Uncorked – Film Review

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Uncorked – Film Review

The movie opens hopping back and forth between Johnny, a young career-driven woman working in finance and Andrew, a celebrity chef who, with his young son, is visiting his parents for a while at their vineyard. Johnny is sent to Napa Valley for a work conference. She meets Andrew and is invited on stage with him to assist him in his cooking demonstration. Surprise! She’s a terrible cook. The same night, her boyfriend, Christopher breaks up with her. Shortly after Johnny learns that she lost her job. She runs into Andrew who takes her to his parents vineyard. She learns that the vineyard is having financial difficulties and she volunteers to help. In order to help them, Johnny needs to know everything about the vineyard and the winemaking process.

This movie had a horrible storyline. It’s a Hallmark movie, so I guess I’ve never been much of a fan of them. They’re too sappy. Every line sounds like it belongs in one of their cards and every touching moment is accompanied by harp and flute music in the background. The story is very cliché. It has the main character who is focused on her career and uninterested in love. There’s the breakup and the loss of her job after which Johnny conveniently runs into an attractive man who shows her a different lifestyle. And the ending! (Spoiler alert) She breaks up with Christopher after dating for five years because they’re at the point where they have to either break up or get married, and, at the end, she agrees to marry Andrew after spending (if I counted correctly) six days with him and then not seeing him for an extended period of time. I burst out laughing because it was so bizarre. I think one of their major problems is that they did not build any of the relationships between the characters. You realize that Johnny and Andrew like each other because of awkward moments and mood music that plays loudly every time they are alone together. Also, Johnny has no idea how to interact with Andrew’s son. She admits that she’s awkward around kids and even though this never improves the kid loves her for whatever reason.

Now that I got that out of my system, I’m supposed to be talking about the presence of wine in this film. Apart from the wine tastings that they didn’t focus on much, the first thing I noticed was that the waiter at the fancy restaurant Johnny and Christopher went to didn’t open the bottle in front of them. They don’t really start to talk about wine until Johnny goes to the vineyard with Andrew. She finds out from Andrew’s father that the vineyard is having financial difficulties. Johnny offers her professional help and, in order to help them, she needs to know all about the process of winemaking and selling. Thus, we enter the wine-related portion of the film.

I got excited when Andrew was explaining to Johnny that it was pruning season. I’m currently reading Champagne: How the World's Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times by Dom and Petie Kladstrup and I learned from reading that that Dom Perignon is accredited with being the first person to discover the effects of pruning. By cutting back the vines, winemakers can get a more concentrated taste in their grapes. This idea fascinates me because I would have never thought it would work that way. They also mention terrior and how the local soil determines what varieties of wines they are able to make. I thought it was interesting how they explained that the decomposed granite soil is ideal for making Seurat, but they can also grow Bordeaux grapes because of the wind from the Pacific Ocean. I believe Napa’s ability to grow Bordeaux grapes was discussed in class. This scene is very informative and lets viewers know the diversity of grapes that can be grown in Napa Valley, making it a major area for viticulture. Another scene that echoed what we’ve been talking about in class is when they go to the aging room. Andrew’s parents explain that wine is best aged 55°-58° and that extreme temperatures are undesirable. Andrew’s son eagerly informs us that excessive oxidation causes bitter tasting wine.

This movie shows some beautiful views of Napa Valley’s countryside. Local wineries can struggle in the marketplace, feeling overshadowed by larger companies. The movie, unfortunately, does not delve deeply into any of these areas.

These scenes showed that the writers really did their research with respect to the winemaking process. They’re riddled with facts about all aspects of the process from growing to selling. As a result, you get a film that is very informative about winemaking and selling with a light story. The knowledge you gain about the winemaking process is basic but as the film’s purpose is to tell a heartwarming story, it’s just enough information to follow along without getting too confused in specifics.