Bottoms Up! Or Not; Eliza Dushku Sober at Bottle Shock Premiere

At the Southampton after-party on Sunday, Aug. 3, for Bottle Shock, a film about the early days of California wine, there was almost nothing to drink—zero wine, no Champagne, no friendly bartenders offering a free whiskey. Novelist and wine columnist Jay McInerney was shmoozing; he and his wife, Anne Hearst, had hosted a dinner for the cast the night before. A few months ago, I asked Mr. McInerney if it was a good idea to sip red wine all day and he said no, Hemingway ran into some trouble doing that.

Finally I got a glass of rosé, and then spotted Eliza Dushku, who plays a sexy barmaid in Bottle Shock. “I don’t drink,” she said. Ms. Dushku was raised Mormon, though she’s no longer practicing. “But I still have some wild nights, ha-ha-ha. And that’s also a rough question, because most actors probably don’t want to tell you about a rough night they had.”

“I don’t drink,” said Animal Fair magazine editorial director and “Greatest American Dog” judge Wendy Diamond, whose Maltese, Lucky Diamond, was at her feet. “One time Lucky only had a little sip because she doesn’t like to drink too much, and then we caught her at home with my cat. My dog is into puppy love, but she’s also into”—

Pussy love?

“Nooooooooo! Don’t put that in there!”

Holly Dunlap, the founder of Hollywould shoes, was happy to share a good drunk story.

“I was 15 years old, and some friend of mine had a big party at their parents’ house in Phoenix when they were out of town,” she said. “Their parents had a wine cellar with very vintage wines, and we of course had brought our own Bartels & Jaymes wine coolers, and as soon as we had run out of premium Bartels & Jaymes, we broke into the wine cellar with the owner’s 15-year-old son’s permission—and started drinking all of their wine, which was worth God knows how much. I drank a lot of it and ended up with my good friend holding my hair back while I threw up in his front yard.”

I was starting to feel some pussy love.

ggurley@observer.com