art and hunger

Bottle Shock - Not the Next Sideways

We really, really wanted to like this movie. Its a film (an artform) about wine. And its about the wine making process, also an art. What could be better to review on ArtandHunger.com? We always encourage films about food or wine. Food plays a central role in some of the best books and films: Hamsun's Hunger (1890), Big Night (1996), Babette's Feast (1987) and The Joy Luck Club (1993), to name a few. But there have been few films featuring wine.

"Bottle Shock," a new film directed by Randy Miller, follows in the footsteps of "Sideways," that much-admired film in which Pinot Noir is a member of the cast. "Bottle Shock" was the official selection at the Sundance Film Festival this year, and was received with a standing ovation. In addition, the film tells the triumphant, rabble-rousing story of the first artisan California vineyards who toppled French domination of the Wine Industry in what is now called the 1976 "Judgement of Paris." The scenery in the film, set in gorgeous, golden Napa Valley, is stunning. The soundtrack is fantastic. Plus, Bottle Shock contains Dennis Farina, and we'll watch anything with Dennis Farina. But despite all the attractive trappings, and as much as we wanted to, we could not bring ourselves to like this film.

The film's weaknesses are partly the fault of the Director, partly the Screenwriter. Rachel Taylor as Sam is just eye candy. Her artificial performance in which she hops around quoting Hemingway and kissing men is obviously inserted into the story just to satisfy Hollywood producers who required a sex scene. While pretty, she is not convincing as a wine devotee.

Her two young friends, Bo Barrett and Gustavo are also unbelievable, star Chris Pine looks like he is not a hippie but wearing a wig to look like one throughout the whole film. Freddy Rodriguez's performance as Gustavo is better, although his rage in certain scenes seems fake and his over-orchestrated love scene with the girl, in a conveniently quaint shack that has no screens on the windows, rings false. Bill Pullman gave the best performance as Jim, but his scenes feel rushed, like the director is trying to cram in too much emotion, too much history and too many intricacies of Jim's relationships, into a short amount of film.

The film's dialogue seems forced, the characters always speak to one another in snappy, over-written phrases and quote Galileo at the drop of a hat. No one talks like that. Even in "Sideways," a film about lofty topics, the dialogue felt real. The events in "Bottle Shock" seem false. Even if they may have actually happened to real life vineyard owner, Jim Barrett, the way they are filmed and the pace of the scenes makes it all seem fictional.

The best thing about the film is it is an easy breezy wine history lesson that quickly teaches you some trivia about wine, such as what "bottle shock" is. We recommend it just for that, if you really don't have anything else to do on a Friday night. But you are better off learning the real history of American wines like Napa's Stag Leap Cabernet and Chateau Montellena's Chardonnay by visiting and taking a tour of Napa Valley. Then you would get to see the scenery in person.

Pairing Wine with Food at the Institute of Culinary Education

Have you ever wondered which wines to pair with the foods you cook? We wonder that all that time, so we decided to attend a course in pairing food and wine at the Institute of Culinary Education in Downtown Manhattan. The folks at the Institute seemed very good-humored, plus they have a stairwell boasting the most educational wallpaper I have ever seen in the entire world. In the minute it takes you to walk up a flight of stairs, you can absorb the knowledge of a culinary degree from this cheat-sheet to cuisine. Its worth visiting the Institute for this wallpaper alone.
Also, while you are waiting for your class to begin, they bring out huge, pleasing trays of the dish they are about to serve, just so you can start warming up your salivary glands while you wait for your plate.

The class was taught by Chef Willie Gluckstern, who frightened us the minute he walked in by announcing that this was not going to be a politically-correct wine class. He promised to tell us the truth about wine, even if we weren't going to like what we heard. Then he wasted no time announcing that most wine available on the market today is garbage. At that moment, I could not have foreseen that by the end of one evening this brusque chef character was going to completely transform my view of wine. Yet that is precisely what he did.

