Whats The Big Deal With Napa Cab?

The Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 or the "Judgment of Paris" was a wine competition organized in Paris in 1976 by Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant, in which French judges did blind tasting of top-quality chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon wines from France and from California. California wines rated best in each category, which caused surprise as France was generally regarded as being the foremost producer of the world's best wines. Spurrier sold only French wine and believed that the California wines would not win.

White wines (Chardonnay)

1. United States - Chateau Montelena 1973 (winemaker Mike Grgich)

2. France - Meursault Charmes Roulot 1973

3. United States - Chalone Vineyard 1974

4. United States - Spring Mountain Vineyard 1973

5. France - Beaune Clos des Mouches Joseph Drouhin 1973

6. United States - Freemark Abbey Winery 1972

7. France - Batard-Montrachet Ramonet-Prudhon 1973

8. France - Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles Domaine Leflaive 1972

9. United States - Veedercrest Vineyards 1972

10. United States - David Bruce Winery 1973

*All 11 judges awarded their top scores to either Chalone Vineyard or Chateau Montelena, both of California.

Red wines (Cabernet Sauvignon)

Rank – Country – Wine – Average grade (out of 20)

1. United States - Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973 – 14.14

2. France - Château Mouton-Rothschild 1970 – 14.09

3. France - Château Montrose 1970 – 13.64

4. France - Château Haut-Brion 1970 – 13.23

5. United States - Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello 1971 – 12.14

6. France - Château Leoville Las Cases 1971 – 11.18

7. United States - Heitz Wine Cellars 'Martha's Vineyard' 1970 – 10.36

8. United States - Clos Du Val Winery 1972 – 10.14

9. United States - Mayacamas Vineyards 1971 – 9.77

10. United States - Freemark Abbey Winery 1967 – 9.64

"The wine that one judge said bespoke 'the magnificence of France' turned out to be a Napa Cabernet." Similarly, "'That is definitely a California. It has no nose,' said another judge — after downing a Batard-Montrachet '73." The comments and results of the tasting indicated that the judges could not distinguish California from French wines.

Three of the four Bordeaux wines in the competition were from the 1970 vintage, identified by the Conseil Interprofessionel du Vin de Bordeaux as among the four best vintages in the past 45 years or more. "When the results were tallied and announced, several judges behaved badly, refusing to give up their notes, and one even tried to change his numbers before Spurrier whipped away the scorecards." (McCoy)

One of the judges, Odette Kahn, tried to get her ballot back at the close of the event. Spurrier declined to provide it, after which she refused to speak to him, except to charge that he had falsified the results of the tasting. One of the winning winemakers, Warren Winiarski, received letters from people in the French wine business telling him that the results were a fluke. In essence, their letters argued that "'everyone knows' French wines are better than California wines 'in principle' and always will be." As recently as 2005, some of the judges refused to discuss the tasting, saying that to do so would be "too painful."

Although Spurrier had invited many reporters, the only reporter to attend was George M. Taber from Time magazine, who promptly revealed the results to the world. Leaders of the French wine industry then banned Spurrier from the nation's prestige wine-tasting tour for a year, apparently as punishment for the damage his tasting had done to its former image of superiority.

The Tasting that Changed the Wine World: 'The Judgment of Paris' 30th Anniversary

A 30-year anniversary re-tasting on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean was organized by Steven Spurrier in 2006. As The Times reported "Despite the French tasters, many of whom had taken part in the original tasting, 'expecting the downfall' of the American vineyards, they had to admit that the harmony of the Californian cabernets had beaten them again. Judges on both continents gave top honours to a 1971 Ridge Monte Bello cabernet. Four Californian reds occupied the next placings before the highest-ranked Bordeaux, a 1970 Château Mouton-Rothschild, came in at sixth"