The Judgement of Paris Archives

Judgement of Paris

In the history of wine in California, one event stands out as a defining moment: the Paris Tasting of 1976. This blind tasting, organized by British wine expert Steven Spurrier, pitted California wines against the finest offerings from France’s Bordeaux and Burgundy regions. The outcome sent shockwaves through the wine industry and forever altered the perception of California wine on the global stage.

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A Note About Vintages

Although you will see vintage dates throughout Winervana, I don’t put too much importance on them. Major producers these days strive for a consistent style, and largely succeed. (Especially in California, aided by the usually even climate there.) For instance, when shopping for a particular wine, if you have a choice between a current release and one that’s a few years old, there will certainly be differences in price and the character of the wine. But upon release, those two examples of the same wine are likely to be quite similar, especially for New World producers, who often enjoy more reliably consistent weather than Old World producers do. (Of course, global climate change may disrupt things for everybody.)

Wine Enthusiast has an interesting post about this here.