Judgment of Paris Read online

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  A Scribner

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  JUDGMENT OF PARIS

  STAGE YOUR OWN PARIS TASTING

  Since 1976 there have been countless reenactments of the famous Paris Tasting. Some in the years immediately after the event involved exactly the same wines that were tasted on that day in May. In more recent times, the events have usually involved more contemporary wines and sometimes others that represented a more up-to-date view of California and French viticulture.

  The most spectacular new Paris Tasting took place for the thirtieth anniversary on May 24, 2006. It involved two tastings, one at Berry Bros. & Rudd, a wine and spirits merchant in London, and one in the Napa Valley at COPIA, the American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts. The events were done simultaneously, so that the results could be released at the same time and one panel would not influence the other. In Napa it took place at 10 a.m., while in Britain it was at 6 p.m. The London event was hosted by Steven Spurrier, and the judges included the most prestigious British wine experts including Michael Broadbent, Hugh Johnson, and Jancis Robinson. Patricia Gallagher, who had first proposed the original tasting to Spurrier, was the host in California and among the judges were such eminent American tasters as Dan Berger, Anthony Dias Blue, and Andrea Immer Robinson.

  The two thirtieth anniversary events included a tasting of the original Cabernet Sauvignons, contemporary Chardonnays, and recent Cabernets.

  The results in 2006 were even more stunning than in 1976: California wines took the top five positions. The winning Cabernet Sauvignon this time: 1971 Ridge Monte Bello. The 1976 winner, 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, was second. All the arguments that the French wines would show better as they aged were finally and conclusively laid to rest.

  Anyone, of course, can stage a Paris Tasting for a book group of people who have readJudgment of Paris, or simply for friends interested in wines.

  First you need to select the wines. It would almost be impossible today to get the same wines as those from the 1976 event. The original vintages of the Cabernet Sauvignons would be difficult to find, and most of the Chardonnays are now over the hill. If you go with recent vintages of the original wines, be prepared to spend a lot of money. Just buying the twenty wines would cost some $2,500 at retail stores. Also two California Chardonnays from 1976 could not be duplicated today. Veedercrest is out of business, and Spring Mountain no longer makes that wine. If you wanted to substitute a California Chardonnay for one of those two, you might choose Grgich Hills, since that is made by Mike Grgich, who made the winning Chardonnay in Paris for Chateau Montelena. For the second missing one you might take another leading Chardonnay such as Kistler or Flowers.

  If the price and the complexity of a full reenactment of the Paris Tasting are too daunting, you can still have lots of fun by staging a simpler one involving just one French Chardonnay paired with a California one, and a French Cabernet Sauvignon and a California one. To keep the tasting fair, pick out wines with comparable prices. Don’t have a $50 French wine against a $10 California wine or vice versa. For between $10 and $15 you can find many very good wines in both categories from both California and France.

  It’s also a good idea to have wines of approximately the same vintage. Don’t have a very old French wine paired off with a very young California one. Spurrier’s red wines were just a couple of years older than their California counterparts, and the whites were all of approximately the same age.

  You could select wines that have some connection to the original Paris Tasting. Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, which won in the red category in Paris, has a second label, Hawk Crest, that would be in the $10–$15 range. Chalone, which came in third in Paris in the white category, also has a Monterey County Chardonnay at that price.

  Just as Spurrier and Gallagher did at Paris, be very careful that it is truly a blind tasting and that people don’t know the identity of the wines. You can buy inexpensive wine-tasting kits in retail shops or on the Internet. Or you can simply put the wines in paper bags and tie them at the top. Open the wines in advance and don’t forget to take off all the foil at the top of the bottle because that might tip someone off to the contents inside.

  Again, just as Spurrier did in Paris in 1976, give each of the wines, whether you have ten in each category or only two, a number and ask people to score the wines. You can use either the 20-point scale as they did in Paris or the more modern 100-point scale. If you’re having only two wines in each category, you could ask each taster simply to select which wine is that person’s favorite.

  For the Paris reenactment, you will need a bottle of each wine for about every fifteen people at the tasting. You don’t need more than a splash of wine in the glasses to have enough for a person to taste.

  You might have a bowl or vase available for spitting since some participants may not want to drink the wine after they have tasted it. Professional tasters almost never swallow the wine because it will dull their senses for later wines. Amateur tasters, though, often can’t pass up the opportunity to drink the wine. If you have only four wines, there’s no need to spit.

  The traditional order of wines in a tasting is whites before reds because the whites are generally fresher and fruitier. It can throw off people’s taste buds for the heavier wines to precede the lighter ones.

  Tasters might appreciate having a glass of water or some pieces of bread to clean the palate between wines.

  When all the wines have been tasted and the scores tabulated, pull the wines out of their bags and enjoy noting how everyone scored the various wines. You can drink what remains in the bottles as you discuss the results. It’s interesting to retaste the wines now that you know the nationalities to see whether that changes your views. A new Paris Tasting is guaranteed to be very interesting—just as it was in 1976.

  DISCUSSION POINTS

  In his tour of world wines in the book, author George M. Taber visited seven wineries on five continents to investigate wine globalization. From which of those wineries would you most like to try the wines and why?

  Which of the main characters inJudgment of Paris (Jim Barrett, Mike Grgich, and Warren Winiarski) do you think most profited from winning the Paris Tasting and why?

  What role did the University of California at Davis play in the comeback of California wines in the 1950s and 1960s?

  How did Warren Winiarski and Jim Barrett typify the new generation of wine people who arrived in California in the 1950s and 1960s?

  How did the Paris Tasting set off the gl
obalization of wine? Do you think globalization has been good for wine consumers? For wine producers? For the French?

  Discuss some of the serious challenges now facing French winemakers.

  George M. Taber’s next book will explore the history of cork and the search for a new closure for wine bottles. What do you think of the various substitutes already on the market—plastic corks, screwtops, and glass stoppers?

  About the Author

  GEORGEM. TABERwas a reporter and editor forTime magazine for twenty-one years, working in Brussels, Bonn, Houston, Washington, D.C., and New York. Stationed in Paris between 1973 and 1976, he reported extensively on French cooking and wine, including a cover story on chef Michel Guérard and hisnouvelle cuisine . Taber left the magazine in 1988 to startNJBIZ, New Jersey’s only weekly business publication, which he sold in 2005. For twelve years, he was also the daily on-air business reporter for 101.5 FM, the radio station with the largest Arbitron rating in the state. Taber now lives on Block Island, Rhode Island, with his wife, Jean.