The tasting began with four rosés and a plate of assorted patés and terrines. The rosés had the most gorgeous color, so I was disappointed that two of them were just awful. Chef Gluck, which is how I will refer to him from now on, pointed out that two of the wines were way too alcoholic. He explained that a high alcohol content magnifies any wine's flaws. Therefore, a simple rule of thumb when choosing wine is do not purchase any white with more than 12 percent alcohol or any red higher than 13. So far, in the few weeks since the class this rule has served us well. We have not since bought a bottle of wine we didn't like. The rule may seem rigid or dumbed-down to some, but it works well with numbers people or those who like all things concrete and clear-cut.

Next, they served us a silky wild mushroom risotto. That is when Chef Gluck instructed us to "turn off our brains when tasting wine." Drinking wine, he said, is not an intellectual activity. "Just try a tannic red wine with a fatty steak as the Tuscans do. Its so good, its like culinary sex." The room roared with laughter. Here is the risotto, which we had with four Italian reds. My favorites were the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 'Arboreto' 2006 and the Nero d'Avola 'Liotro' 2006 from Sicily.
The following course was a crispy goat cheese Milanese with red-wine-glazed beets. This went best with a Loire wine: Gamay 'Granits' Domaine de la Perriére 2006. It was a tannic red with aromas of strawberry. Chef Gluck said it "would be great with scrambled eggs." He also advised that if you ever find yourself drinking a red wine that you feel has too much alcohol, simply put a small ice cube into it. This trick can do wonders for balancing out the wine.
We were surprised when they served the next course - truffle-crusted salmon with braised fennel in a red wine fumé - with four reds. Chef Gluck explained there is no law that you have to always pair fish with whites. The FBI won't come and get you. In this case, the red sauce and truffles on the fish went nicely with reds. I liked it with the New Zealand Pinot Noir 'Latitude 41' 2006. It had a nice nose of anise. Chef Gluck then gave us a few more handy rules for buying wine. For day-to-day drinking, always buy wines young. Don't buy Barolos or Pinot Noirs from stores- rich people scoop up all the good ones at a $150 a bottle before they even hit the shelves, he declared. Don't buy reds from Spain- they are too oaky and alcoholic. Don't drink wine with peppery foods- including steak au poivre. Pepper destroys the taste of wine. Its ok to drink sweet reds like Cabernets with spicy food. But don't buy whites from California- their climate is too hot. And always drink champagne within 6 months of its bottling. It deteriorates fast.

At this point our heads were spinning from all the rules, plus the fact that we had not been spitting as much as we should have. As a result, when the next course arrived, a delicious roasted lamb with lentils, I could barely taste anything anymore from simple tongue - and brain- overload. But the lamb was perfectly rare and went so well with the limey, fruity Cotes du Rhone- Domaine de la Chesney.
The final course was Magret of duck with foie gras bread pudding. This dish was tasty alone but did not seem to go well with any wine we had. The Shiraz Red Knot 2006 from McLaren Vale was tolerable with it, but not wonderful.

For dessert, they served a cute but un-impressive little clafouti. I did not know what this is. If you want to know what it is, you can read more than you will ever need to know about clafoutis here. I absolutely loved this with the Moscato d'Asti 'La Spinetta' from Piemonte in Italy. It was peachy but not too sweet. Chef Gluck pointed out we should always make sure our dessert wine is not sweeter than the dessert. And, he added, don't buy high-alcohol dessert wines because they are awful. And don't drink dessert wines with ice cream or gooey chocolate. It just won't work.

Now that is a mouthful! But we felt buzzed by our huge accomplishment of tasting over 25 wines in three hours. The sheer volume of empty bottles left over was impressive to survey.

Plus, the huge task of absorbing Chef Gluck's decades of wine experience made us feel accomplished even if he distilled it down to a simple list of do's and don'ts for amateurs. On our way home, we enjoyed a gorgeous stroll through midtown Manhattan, which sparkled like a jewel in the warm summer evening. What a great night!

Food by Chef Chris Gesualdi
If you'd like to take a wine class at I.C.E., you can search for one here.