Bottle Shock

Wow, the Wackness has already gone and Bottle Shock unrolls in its place. Set in the mid-70s, Bottle Shock's strength is honest attention to the milieu, in this case Napa Valley. The clothes, the music on the soundtrack, the mindset of an older generation all rings true.
You could say Bottle Shock had me at hello. The story's based on an actual incident where California produced wine beat French wine at a swank Parisian blind tasting contest. The main conflict revolves around Alan Rickman, a Brit who runs a wine store in Paris, earning the trust of ornery wine maker Bill Pullman. Early on Bottle Shock establishes Rickman in his environment. His American ex-pat neighbor (Dennis Farina with a mod haircut) convinces him that California is serious wine country. Meanwhile we see Pullman going through a series of setbacks. His natural oxidation process takes longer and costs more but results in better wine. The bank only sees red ink. At this point the film seems to be about snobbery versus homespun honor.
Then Bottle Shock totally loses me by adding a second interweaving plot that involves Pullman's son. So Bottle Shock, a term that in the movie refers to shaking the bottle in transit, becomes cross-generational as the young ones teach the oldsters the value of life.
Perhaps the thing that irked me most was the lead kid, Chris Pine (OMFG he plays Kirk in next year's Star Trek) wearing a wig that looks like a mop throughout the entire film. Plus the side plot - Pine and Freddy Rodriguez both love Sam the hot femme intern - fails to impress as Sam goes from one guy to the other without any motivation other than because it's in the script.
Still there are some worthy moments between Rickman and Pullman that put the film back on track. Eliza Dushku plays a cameo as a bar owner who runs a wine tasting scam with the boys, and there's a French actor named Bergeron. With Bottle Shock, you learn to be thankful for small favors.