Wine nerds (like me…and you too?) tend to also be history nerds. When you’ve got a product with thousands of years of history, you’ve got a lot of very interesting moments in time. Whether it’s the domestication of grapevines 8,000-10,000 years ago, the founding of major Champagne houses in the 17th and 18th centuries, or Prohibition in the U.S. in the 1920s, the history of wine gives us many fascinating stories.

In modern times, the events of one day, May 24, 1976, hardly scored a blip on the radar of most people and was barely covered in the media (with one notable exception…read on!), but it shook the wine world. It was the day of the Judgement of Paris.

What was the Judgement of Paris?

The Judgement of Paris was the brainchild of Steven Spurrier, a British wine educator and merchant in Paris. Spurrier organized the event partly to promote his wine school, L’Académie du Vin, and as a way to celebrate the American Bicentennial.

Spurrier selected the top four red Bordeaux (blends that are predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot) and four white Burgundy (Chardonnay) to compete against six California Cabernet Sauvignons and six California Chardonnays. He did not set out to show that California wines could beat the French wines. In fact, he expected the French wines to win. But he felt that California was producing great wines that deserved recognition.

Nine of the eleven judges, also selected by Spurrier, were French wine experts including:

• Odette Kahn, Editor of La Revue du Vin de France and one of France’s most influential wine journalists.
• Aubere de Villaine, Co-director of Domaine de la Romanée Conti, one of the most prestigious wineries in Burgundy and perhaps the world.
• Pierre Tari, owner of Château Giscours, a prominent Bordeaux producer.
• Pierre Bréjoux, Inspector General of the French AOC Board, the organization that defines and protects France’s wine growing regions.
• Restaurant owners and sommeliers considered to be France’s most respected restaurant wine authorities.

The tasting was blind, meaning all bottles were masked so the judges did not know which wines they were tasting. They simply knew that some were French and some were American. They evaluated the wines based on appearance, aromas, and taste. 

When the results were tallied, the judges were stunned. They had awarded the top scores in each category to wines from the United States:

• Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon
• Chateau Montelena Chardonnay

In fact, two of the top five red wines were from California as were four of the top six white wines.

The Shock

Some popular retellings of this story insinuate that there was immediate backlash against the judges and many lost their reputations. This makes for a good story but was not the case. For the most part, they were simply embarrassed. Some judges had criticized certain French wines, incorrectly thinking they were Californian, while praising California wines, believing they were French.

One judge, Odette Kahn, demanded that Spurrier return her scorecard to her and claimed he had manipulated the results. He refused. It has been reported that her demand was because she realized her scorecard was evidence that French experts had chosen California wines over French wines and she wanted to protect France’s wine reputation.

Up until this point, France was considered the unquestioned leader in fine wine. California was a wine upstart and not taken seriously. European wine consumers (and experts) and many American consumers had questioned the quality of California wines.

The Judgement of Paris upended these beliefs. Keep in mind, the competition didn’t show that French wine was bad; it just proved that great wine – wine that could hold its own against the greatest French wines – could come from other places, in this case California.

The Impact

The Judgement of Paris could have come and gone without much fanfare internationally had it not been for one reporter: George Tabor from Time magazine. In fact, Tabor was the only journalist present at the event. Once his article was published, the world began to take notice.

Soon, the effects of the Judgement of Paris began to be felt in California’s wine industry and in the rest of the world’s attitudes about California wines.

Investment and Growth

Wine in California was still considered a fledgling industry in the 1970s. But after the Judgement of Paris, money began to flow into vineyards, wineries, equipment, and research. The event helped convince investors that California wineries could produce premium wines.

One of the best examples of international investment/partnership happened in 1978, when Baron Philippe de Rothschild (of the famous Rothschild family and the highly respected Château Mouton-Rothschild Bordeaux producer) and Robert Mondavi launched Opus One in Napa Valley.

There were about 330 to 350 wineries in California before the Judgement of Paris. By 1990 that number had more than doubled, and today there are more than 4,000 wineries in the state.

Premium Wine Culture and Tourism

Prior to the 1970s, much of California’s wine industry was focused on producing volume. But after the Judgement of Paris showed that California could produce, and become known for, high-quality wines, a major shift began.

Producers started focusing on lower vineyard yields, better site selections for vineyards, oak aging programs, and other methods to produce premium wines.

And as awareness of California, and especially Napa Valley, increased, interest in visiting the wine region increased. The area saw more investment in tasting rooms, fine dining restaurants, and luxury hotels. Today, Napa Valley is recognized as one of the world’s premiere wine tourism destinations.

The Impact Beyond California

While the winning wines were from California, the impact has been felt around the world. By showing that premium wines can come from anywhere, the Judgement of Paris opened doors for other regions in the United States like Oregon, Washington, New York, and Virginia, as well as other countries like Argentina, Chile, Australia, and South Africa.

Wine critics and consumers still held French and other European wines in high esteem, but their attention expanded to wines from across the globe and essentially helped to create a global wine industry.

Perhaps the greatest impact of the Judgement of Paris is something Steven Spurrier believed throughout his career and a lesson we can all learn: Don’t judge a wine by its reputation, its region, or its price. Judge it by what’s in the glass.