What was the 1976 Judgement of Paris?

 What was the 1976 Judgement of Paris?

The 1976 Judgment of Paris was an epic moment for the wine industry of the United States of America. One article called it the “ vinous shot heard round the world.”   Before this happened, France was the king of wines. If you wanted to impress your lady friends, or show off a little bit, you weren’t going to buy wine from any other country, France was it! It all started with a man by the name of Steven Spurrier. He was an English wine guy who had a little shop near a few offices and schools in Paris. Legend has it, that many of the students of the near by schools (who were American) who talking some smack about how much better cabernets and chardonnays from California. It was said that Spurrier had enough of these young bucks talking about how their wine was better so he was going to end it once and for all! He was going to have a little wine tasting and have judges blindly tasting wines made from the same grapes from the different countries. It was difficult for him to get a lot of press for event, because no one wanted to waste the time. Time magazine sent George M. Taber (who was probably very unhappy about it) who was going cover the event. Everyone knew that the French wine tasted better than any other wine in the galaxy. The nine judges were not only French, but they were extremely respected in the wine world. The grapes involved in the show down where the Cabernet Sauvignon (red) and Chardonnay (white) from Napa, CA in the United States of America and grapes Bordeaux (red) and the Burgundies (white) for the famous Bordeaux region of France. The judges would rate the wines on a twenty-point scale, based on what their personal opinions of what a good wine was. Then, the unthinkable happened. After all the scorecards were tallied in, and all the points were added up, there was a new sheriff in town. The California wines laid the smack down on the French wines. One of the French wine owners even said to Spurrier “You’ve spat in our soup”.  

 

            Word on the street is that the French claim that their grapes and wines take long to mature and were at an disadvantage because of that. So going up against Napa grapes and such an early stage, doesn’t work for them. They need to let their wines age. I think that if the American never taken that challenge, we would be stuck in a one way of thinking when it comes to wines. I think we learn a valuable lesson here. That good wine doesn’t have to be matured and aged. For the French, that works, and for our wines, fresh grapes work for us. We now know, there isn’t just one way to make a great wine.

References

Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars. (n.d.). Retrieved May 26, 2015, from https://www.cask23.com/history/parisTasting/

Steinberger, M. (n.d.). The Judgment of Paris. Retrieved May 26, 2015, from http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/wines_world/2006/05/the_judgment_of_paris.html