It was 46 years ago this month that the wine world experienced its very own version of The Shot Heard ‘Round the World: the 1976 showdown between Californian and French wines organized by late British wine merchant Steven Spurrier. It is still reverberating.
The event became known as the Judgment of Paris not only because it was held in that city, but because it recalled the classical myth wherein a shepherd-prince named Paris must choose the fairest among three beautiful and powerful goddesses — the unforeseen result of which was the 20 year siege of Troy recounted in Homer’s Iliad. When the all-French tasting panel (Spurrier tasted but his scores weren’t counted) realized that they had rated several red and white California wines highly, there was, shall we say, consternation.
California has understandably not stopped crowing about this since. Nor have the French stopped making excuses. (Did I mention that the original Judgment of Paris was got up by Eris, goddess of discord?) Though many have interpreted it as a watershed event — think: France as Troy — in fact, the results are hard to read as favoring either side.
True, the 1972 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon outpointed all its French rivals in aggregate. But, on the panel’s 20 point scale, Stag’s Leap’s average score was a less than championship caliber 14.5. A number of subsequent studies have found fault with the way the tasting was organized and the scores tabulated. Those of you keen to plumb the ins and outs of its dodgy structure can trot over here.
In a story that appeared in the June 16, 1976 edition of the New York Times, then wine columnist Frank Prial noted that while all the wines were all extremely good, the comparisons may not have been fair. “Only the most naive reader would conclude anything other than that on a certain day a certain group of French wine specialists agreed that California turns out some fine wines, too,” Prial wrote. (How we miss his eminently level-headed, incorruptible wine criticism.)
Today, reading Prial’s essay can still leave you with a dropped jaw – but for a different reason. Soon, he says, Times reders will be able to sample the 1974 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon for themselves at several outlets in the city — for about $7 per bottle.