Paris Wine Jury

A wine tasting in Paris organized by the wine merchant Steven Spurrier on May 24, 1976 is called the Paris Wine Jury or Judgment of Paris . The fact that the top marks were not given to the French but to the Californian wines , as expected , led to considerable discussion among experts. Until now, French wines generally had an excellent reputation.

jury

The eleven jurors were

1. Steven Spurrier
2. Patricia Gallagher from the Academie du Vin
3. Odette Kahn, editor of the Revue du Vin de France
4. Jean-Claude Vrinat, owner of the star restaurant " Taillevent "
5. Raymond Oliver , owner of the restaurant "Le Grand Vefour"
6. Christian Vanneque, sommelier of the starred restaurant " Tour d'Argent "
7. Aubert de Villaine , winemaker, partner in the " Domaine de la Romanée-Conti "
8. Pierre Tari, owner of the “ Château Giscours ” near Bordeaux
9. Pierre Brejoux, General Inspector of the French AOC Institute
10. Michel Dovaz from the French Wine Institute
11. Claude Dubois-Millot

The tasting was carried out as a blind tasting so that none of the jurors knew the identity of the wine tasted.

Results

White wines

The white wines were tried first. The comparison was aimed at Chardonnay wines grown in either Burgundy or California .

1. Chateau Montelena Winery 1973 (Winemaker Mike Grgich ) - United States 
2. Meursault Charmes Roulot 1973 - France 
3. Chalone Vineyard 1974 - United States 
4. Spring Mountain Vineyard 1973 - United States 
5. Beaune Clos des Mouches , Maison Joseph Drouhin 1973 - France 
6. Freemark Abbey Winery 1972 - United States 
7. Bâtard-Montrachet , Ramonet-Prudhon 1973 - France 
8. Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles , Domaine Leflaive 1972 - France 
9. Veedercrest Vineyards 1972 - United States 
10. David Bruce Winery 1973 - United States 

All eleven jurors awarded the highest points either to the wine of the Chalone winery or the Chateau Montelena, both in California.

Red wines (Cabernet Sauvignon)

Rank - Wine - Average points (out of 20) - Country

1. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973 - 14.14 (Winemaker Warren Winiarski) - United States 
2. Château Mouton-Rothschild 1970 - 14.09 - France 
3. Château Montrose 1970 - 13.64 - France 
4. Château Haut-Brion 1970 - 13:23 - France 
5. Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello 1971 - 12.14 - United States 
6. Château Léoville-las-Cases 1971 - 11.18 - France 
7. Heitz Wine Cellars “Martha's Vineyard” 1970 - 10:36 - United States 
8. Clos Du Val Winery 1972 - 10.14 - United States 
9. Mayacamas Vineyards 1971-9.77- United States 
10. Freemark Abbey Winery 1967 - 9.64 - United States 

“The wine that a juror dubbed“ The Greatness of France ”turned out to be a Cabernet from the Napa Valley in California.” It was also said: “This wine is definitely a Californian. He has no nose, said another juror - after tasting a Batard-Montrachet in 1973. “The comments and the results proved that the judges were unable to distinguish California and French wines.

Three of the four Bordeaux wines on the tasting were from the excellent year 1970, which the Conseil Interprofessionel du Vin de Bordeaux identified as one of the four best vintages since 1930. The fourth Bordeaux wine was a 1971, described by the Conseil as "very good".

The Bordeaux Wine Office evaluates the 1970 vintage for

• Pessac (Chateau Haut-Brion) as the best between 1966 and 1978,
• Pauillac (Chateau Mouton Rothschild) as the best vintage between 1961 and 1982 (close to the 1975),
• Saint Estephe (Chateau Montrose) as the best vintage between 1961 and 1982,

and the 1971 vintage for

• Saint-Julien (Chateau Leoville las Cases) as well.

"When the results were processed and announced, some jurors behaved badly: they refused to revise their comments, and one even tried to change his ratings before Spurrier took the evaluation sheets away from them."

- McCoy

One of the jurors, Odette Kahn, tried to get her slip back at the end of the rehearsal. Spurrier declined to support this and thereafter refused to speak to him, except that she accused him of falsifying the results of the sample. One of the winemakers, Warren Winiarski, received letters from people in the French wine shop explaining that the tasting was a farce . In essence, the letters argued that "everyone knows that French wines are better than Californian ones, and they always would be." As recently as 2005, some of the judges refused to discuss this sample, saying they liked it "too much." pain ".

