the room. It just needs some time to recover.

Trailer
Movie website

Sake sake sake

I just discovered that we missed celebrating Sake Day (Nihon-shu) on October 1. (It's also my father's birthday, so I think we'll have to work on his appreciation of sake so that he can celebrate both at once.)

But anyway, it's a good opportunity to finally post about Joy of Sake, which we attended in August.

The Joy of Sake is a sake tasting event associated with the U.S. National Sake Appraisal, which has been held annually since 2001. Following the appraisal, the entries are all presented at events in Honolulu and New York, plus a related event with selected sakes in San Francisco (a Sake Soirée).

There were 271 entries. We tasted about 30. We tasted some that we thought were fabulous. And I was oddly pleased to find that there were actually a couple that we tried that we didn't like -- we aren't completely undiscerning, it turns out.

We spent most of the evening hunching over the tables, reading the info cards, and filling our cups by the eyedropper-full... It was incredibly crowded, so there were lines for food, but really we were able to get to the sake we wanted to taste without much difficulty. I overheard one of the organizers say that had hundreds more people than they had originally planned for. Most of the restaurants' tables ran out of food well before the end of the event. We were certainly glad that we made eating a priority early on.

Our favorite sake of the night was Okunomatsu "Tokubetsu Junmai" from the Fukushima prefecture, brewer: Okunomatsu Shuzo. This was a gold medal winner. And it is available in the U.S., so we are told. We need to start hunting for it, I think.

The food was all excellent. We didn't sample everything, but enjoyed eats from Doraku (B particularly enjoyed their tuna tataki with garlic chips), Gyotaku, Lewers Lounge (mmm short ribs like butter), Nobu Waikiki, Town, and Zen Shu (the quail egg in the photo).


And just for fun, here's the link to the "group photo" from our sake-tasting party (costumes required) two years ago. It all began there!