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Paris Tasting • Media
Coverage from 1976 • Judges and Scores • Media
Coverage of the 20th Anniversary
Judgement of Paris | California
Labels Outdo French | Those Winning American
Wines
Judgment of Paris
TIME
June 7, 1976
Americans abroad have been boasting for years about California wines, only
to be greeted in most cases by polite disbelief – or worse. Among
the few fervent and respected admirers of le vin de Californie in France
is a transplanted Englishman, Steven Spurrier, 34, who owns the Cave de
la Madeleine wine shop, one of the best in Paris, and the Academie du Vin,
a wine school whose six-week courses are attended by the French Restaurant
Association’s chefs and sommeliers. Last week in Paris, at a formal
wine tasting organized by Spurrier, the unthinkable happened: California
defeated all Gaul.
The contest was as strictly controlled as the production of a Chateau Lafite.
The nine French judges, drawn from an oenophile’s Who’s Who,
included such high priests as Pierre Tari, secretary-general of the Association
des Grands Crus Classes, and Raymond Oliver, owner of Le Grand Vefour restaurant
and doyen of French culinary writers. The wines tasted were transatlantic
cousins – four white Burgundies against six California Pinot Chardonnays
and four Grands Crus Chateaux reds from Bordeaux against six California
Cabernet Sauvignons.
Gallic Gems. As they swirled, sniffed, sipped and spat, some judges were
instantly able to separate an imported upstart from an aristocrat. More
often, the panel was confused. “Ah, back to France!” exclaimed
Oliver after sipping a 1972 Chardonnay from the Napa Valley. “That
is definitely California. It has no nose,” said another judge – after
downing a Batard Montrachet ’73. Other comments included such Gallic
gems as “this is nervous and agreeable,” “a good nose,
but not too much in the mouth,” and “this soars out of the ordinary.”
When the ballots were cast, the top-soaring red was Stag’s Leap Wine
Cellars’ ’72 from the Napa Valley, followed by Mouton-Rothschild ’70,
Haut-Brion ’70 and Montrose ’70. The four winning whites were,
in order, Chateau Montelena ’73 from Napa, French Meursault-Charmes ’73
and two other Californians, Chalone ’74 from Monterey County and Napa’s
Spring Mountain ’73. The U.S. winners are little known to wine lovers,
since they are in short supply even in California and rather expensive ($6
plus). Jim Barrett, Montelena’s general manager and part owner, said: “Not
bad for kids from the sticks.”
California Labels Outdo French in Blind Test
The New York Times,
Wednesday June 9, 1976
WINE TALK
by
Frank J. Prial
Several California white wines triumphed over some of the best Burgundy has to offer in a blind tasting in Paris recently. More startling: The judges were French.
The tasting was arranged by Steven Spurrier, an Englishman who runs a
wine-shop and the Académie du Vin, a school for tourists and Frenchman
alike, in Paris. The wines were limited to two types, chardonnay, the grape
that makes the best whites in California and France, the cabernet sauvignon,
the grape that makes the best reds in both areas.
The French judges voted the 1973 chardonnay from Chateau Montelena and
the 1973 cabernet sauvignon from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars the two
best bottles in the tasting. Both wineries are relatively new; both are
in California’s Napa Valley.
Judges are Listed
The judges at the tasting were Pierre Brejoux, Inspector General of the Institut
National des Appellations d’Origine Contrôllée; Michel Dovaz
of the Institut Oenologique de France; Aubert de Villaine, co-director of the
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti; Claude Dubois-Millot, commercial director
of Le Nouveau Guide, a popular gastronomic magazine; Odette Kahn, director
of the prestigious Revue du Vin de France; Pierre Tari, proprietor of Chateau
Giscours; Raymond Oliver, owner of the restaurant Le Grand Vefour; Jean Claude
Vrinat, owner of the restaurant Taillevent, and Christian Vanneque, wine steward
at the restaurant La Tour d’Argent.
The red wine tasting will be discussed at another time. The California
chardonnays in the tasting were Chateau Montelena, 1973; Spring Mountain,
1973; Chalone Vineyards, 1974; Freemark Abbey, 1972; Veedercrest Vineyards,
1972, and David Bruce 1973.
The French entries were; Meursault – Charmes (Roulot), 1973; Beaune
Clos des Mouches, 1973 (Drouhin), Batard-Montrachet, 1973 (Ramonet-Prudhon),
and Puligny, Montrachet “Les Pucelles,” 1972 (Domaine Loflaive).
Except for Mr. Drouhin, the names in parentheses are the proprietors of
the Burgundy estates where the wine was produced. Drouhin is the name of
a wine shipping firm in Beaune that, in this case, probably purchased the
wine from several owners in the Clos de Mouches vineyard, then blended and
bottled it in the Drouhin cellars.
