How a Paris tasting changed views on French and US wine

May 24 marks 50 years since the “Judgement of Paris”, the blind wine tasting competition that shook French confidence and transformed the international wine industry.

Organised in Paris in 1976 by British wine merchant Steven Spurrier and colleague Patricia Gallagher, the event - whose name is a nod to the mythological “Judgement of Paris” - brought together 11 judges to compare elite French wines with emerging Californian vintages.

The expectation was clear: France would dominate.

Instead, Californian wines took first place in both categories. Chateau Montelena’s Chardonnay outranked white Burgundies, while Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars beat some of Bordeaux’s most respected reds.

The result stunned the wine world and dealt a symbolic blow to the assumption that the winemaking savoir-faire belonged exclusively to France.

The French media initially paid little attention. However, international coverage, particularly from Time magazine, turned the tasting into a global story.

Some French commentators dismissed the result as an anomaly and argued that the American wines would not age as well as Bordeaux or Burgundy. 

However, later anniversary tastings weakened those arguments. At a 30-year reprise event in 2006, Californian wines again dominated rankings.

The episode later inspired the 2008 film Bottle Shock, starring Alan Rickman as Spurrier.

French wine in decline

The anniversary comes at a difficult time for the French wine industry.

Wine consumption in France has fallen steadily for decades and - for the first time on record - beer has overtaken wine by volume consumed in France, according to figures published in May by the Organisation internationale de la vigne et du vin.

Researchers point to changing eating habits, shorter lunch breaks, health campaigns and younger generations drinking less alcohol overall.