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Yanks vs Francs – the Judgement of Paris, circa1976!
Wine 101: Judgement of Paris – Yanks vs Francs
This presentation details the 1976 blind tasting between the upstart American wines from California and the vaunted French wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy. George Taber, then the Times’ Paris correspondent covering the event, stated that the French wines were going to win. He said that everyone thought “it’s going to be a non-story.” Taber did attend, as a favor to the organizers. And he ended up getting the biggest story of his career: To everyone’s amazement, the California wines — red and white — beat out their French competitors.
“It turned out to be the most important event because it broke the myth that only in France could you make great wine. It opened the door for this phenomenon today of the globalization of wine,” Taber says. The Judgment of Paris, as that May 24, 1976, wine tasting has come to be known, began as a publicity stunt. Steven Spurrier, an Englishman who owned a wine shop in Paris, wanted to drum up business. So, prompted by Patricia Gastaud-Gallagher, his American associate, Spurrier decided to stage a competition that highlighted the new California wines they’d been hearing so much about. The Judgement of Paris is the subject of the 2008 movie, “Bottle Shock.”
In this fact-filled and entertaining presentation, Tim O’Hare, Certified Sommelier will deliver a PowerPoint session and answer any of your questions.
