The story of the early days of California wine making featuring the now infamous, blind Paris wine tasting of 1976 that has come to be known as "Judgment of Paris".
In 1976, Steven Spurrier, a sommelier in Paris, comes to the Napa Valley to take the best he can find to Paris for a blind taste test against French wine. He meets Jim Barrett, whose Chateau Montelena is mortgaged to the hilt as Jim perfects his chardonnay. There's strain in Jim's relations with his hippie son Bo and his foreman Gustavo, a Mexican farmworker's son secretly making his own wine. Plus, there's Sam, a UC Davis graduate student and free spirit, mutually attracted to both Gustavo and Bo. As Spurrier organizes the "Judgment of Paris," Jim doesn't want to participate while Bo knows it's their only chance. Barrett's chardonnay has buttery notes and a Smithsonian finish.
Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
Montgomery Paulsen, who plays an uncredited role as the wine store patron, is a professional winemaker by trade.
See more »
Goofs
Continuity:
When Steven Surrier leaves a 5 US dollar tasting fee at the winery under the ashtray, the owner of the winery picks it up and holds a different bill.
See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Bo Barrett:
[voice-over during a vineyard pan]
It wasn't always like this. Before Paris, people didn't drink our wine. I mean, my friends did. But you could hardly consider their palates discerning... Bo Barrett:
Hell, we were farmers... sort of...
[pan to empty bottles of Montelena label and several early twenties/late teens smoking hookah]
See more »
"Listen to the Music"
Written by Tom Johnston Performed by The Doobie Brothers (as Doobie Brothers) Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records By Arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing
See more »