Each judge was asked to evaluate the wines as to color, bouquet, palate
and balance and to give each a numerical rating on a scale of 20 possible
points. The results: Chateau Montelena, 132; Meursault – Charmes,
126.5; Chalone Vineyards, 121; Spring Mountain, 104; Beaune Clos des Mouches,
101; Freemark Abbey, 100; Batard Montrachet 94; Puligny-Montrachet, 89;
Veedercrest Vineyards, 88; and David Bruce, 63.
Regular readers will recall several similar comparisons in which the American
chardonnays bested their French rivals. In both instances, the latest only
six months ago here in New York, champions of the French wines argued that
the tasters were Americans with possible bias toward American wines. What
is more, they said, there was always the chance that the burgundies had
been mistreated during the long trip from the wineries.
What can they say now? The judges included some of the leaders of the
French wine establishment and there is always the chance that the American
wines suffered during their long trip to France. Could Mr. Spurrier have
rigged the tasting, providing lesser bottles of the burgundies?
Premium Wineries
The fact is that the best American vineyards and wineries can produce extraordinary
wines. Admittedly the wines in this tasting are from the premium wineries,
are in extremely short supply and cost a great deal of money - anywhere from
$6 to $20 a bottle. But the same is true of the burgundies.
Miljenko Mike Grgich, the winemaker at Chateau Montelena, said he made
1,800 cases of the 1973 chardonnay; all of which has been sold. The wine
was fermented extremely slowly and spent six months in French oak barrels
before bottling.
The 1974 chardonnay - another 1,800 cases will be released in August,
Mr. Grgich said, “The one to watch will be the 1975.” He said. “I
think it will be the chardonnay of the century.” There will be about
5,000 cases of the 1975, he said.
The 1973 Montelena is available for $6.60 a bottle in a few stores in
the New York area, including the 67 Liquor store in Manhattan, Forest Hills
Liquors in Queens, Winetasters of Westchester, Syosset Liquors on Long Island
and Fine Wine & Spirits in Tenafly, N.J.
~ top ~
Those Winning American Wines
The Washington Post
Sunday, June 13, 1976
By William Rice
The latest in the continuing, if rather pointless, taste-offs pitting
American versus French wines saw the Americans winning on France’s
home court. An “official jury” of eight Frenchman and a woman
prominent in wine and food circles compared six chardonnay wines from
California and four from Burgundy, then turned to six cabernet sauvignon
from California and four from Bordeaux. The winner, white and red: Chateau
Montelena, 1973, and Stagg ’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973.
Both are small vineyards with limited productions. Their wines are
expensive, though that is a moot point for the Montelena as it is no
longer available in Washington. Other wines from the vineyard may be
found at Woodley Liquors, 3423 Connecticut Ave. NW and Harry’s
Liquors, 401 M St. SW. A limited quantity of the Stagg’s Leap is
on sale at Morris Miller Liquors, 7804 Alaska Ave. NW. The price per
bottle is $7.89.
The tasting was held at L’A-cademie du Vin, a wine school in
Paris. According to its directors, Englishman Steven Spurrier and American
Patricia Gallagher, the event was not “a competitive tasting, but
an opportunity to acknowledge that a young vineyard area can produce
top-quality wines, given the same love, interest, skill, and money that
has been lavished on European vineyards for centuries.” The American
entries-all from California-were hand picked and transported to Paris.
The jury included the sommelier of La Tour d’Argent, the owners
of two other three-star restaurants, Taillevent and Le Grand Vefour,
two wine scientists, two wine journalists and owners of Bordeaux’s
Chateau Giscours and Burgundy ’s Domaine de la Romanee-Conti.
The order of finish, including the scoring of Spurrier and Gallagher,
was as follow: (F) denotes French.
Chardonnay: Chateau Montelena, (F) Meursault-Charmes ’73 (Roulot),
Chalone Vineyards ’74, Spring Mountain ’73, Freemark Abbey ’72,
(F) Batard Montrachet (Ramonet-Prudhon), (F)Puligny-Montrachet “Les
Pucelles” (Leflaive), (F)Beaune-Clos des Mouches ‘73(Drouhin),
Veedercrest ’72, David Bruce ’73.
Cabernet sauvignon: Stagg’s Leap, (F)Chateau Mouton Rothschild ’70,
(F)Chateau Montrose ’70, (F) Chateau Haut-Brion ’70, Ridge “Mountain
Range” ’71, (F)Chateau Leoville-Las-Cases ’71, Heitz
Cellar “Martha’s Vineyard” ’70, Clos du Val ’72,
Chateau Mayacamas ’71, Freemark Abbey ’69.
~ top ~
Paris Tasting • Media
Coverage from 1976 • Judges and Scores • Media
Coverage of the 20th Anniversary |
