Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Judgement of Paris

Starting point is 00:00:00 Before 1976, the California wine industry wasn't really on anyone's radar. Most Americans didn't even know that wine was produced in California. Everyone knew, without a doubt, that the greatest wines in the world were all produced in France, in particular from regions such as Bordeaux and Burgundy. However, in just one day, the wine world's attitudes towards French and California wines were completely and irrevocably altered. Learn more about the judgment of Paris and how in a single day the world took California wine seriously, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

Starting point is 00:00:45 What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the Thurline podcast from NPR. I've mentioned the history of wine several times in previous episodes. Basically, it was most probably invented somewhere along the coast of the eastern Mediterranean Sea and then spread throughout the entire Mediterranean basin.

Starting point is 00:01:23 The region around the Mediterranean was well suited for grape production, so wine was a natural product to create. Wine thousands of years ago wasn't quite the same as what is consumed today. Much of it probably was pretty bad by modern standards, which is why the Romans would usually water it down and add flavoring to it in the form of honey or spices. For centuries, wine was still a very utilitarian point. product. Certainly, some wines were better than others, but for the most part, winemakers were making a beverage to be consumed, not something which was considered an art form. But over time,

Starting point is 00:01:55 innovations in bottles and corks, as well as a better scientific understanding of the fermentation process, and a better biological understanding of how grapes grew led to improvements in the quality of wine. As wine quality improved and bottles were created that could be stored in a cellar almost indefinitely, a high-end culture began to develop around wine. Wine drinking became more cultured. Taste became more discerning. Wealthy people began collecting wines to show off the refined taste. There was one fairly unanimous opinion that most wine enthusiasts had going well into the 20th century. The world's greatest wines all came from France. This wasn't even really a controversial statement so much as it was just a statement of fact. It would be like saying the world's

Starting point is 00:02:36 best sushi is all found in Japan, or the world's greatest NFL players come from the United States. While French wine was considered the best, wine was still produced in many other places, including what was collectively known as the New World. In the world of wine, the New World is basically everywhere outside of Europe or the Middle East, where grape cultivation wasn't native. This includes almost everything, including the United States, Canada, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. These countries weren't taken seriously by wine enthusiasts, and to be honest, that reputation was probably well earned for a long time.

Starting point is 00:03:13 The wine region, which is the focus of this episode, is Napa Valley in California. Wine production in Napa began in the mid-19th century, as the climate seemed well-suited from wine production. Wine production grew rapidly, but the region suffered several major setbacks. In the early 20th century, there was a phyloxera pestilence, a small, aphid-like bug that destroyed the grape harvest. But the thing that really killed the wine industry, of course, was Prohibition, which literally made the production of wine illegal.

Starting point is 00:03:42 They could still grow grapes and make grape juice, but it wasn't quite the same thing. The Napa Valley wine industry didn't really come back to pre-prohibition levels until the 1960s. Starting in the 1960s, significant amounts of money began being invested in Napa wine production.

Starting point is 00:03:57 Producers such as Robert Modavi created large wineries increasing the quantity of wine being produced, and smaller producers increased the quality of the wine in the region. In fact, they were starting to make some very good wines. By the mid-1970s, the people in Napa Valley knew that they were making world-class wine, but it was hard to get the attention of the rest of the world.

Starting point is 00:04:17 With every bottle of wine comes the history and reputation of the country, region, and even vineyard where it was produced. Once a reputation is established, it's very hard to break. And by the same token, developing a reputation is very hard to do. With this background, the story really begins, and it starts with a British wine merchant who lived in Paris by the name of Stephen Spurrier. Spurrier moved to Paris in 1970 and purchased a small wine store. He quickly developed a reputation for being extremely knowledgeable about wine, and his reputation in wine circles grew rapidly. He also opened a wine school next to his wine shop as well. Spurrier would often rebel against

Starting point is 00:04:57 the French wine scene by providing tastings of wines from outside of France. In 1975, Patricia Gestaud Gallagher, an American friend of Spurrier, visited Napa and was impressed with the quality of the wines being produced. She recommended to Spurrier that a tasting of American wines might be something to consider, especially if they did it in 1976 during the American bicentennial. In early May 1976, Spurrier flew to San Francisco to take a tour of small boutique vineyards in the region. He sampled a bunch of wines and purchased bottles that he thought would be good enough to put in a wine tasting that he had scheduled for later that month. The event he had been planning for six months was scheduled to take place on May 24th at the Intercontinental Hotel in Paris.