Although Spurrier had invited many reporters, the only participating reporter was George Taber from Time Magazine , who promptly released the results to the world. High-ranking people in the French wine scene subsequently banned Spurrier from the tasting tour of high-class wines for a year, apparently as a punishment for the damage his tasting had done to the image of the superiority of French wine.

The French press almost ignored this story. After almost three months, Le Figaro published an article entitled “Did the war of wines take place?” In which the results were called “worth laughing at”. These "could not be taken seriously." Six months after the rehearsal, Le Monde wrote an article with a similar tongue.

The New York Times reported that there had been a number of previous wine tastings in the United States that judged American Chardonnays against their French competitors. One of these tastings took place in New York six months before the Paris tasting, but “the champions of French wine argued that the tasters were American, with a possible preference for American wines. It was also said that it was possible at any time that the Burgundy wines had been mistreated on their long journey from France to the USA. "

Analysis of the 1976 results

Spurrier said of the tasting: "The results of a blind tasting cannot be predicted and will not be the same if the same jury tries the same wines the following day."

Wine tasting generally has little scientific value. "A comparison of the ranks of 18 wines from good to bad shows about as much consistency as a column of random numbers."

The 1976 evaluation was based on a simple average evaluation of the numerical values. Spurrier admitted in Decanter magazine in August 1996 that he determined the winners by "adding up the judges' judgments and dividing by nine (which he later learned was statistically meaningless)". Spurrier did not include his own and Gallagher's values ​​in his evaluation.

Orley Ashenfelter and Richard E. Quandt analyzed the results of all eleven jurors by using a statistically better method. They suggested the following ranking:

1. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973 - United States 
2. Montrose 1970 - France 
3. Mouton 1970 - France 
4. Haut Brion 1970 - France 
5. Ridge Monte Bello 1971 - United States 
6. Heitz Martha's 1970 - United States 
7. Léoville-las-Cases 1971 - France 
8. Freemark Abbey 1969 - United States 
9. Mayacamas 1971 - United States 
10. Clos du Val 1972 - United States 

Ashenfelter and Quandt distinguish three statistically significant categories. At the top were the 1973 Stag's Leap and the 1970 Montrose (number 1 and number 2). The second group contains most of the remaining wines (No. 3 to 9). Wines in a group are statistically indistinguishable.

Replies

Some critics argued that French reds would age better than Californian ones, so this suggestion was tested.

Wine tasting in San Francisco, 1978

The 1978 San Francisco wine tasting was held 20 months after the Paris tasting. Spurrier flew in from Paris to take part in the evaluation that took place at the Vintners Club.

On January 11, 1978, wine tasters blindly tasted the same Chardonnays that had previously been tested in Paris.

1. Chalone Winery 1974 - United States 
2. Chateau Montelena 1973 - United States 
3. Spring Mountain Vineyard 1973 - United States 
4. Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles 1972 Domaine Leflaive - France 

Lower in rank were Meursault Charmes Roulot 1973, Beaune Clos des Mouches 1973 Joseph Drouhin and Batard-Montrachet 1973 Ramonet-Prudhon.

On January 12, 1978, wine tasters blindly tasted the same Cabernet Sauvignons that had previously been tested in Paris.

1. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973 - United States 
2. Heitz Wine Cellars Martha's Vineyard 1970 - United States 
3. Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello 1971 - United States 
4. Château Mouton Rothschild 1970 - France 

Lower in rank were Château Montrose 1970, Château Haut-Brion 1970 and Château Leoville Las Cases 1971.

Wine tasting for the tenth anniversary

Two wine tastings were held to mark the tenth anniversary of the original Paris wine tasting. White wines were not tested assuming they were past their peak. These two samples gave contrasting results.

Wine tasting by the French Culinary Institute 1986

Spurrier assisted with the anniversary rehearsal. Eight jurors blindly tasted nine of the ten wines. The evaluation gave the following result.

Results

1. Clos Du Val Winery 1972 - United States 
2. Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello - United States 
3. Château Montrose 1970 - France 
4. Château Léoville-las-Cases - 1971 - France 
5. Château Mouton-Rothschild 1970 - France 
6. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973 - United States 
7. Heitz Wine Cellars 1970 - United States 
8. Mayacamas Vineyards 1971 - United States 
9. Château Haut-Brion - France 

Wine tasting of the Wine Spectator 1986

Four of the judges were experts from Wine Spectator magazine and two were underdogs. Everyone tasted the wines blindly.

