Changed The World
February 9, 2006
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grocery store and you’ll find a global
selection of wines. Today consumers
have ready access to wines from Chile,
South Africa, New Zealand and Australia
in addition to the traditional European
producing countries and of course the
United States. I recently found wines
from Israel and the former Russian
satellite country of Georgia in a
suburban Denver liquor store. Similar
diverse offerings are common on many
restaurant wine lists.
American wine store in the early 1970s were dominated by bottles from France. The
great reds of Bordeaux, pricey Pinots and Chardonnays from Burgundy, and
Champagne were recognized as the worldwide wine benchmarks and garnered the
lion’s share of attention.
Most American wines of the time were high-alcohol, sweet wines such as Mad Dog
or common jug wines such as Gallo and Almaden. Sure there were innovative wine
pioneers trying new things in California, but the reputation of American wines was
that they were no match for the bottlings of France.
And then on May 24, 1976 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Paris, a blind wine tasting
occurred that spurred a revolution in the wine world. The tasting included many of
France’s most famous white Burgundies and red Bordeaux wines along with virtually
unknown California wines. The panel of nine French wine experts shocked
themselves and the world by picking a California wine as the best of the tasting in
both the red and white categories.
never have become well-known
if not for George Taber, an
American reporter for Time
magazine who was the only
journalist to attend the tasting.
His article a week after the event
set off a flood of interest in the
California wines of the tasting
and the region’s overall wine
industry. As a result of the Paris
tasting, the world began looking
at California wines in a new way
and the eventual explosion of
California wine took place.
judge Odette Kahn (right) at the 1976 event.
Kahn was editor of a French wine magazine.
occurred on both sides of the Atlantic with
the French typically downplaying the
results, claiming the tasting had been
unfairly conducted or just telling blatant
falsehoods. Taber has heard claims that
the judges were “tricked into a comparative
tasting and that they didn't know what was
going on.” But Taber says Steven Spurrier
-- the man who conceived of and put on the
tasting -- was very upfront that wines from
both California and France would be tasted.
Americans have also taken liberties in
describing the tasting. Years later while
visiting a California tasting room, Taber
asked about the event. His host described
a “Geraldo Rivera-like shoot-out” with
American wines winning in dramatic
fashion in front of throngs of people and
television cameras.
Perhaps most interesting is the impact the
tasting had on its creator. Spurrier, an
Englishman, ran a wine shop in Paris and
held the event to create publicity for his
store. But the surprising win by American
wines actually had a negative effect
according to Taber. He became persona
non grata among the French wine elite who
blamed him for their embarrassment. “It
took two to three years for him and his
store to get recover,” said Taber.
Taber was also less-than-popular with the
judges as a result of his article. Only one
of the original judges was helpful when he
was working on his book manuscript. As
expected, the American winemakers
viewed Spurrier and Taber in a much better
light. The book’s foreword is written by
wine icon Robert Mondavi who had
previously employed both Grgich and
Winiarski.
the 1976 Paris tasting
Bottom: The author today
highlighting the dramatic improvements that have occurred in new world regions
such as New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. He compares the innovation
happening in these locales to that of California in the 1960s that spawned the
American wines of the 1976 tasting. He also revisits the current Californian and
French wine industries.
Altogether Judgment of Paris is a well-written book that will captivate the hard-core
wine lover and entertain anyone who has ever pulled a cork from a bottle of wine.
The book is published by Scribner and has a list price of $25 for the hard cover
version. A soft cover version will be published in the fall.
