The Judgment of Paris in 1976 As the brainchild of British wine enthusiast, Steve Spurrier, who owned both a small wine shop and a prestigious wine school, L'Academie du Vin, in the heart of Paris, the blind tasting was designed to shine a bright spotlight on the quality of wines coming out of California to the French wine community and as it promptly played out, the wine world at large. His Paris wine shop, Les Caves de la Madeleine, was famous not only for its high-quality wines, but also for l’Academie du Vin, a wine school that Spurrier started in Paris in 1973 and today has branches all over the world. At this legendary contest -- a blind tasting -- a panel of top French wine experts shocked the industry by choosing unknown California wines over France's best. Publication date 2005-09-13 Topics Industries - Hospitality, Travel & Tourism, Wine industry, France, Wine And Wine-Making, Cooking, Cooking / Wine, Business/Economics, Paris, History, Beverages - Wine & Spirits, Cooking / General, Wine tasting, 20th century, California Many of the California Chardonnays came from what are now familiar estates: Chalone Vineyard, Freemark Abbey, Veedercrest Vineyards, the David Bruce Winery, and Spring Mountain Vineyard. Vineyard at Stockcross revisits Judgement of Paris Another recreation of the legendary Judgement of Paris tasting has ended in a convincing victory for American wines. On May 24, 1976, a wine tasting took place in Paris that changed the world’s view of California wines forever. If ever there was a wine-themed Cinderella story, it would have to be the 1976 Paris Tasting, also known somewhat satirically as the "Judgment of Paris." [2] The tasting was not covered by the French press, who almost ignored the story. The Judgment Of Paris. All tasted the wines blind. In 1976, British-born Steven Spurrier, a fine wine merchant in Paris, organized a wine tasting competition between California and French wines, with the expectation that the French wines would win. Key participants of the 1976 event will share stories and celebrate its legacy, one that includes the fact that bottles of the winning vintages are held in the museum’s permanent collections. The story of a now legendary 1976 Paris wine tasting gets its first Hollywood treatment tomorrow night (Friday) with the premiere of “Bottle Shock” at the Sundance Film Festival. "[5][6], Without calling into question the abilities of the tasters, scientific concerns have been raised about the methodology used by individual judges as well as the validity of any statistical interpretation. In the Smithsonian: Finally, the landmark Paris Tasting has since been duplicated all over the world with different wines, different judges, and varying results; however, the original, indisputable 1976 Paris Tasting has been given permanent reprieve in the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of American History, where bottles of the '73 Stag's Leap Cab and '73 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay are on exhibit as part of the museum's permanent collection. The original grades (out of 20 points) are shown, in alphabetical order by judge. The response of the French judges to the results was that the California wines would not age and the French wines would win if tasted again in 30 years. describing the results as "laughable", and said they "cannot be taken seriously". The Paris tasting was organized by Steven Spurrier, an English wine merchant with a love of all things French. The historic Paris wine tasting of 1976 (the Judgement of Paris) fundamentally and forever changed the world of wine. The idea for the Paris tasting came not from Spurrier, however, but from his business partner, Patricia Gallagh… To their surprise (and disappointment), the California whites ranked in three of the top four spot… Criticism of the event suggested that wine tastings lacked scientific validity due to the subjectivity of taste in human beings. While most of the wineries that were selected for the 1976 tasting are still open today, many folks are interested in stopping by the top takers of Cabernet and Chardonnay. Judgment of Paris by George M. Taber. First and perhaps foremost, it seriously raised interest levels for California's wines in both domestic and international markets. Steven Spurrier, the organizer of the tasting, acknowledged in Decanter in August 1996 that he tallied the winners by "adding the judges' marks and dividing this by nine (which I was told later was statistically meaningless). The tasting became known as the Judgment of Paris, and ended an era in which it was thought that fine wine came only from Europe. Pierre. Original grades: out of 20 points. Yadegaran, Jessica. The exterior of Chateau Montelena winery in Napa Valley, one of the winners at the Judgement of Paris in 1976. Ranking lower were Meursault Charmes Roulot 1973, Beaune Clos des Mouches Joseph Drouhin 1973, and Batard-Montrachet Ramonet-Prudhon 1973. On May 24, 1976, the Judgment of Paris pitted some of the finest wines in France against unknown California bottles in a blind taste test. Prial, Frank J. Learn … In mei 1976 kwam de crème de la crème van Franse wijn influencers met vertrouwen bijeen in … How It