Starting point is 00:05:41 There would be two competitions. One was of white wines, California Chardonnays versus Burgundy Chardonnays, and the other would be of red wines, California Cabernet Sauvignon's versus Bordeaux. There were six American wines and four French wines in each competition. The event wasn't really promoted as USA versus France because, given the climate at the time, such a competition wouldn't even have been considered a fair fight. Everyone assumed that if an American wine could even place in the top three in the tasting, it would be a respectable showing for the American wines. There were nine judges in the competition, all of which were French.

Starting point is 00:06:18 They included some of the most respected wine journalists, winemakers, salmoliers, and restaurateurs in all of France. Most importantly, the competition was to be a blind tasting. Each judge would rank each wine on a 20-point scale. no one would know where the wines came from or who made them. The decision to make it a blind tasting was really a last-minute decision. At the time, most wine competitions were not blind tastings, so the judges usually knew what was supposed to be the best, even before they tasted it. Only one journalist, George Tabor, who wrote for Time magazine, bothered to attend.

Starting point is 00:06:54 When the tasting began, Tabor was given a list of the wines being tasted, so he could observe what the judges were tasting, even though the judges themselves didn't know. He realized quickly that something was amiss. Some judges were making snide comments about how certain wines had to have been from California because they had no aroma. Yet Tabor knew that they weren't actually California wines that they were talking about. The results were announced when all the wines were tasted and the judge's score cards were tallied. And the results shocked everyone.

Starting point is 00:07:24 The Americans did far better than a respectable top three finish. The 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stages-Leep wine cellars, took first place in the red wine division, beating out a 1970 Chateau Montaun Rothschild. However, that was only half of it. The 1973 Chardonnay from Chateau Montalina took first place in the white wine category by an even wider margin. In fact, three of the top four white wines were American. It was like David versus Goliath, and then David won, twice, in a blind tasting, in France, by French judges. After the results were announced, several of the judges were visibly upset.

Starting point is 00:08:06 Odette Kahn, the editor of Francis Top Wine magazine, wanted her scorecard back so her reputation wouldn't be tarnished, and she criticized the event for years. Word of the results spread quickly around the wine world. Tabor's article was published in Time magazine, which introduced many Americans to the fact that there was even such a thing as an American wine industry. It wasn't just a victory for American wines, however. By dispelling the myth of French wine superiority, it opened the door to accepting wines from all over the world. Some French wine apologists came up with excuses, like that French wines would age better over time. So, another tasting was held with the exact same wines two years later. This time it was held in San Francisco.

Starting point is 00:08:49 The results were a little different, but even more lopsided for the Americans. This time, American wines took the top three spots in both red and white. In 1986 on the 10-year anniversary of the competition, another duplicate tasting was held, this time by the French Culinary Institute, with the exact same wines and vintages. It only tasted red wines this time because, at this point, it was believed the whites had passed their peak. But once again, American wines took the top two spots. That same year, Wine Spectator Magazine did their own replication of the contest, and again, with the exact same wines. This time, the American wines took the top five spots. In 2006, Stephen Spurrier organized a 30th anniversary replication in the event.

Starting point is 00:09:33 This time was some of the original judges from 1976. In this event, American wines took the top five spots. The 1976 event became known as the Judgment of Paris, a play on words of an ancient event that predated the Trojan War. While it was never intended to be so, it became the most significant event in the history of wine in the 20th century. In fact, it may have been the most significant event ever in the history. of wine. The judgment of Paris was dramatized in the 2008 film Bottleshock with

Starting point is 00:10:03 Alan Rickman playing the role of Steve Spurrier. The Smithsonian Institution has on permanent display bottles of the 73 Chateau Montalena and 73 Staggs Leap sellers that both took first place. So if you go into a shop and find a wide selection of wines from around the world, it's due in no small part to events that took place in a Paris hotel ballroom almost 45 years ago. Everything Everywhere Daily is an Airwave Media podcast. The executive producer is Darcy Adams. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett.

Starting point is 00:10:38 Today's review comes from listener Lady Love 69 over at Apple Podcasts in the United States. They write, Educational and Quick Podcasts for Daily Learning. My husband sent me this podcast one day, and now we're going back through every episode that he's ever done. Who needs an encyclopedia when you have this podcast? Thanks, Lady Love. The real reason why you don't need an inciscipline, The Encyclopedia probably has more to do with the global network of interconnected computers that can access to all the world's information at almost a speed of light.

Starting point is 00:11:06 But I still take the compliment in the spirit in which it was given. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostogram, you two can have it read on the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Judgement of Paris

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