A Modern Recreation of the Legendary 1976 Tasting
Disgrace: Cause of shame; loss of favor; bring shame or disgrace upon.
Shame: Emotion caused by consciousness of guilt or dishonor in one’s conduct or state; pity, hard luck; cause to feel shame; disgrace.
For
California wine aficionados the mere mention of Paris, 1976 tasting,
Steven Spurrier and coming of age brings a smile to their tanned faces.
I was one of two journalists present when the Wine Workshop (www.ackerwines.com/workshop) recreated that 1976 tasting using “modern” wines.
On May 24th 1976, Steven Spurrier, a 34 year old transplanted Brit, then a wine merchant and now an editor of Decanter magazine, set up a blind tasting of top French wines against their counterparts from California in Paris. Spurrier, at the time of the tasting, owned a wine shop in Paris called Caves de la Madeleine and the Academie du Vin, a wine school. He was a member of the French wine establishment and regularly judged at wine competitions. Because of his strong standing with the French wine crowd he was able to put together a group of judges that were drawn from an oenophiles Who’s Who. The nine French judges included the owner and chef of the three-star Grand Vefour restaurant; the inspector general of the Appellation d’Origine Controlee board; secretary-general of the Association des Grands Cru Classes. The tasting was conducted blind.
The wines were put into neutral bottles, so that the judges couldn’t cheat by seeing the differences between the shapes of the bottles. The wines were served one by one and identified only as “Chardonnay One” or “Cabernet Two”. The judges were told that there were French and California wines, but not how many of each (there were six California and four French in each category whereas the modern recreation had six and five). The tasting order was selected by pulling the names of the wines out of a hat. The whites went first. The judges were confused as to which wines were French and which were from California. The judges then began talking to each other, which is quite rare in tasting of professionals. Using the 20 point scoring system still used in most of Europe Spurrier added up the individual scores. The stunned audience heard the results: #1- Chateau Montelena 1973 (California). #2- Meursault Charmes 1973 (France). #3- Chalone 1974 (California). #4- Spring Mountain 1973 (California). #5- Beaune Clos des Mouches 1973 (France).
No one had expected this and Spurrier was certain the judges would never allow a California wine to come out on top as the reds were poured. The judges were positive they could distinguish the classic, distinctive and familiar French reds; many had never tasted any California wines (Editors Note: Steven Spurrier admits to being a Francophile & was sure the French wines would dominate. The French wines tasted were all sold in his shop but since he did not stock many California wines he asked a friend to “smuggle” in those wines. The results of the red wine tasting: #1- Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973 (California). #2- Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1970 (France). #3- Chateau Montrose 1970 (France). #4- Chateau Haut-Brion 1970 (France). #5- Ridge Monte Bello 1971. Again, a California wine had finished first as the judges sat in disbelief. The results would have been forgotten (as the French hoped) had Steven Spurrier not invited one of his wine shop customers to observe the tasting.
Mike Grgich said “the benefits of the 1976 tasting shattered the myth that only French soil can produce first-class wines. Our victory pumped new energy into the California wine industry. We were proud to be from the Napa Valley, and we redoubled our efforts to make better wines year after year. I think breaking the myth of French superiority helped energize winemakers world-wide. Our victory had a big impact in South Africa, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Chile etc. We gave them the energy to join the race.”
George
Taber, Paris correspondent for Time Magazine, was the only journalist
in the room and was also present at the modern recreation event
autographing his just released book commemorating the 1976 tasting and
the effect it had on the California wine world. The book is entitled
“Judgment of Paris- California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris
Tasting that Revolutionized Wine” published by Scribner (www.judgmentofparisbook.com
). Also in attendance were Steven Spurrier, Mike Grgich (he was the
winemaker at Chateau Montelena & now owns Grgich Hills), Christian
Vanneque (one of the original judges who almost lost his job as head
sommelier at La Tour d’Argent, another three-star Paris restaurant
because of the results). Joining Steven and Christian on the panel were
Robert Bohr of Cru Restaurant and the President & Auction Director
of Acker, Merrall & Condit John Kapon (my nephew).
The Modern Recreation tasting included 50 consumers paying $395 and the aforementioned four panelists. Each voted separately and their results were not combined. There was a discussion period after the white and red flights; each table had three coded placemats corresponding to the three bottles of each wine opened. If there was a problem with one of the bottles the other tasters at the table could sample from one of the other two bottles. Only one bottle was slightly off but there was some bottle variation at my table. One of my white wines was rather underwhelming to me so I did not vote it one of my favorites. After the score sheets were handed in I tasted it from another table & voila, it was superb (and won first place with the panel). The paying customers were a sophisticed group who knew their wine. Nevertheless the scores from the audience varied completely from the panel, three of whom admitted to loving French wines. Four out of five white wines favored by the panel were French; four out of five wines favored by the audience were from California. For the red wines the panel picked three French and two Californian; the audience three Californian and two French. My nephew John Kapon thought the French whites were superior but so were the California reds.
Recreation Whites: Audience-#1- Peter Michael Belle Cote 2002 (California). #2- Marcassin”Marcassin” Vineyard 2001 (California). #3- Aubert Ritchie Vineyard 2002 (California). #4- Grgich Hills “Carneros Selection” 2001 (California). #5- Coche Dury Puligny Montrachet Enseigneres 2001 (France). Panel- #1- Coche Dury. #2- Leflaive Batard-Montracet 2000 (France). #3- Montelena 2003 (California). #4- Lafon Meursault Charmes 2002 (France). #5- Drouhin Beaune Blanc Clos des Mouches 2002 (France).
Recreation
Reds: Audience- #1- Haut Brion 2000 (France). #2- Stag’s Leap Wine
Cellars Cask 23 2001 (California). #3- Sociando-Mallet 2001 (France).
#4- Constant 2001 (California). 5- Harlan 2000 (California). Panel- #1-
Mouton Rothschild 2000 (France). #2, #3 Tie- Haut Brion 2000 (France)
& Sociando-Mallet 2001 (France). #4- Stag’s Leap. #5- Harlan 2000
(California).
Since it was impossible to duplicate the original vintages and not all the wines from 1976 were part of the 2005 tasting it is interesting that four white wines, although not the same producers, finished in the top five with either the audience or panel and three reds did the same. The final word came from John Kapon who put this tasting together: “I think this tasting show that California wines are extremely consumer-friendly and more likely to be enjoyed by the American wine public at an earlier age. French wines seem more of an acquired taste where subtlety and nuance are more important than ripeness and largeness. How these wines age and develop over time is another story; I think that France has a big edge in that regard, but that is for a different tasting. An important issue raised by this tasting is whether or not a majority of wine critics or “experts” are in sync with the general public. This tasting showed that it is not necessarily always the case.”