Results

1. Heitz Wine Cellars 1970 - United States 
2. Mayacamas Vineyards 1971 - United States 
3. Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello 1971 - United States 
4. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973 - United States 
5. Clos Du Val Winery 1972 - United States 
6. Château Montrose 1970 - France 
7. Château Mouton-Rothschild 1970 - France 
8. Château Léoville-las-Cases 1971 - France 
9. Freemark Abbey Winery 1967 - United States 
10. Château Haut-Brion 1970 - France 

The tasting that changed the world of wine: The Judgment of Paris, 30th anniversary

A new tasting was organized by Steven Spurrier on the occasion of the 30th anniversary in 2006 on both sides of the Atlantic. As The Times reported, "Although the French judges, some of whom were present at the first tasting, had expected the American wineries to lose," they had to admit that the harmony of the Californian Cabernets had beaten them again. "

Results

1. Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello 1971 - United States 
2. Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973 - United States 
3. Mayacamas Vineyards 1971 - United States 
4. Heitz Wine Cellars 'Martha's Vineyard' 1970 - United States 
5. Clos Du Val Winery 1972 - United States 
6. Château Mouton-Rothschild 1970 - France 
7. Château Montrose 1970 - France 
8. Château Haut-Brion 1970 - France 
9. Château Léoville-las-Cases 1971 - France 
10. Freemark Abbey Winery 1967 - United States 

Effect on wine

The 1976 Paris Wine Tasting had a revolutionary effect on the expansion of production and the prestige of wines in the New World. It also gave the French a valuable incentive to rethink traditions, which were often a collection of behaviors and procedures, and to rethink contexts that were little more than myths undertaken in reliance (on tradition). The result has been the improvement of wines around the world for the benefit of consumers.

filming

The case was filmed in 2008 by Randall Miller under the title " Bottle Shock ". In addition to Alan Rickman as Spurrier, Bill Pullman , Rachael Taylor , Freddy Rodríguez , Eliza Dushku and Dennis Farina can be seen in other roles.

literature

• George M. Taber: Judgment of Paris: California vs France and the Historic Paris Tasting that Revolutionized Wine . Simon & Schuster, NY 2005.
• P. Asher: The Judgment of Paris . In: Ruth Reichl (Ed.): History in a Bottle . Modern Library, NY 2006.
• Richard Paul Hinkle: The Paris tasting revisited . In: Wines & Vines , August 1996, 77 (8) , pp. 32-34.
• E. McCoy: The Emperor of Wine . harperCollins, NY 2005
• Thane Peterson: The Day California Wines Came of Age: Much to France's Chagrin: a Blind Taste Test 25 Years Ago in Paris inadvertently launched California's fine wine industry . Business Week , May 8, 2001.
• Frank J. Prial: Wine talk: California labels outdo French in blind test . In: New York Times , June 9,1976.
• Frank J. Prial: The day California shook the world: May 4, 1976, blind tasting in Paris with US winning highest scores . In: New York Times , May 9, 2001.
• William Rice: Those winning American wines . In: Washington Post , June 13, 1976.
• Warren Winiarski: All right! The French like California wine . In: Wines & Vines , April 1991. 72 (4). P. 28.

Web links

• 1976 Paris Wine Tasting. California Trumps France: An Upset in the World of Wine
• The Judgment of Paris: What the French Didn't Learn from the Legendary Wine Tasting . for the 30th anniversary (English).
• Delta-Sky Magazine

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The famous 1976 tasting: Cabernet Sauvignon from California against Bordeaux, English
2. ↑ bordeaux-wine-office.com ( Memento from June 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ bordeaux-wine-office.com ( Memento from June 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ bordeaux-wine-office.com ( Memento from June 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ ^{a b} Orley Ashenfelter, Richard E. Quandt: Statistical analysis of a wine sample (English)
6. ↑ Roger Downey: The Wine Snob Scandal ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) In: Seattle Weekly (English)
7. ↑ Frédéric Brochet: Tasting. A study of the chemical representations in the field of consciousness . ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF) 'Wine tasting. A Study of Chemical Representatives in the Field of Perception '
8. ↑ Alan Hamilton, David Sanderson: Californian red wines in the nose at a new edition of a wine tasting. In: The Times , May 25, 2006