Went Down The judges didn’t have a specific rubric; they simply had to give each wine a score out of 20 possible points, using whatever criteria they saw fit. Peterson, Thane. What Are the Best-Tasting Freshwater Fish? That Paris judgment 40 years on A shorter version of this article is published by the Financial Times. Four Californian reds occupied the next placings before the highest-ranked Bordeaux, a 1970 Château Mouton-Rothschild, came in at sixth. The Wineries: The story of the Paris Tasting lives on in several forms. The Napa wines that famously beat France's best in the 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting have been chosen from among millions of artefacts as one of the 101 items that 'made America'. The runner-ups were the 1970 Mouton-Rothschild and 1973 Meursault Charmes Roulot. [1] A Californian wine rated best in each category, which caused surprise as France was generally regarded as being the foremost producer of the world's best wines. Original grades: out of 20 points. The only reporter present at the mythic Paris Tasting of 1976—a blind tasting where a panel of esteemed French judges chose upstart California wines over France’s best—for the first time introduces the eccentric American winemakers and records the tremendous aftershocks of this historic event that changed forever the world of wine. [3], California Chardonnays vs. Burgundy Chardonnays. Finfacts Team. Your Guide to the Best R&B Singles of 1976. Napa v. Bordeaux, Round Two: Vintners re-enact famous '76 tasting. Two tastings were conducted by the French Culinary Institute (now called the International Culinary Center) on the tenth anniversary of the original Paris Wine Tasting. The 1976 Judgment of Paris One blind tasting in 1976 changed the world of wine forever We take it for granted that California produces some of the world’s best wines, with top critics ranking them alongside the finest vintages from Bordeaux, Burgundy, and beyond. On 11 January 1978, evaluators blind-tasted the same Chardonnays tasted earlier in Paris. Judgment of Paris: 1976 France v US winetasting duel to be recreated on 30th anniversary. This page was last edited on 19 November 2020, at 04:27. In 1976, the town’s Chateau Montelena (and its 1973 Chardonnay) beat the best French wines at the legendary tasting known as the Judgment of Paris. in Biology and Environmental Health, Colorado State University. ", Orley Ashenfelter and Richard E. Quandt analyzed the results of all 11 judges instead of only nine and proposed a slightly different ranking (see below). But the situation was very different in … As the brainchild of British wine enthusiast, Steve Spurrier, who owned both a small wine shop and a prestigious wine school, L'Academie du Vin, in the heart of Paris, the blind tasting was designed to shine a bright spotlight on the quality of wines coming out of California to the French wine community and as it promptly played out, the wine world at large. In terms of the players for the white Burgundy houses: Domaine Roulot, Maison Joseph Drouhin, Domaine Ramonet-Prudhon and Domaine Leflaive rounded out team Burgundy. [citation needed] The Judgment of Paris was a famous wine tasting which took place in Paris, France in 1976. White wines were not evaluated in the belief that they were past their prime. During the tasting, judges tasted a series of wines from California and France and were asked to rate them. Original grades: out of 20 points. • http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947719,00.html TIME Magazine: Modern Living: Judgement of Paris, 7 June 1976] by George M. Taber The results were in. The evaluation resulted in the following ranking[citation needed]. It was a blind tasting so there were no bottle labels allowing the judges to recognize the wines. [3], The New York Times reported that several earlier tastings had occurred in the U.S., with American chardonnays judged ahead of their French rivals. Original grades: out of 20 points. [2] It also "gave the French a valuable incentive to review traditions that were sometimes more accumulations of habit and expediency, and to reexamine convictions that were little more than myths taken on trust. How to Learn More About the 1976 Paris Tasting, Pari Roller: the World's Biggest Weekly Street Skating Event, Wide Leg Jeans Outfits Inspired by Paris Street Style, The 24 Greatest Chinese Food Proverbs for Food Lovers, How to Identify First Editions and Care for Old Books. Some critics[7] argued that French red wines would age better than the California reds, so this was tested. In a fairly straightforward contest, the blind tasting format brought the nine judges through the series of wines beginning with the Chardonnay and white Burgundy selections. Judges on both continents gave top honors to a 1971 Ridge Monte Bello cabernet. Indeed, the organizer of the competition, Steven Spurrier, said, "The results of a blind tasting cannot be predicted and will not even be reproduced the next day by the same panel tasting the same wines. Steven Spurrier California took on the best of Bordeaux and Burgundy and won on both battlegrounds, taking first place with the 1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellar's S.L.V. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Judgment_of_Paris_(wine)&oldid=989469284, Food and drink in the San Francisco Bay Area, Articles with dead external links from December 2017, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from May 2017, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Asher, P. The Judgment of Paris. The event's informal name "Judgment of Paris" is an allusion to the ancient Greek myth. Winiarski, Warren. Ranking lower were Château Montrose 1970, Château Haut-Brion 1970, and Château Leoville Las Cases 1971. Spurrier sold only French wine and believed that the California wines would not win.[2]. No specific grading framework was given, leaving the judges free to grade according to their own criteria. Pierre Tari Original grades: out of 20 points. Odette Kahn Hinkle, Richard Paul. In what began as a fairly low-profile tasting so far as the media was concerned, ended up rocking the wine world right out of its orbit with a now-historic Time's, piece entitled, "Judgment of Paris," written by George Taber, the sole journalist on-site (and later made into a full-fledged book by the same name). Nine of the … Second, it spurred rapid interface between French and American vintners, taking best practices from both sides of the pond and allowing for the open exchange of ideas, technology and tried and true tradition to be readily communicated. To the shock of the wine community, the California wines consistently rated better, debunking the popular idea that French wines were the finest in the world. The French contingent was made up of some heavy-hitters with first and second growths well represented in Château Mouton-Rothschild and Haut Brion, along with Château Montrose and Château Leoville Las Cases. [11], Three of the 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. 1976 Olympic Boxer Leon Spinks, M.P.H. B efore 1976, the words “judgment of Paris” called to mind a story in Greek mythology: Paris, son of a king, is asked to decide which goddess is the fairest. The Book: You can also read the story details in George Taber's book, Judgment of Paris, which recounts the Time's reporter's firsthand experience of the 1976 Tasting of Paris, play by play. The tasting was the brainchild of Steven Spurrier, an English wine merchant who owned an innovative wine shop and adjacent wine school in the center of Paris. [13] The horrified and enraged leaders of the French wine industry then banned Spurrier from the nation's prestigious wine-tasting tour for a year, apparently as punishment for the damage his tasting had done to its former image of superiority. Cask 23 2015 - How I would loved to try the 1973 S.L.V! Rankings of the wines preferred by individual judges were based on the grades they individually attributed. They tallied their scores. Results 1976 14.14 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 [10], The results showed that additional panels of experts again preferred the California wines over their French competitors. There were six California Chardonnay contenders and four white Burgundies in the lineup. Today, Calistoga’s local wine scene still has attention-grabbing appeal—in part thanks to Castello di Amorosa , the medieval-style, multi-turreted castle on a hill built by Italian-style winemaker Dario Sattui. The competitive California Cab estates included Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, Ridge Vineyards, Heitz Wine Cellars, Clos du Val, Freemark Abbey Winery (again) and Mayacamas Vineyards. The Movie: The Paris Tasting has also been thoroughly memorialized through the movie Bottle Shock, a 2008 independent film that is roughly based on the 1976 Paris Tasting, featuring components of Chateau Montelena's story to stardom. One such tasting occurred in New York just six months before the Paris tasting, but "champions of the French wines argued that the tasters were Americans with possible bias toward American wines. Christian Vanneque The San Francisco Wine Tasting of 1978 was conducted 20 months after the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976. Rose, Anthony. Het was de proeverij die een revolutie bracht in de wijnwereld. George M. Taber is the author of Judgment of Paris, the 2006 wine book of the year for Britain's Decanter magazine.His second book, To Cork or Not to Cork, won the Jane Grigson Award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals and was a finalist for the James Beard Foundation Award for best book on wine and spirits and the Andre Simon Award for best wine book. Can You Relate To These Boozy Memes About Wine? Stacy Slinkard is a freelance writer and wine consultant. This historic wine tasting has become a landmark event for the California wine industry in general and was a pivotal turning point for the Napa Valley in particular. "[3], French Culinary Institute Tasting of 1986, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "The Day California Wines Came of Age: Much to France's Chagrin: a Blind Taste Test 25 Years Ago in Paris inadvertently launched California's fine wine industry", Tasting. "[9], The Tasting that Changed the Wine World: 'The Judgment of Paris' 30th Anniversary was conducted on 24 May 2006.[10].