The Judgment of Paris: Welcome to the New World of Wine

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Judgment of paris

Résumé du document

On May 24, 1976, the InterContinal hotel in Paris was the theater of the biggest disruption ever to happen in the small world of wines. However, none of the actors present at the time were aware of the implications it would later have, and especially not its organizer, British wine-lover Steven Spurrier. What did this much commented event consist of ? One would describe it as a simple blind wine-tasting, as many would be organized now and then, yet this one involved the finest of renowned French wines and the most interesting of young Californian wines. We can now appreciate the excitement that would result from such a tight competition, but at the time no one would have discussed the certainty that French wines would win. And yet they did not. So was the "Judgment of Paris", as it would later be called in popular culture.

Extraits

[...] In early 1975, preparations for the bicentenary of American independence were already in full spring . Parallel to that, Spurrier and Gallagher had begun to hear more and more enthusiastic reviews of Californian wines. They thought it would be a good idea to organize something as an original tribute to the event by combining these two elements : how about a tasting of Californian wines in Paris ? . Before explaining how this idea took shape, it is necessary to sum up the situation of French and Californian wine industry at the time. [...]

[...] The classification of Burgundy includes 100 appellations whereas Bordeaux has only 57 on a five times bigger territory. Just as Bordeaux has long been influence by Great Britain, Burgundy was dominated by the Catholic Church during centuries. Wine was important for religious ceremonies of monasteries and founded their immense fortune. Dukes and Counts also implemented strict rules to preserve their great vineyards. Burgundy wines became fashionable when Louis XIV's personal doctor prescribed him Burgundy as a remedy for his arteries. [...]

[...] Spurrier was equally convinced and decided to go to California himself to select the wines that would take part to the tasting that was now on its way to happen. He visited many wineries anonymously and purchased wines he liked, without telling the owners of what he was going to organise. Back in Paris, he began to prepare the event with Patricia Gallagher. They chose the hotel InterContinental as the location, the Caves de la Madeleine being way too small. [...]

[...] At the time of the Paris tasting, almost every Californian cellar was situated within a 90 km radius around San Francisco. Today, they spread over 750 km from Santa Barbara to Mendocino. Some of the most adventurous new wine growers even work in almost desertic conditions, near San Diego, on the Mexican border. Wine tourism also became a flourishing business: Californian cellars welcome 15 million tourists each each year. Wine consumption in America peaked in 1982; it then knew a slow decrease but broke the 1982 record in 2003 and did not stop to increase since then. [...]

[...] It was indeed the only place in Paris where one could learn how to appreciate wine ! Always travelling around the country, Spurrier and Gallagher became very famous in the French world of wine. They even began to organize trips in wine-producing regions for English-speaking clients. Four times a year, they would also organize a promotional event useful for the Académie to get even better known. For instance, in spring 1975 they invited all the producers of Bordeaux Grands Crus : Haut-Brion, Lafite, Latour, Margaux and Mouton, to a comparative tasting. [...]