“Is Paris burning?” Adolf Hitler, 1889-1945, Asked at a speech in Rastenburg, Germany, Aug. 25, 1944.
Since the Romanesque days in Italy, the Mediterranean and France, the wine world and its consequent quality was generally controlled in this area of Europe. This exclusive attitude existed, in some cases validly, until seething pockets of resistance showed up in different parts of the world. Spain and Portugal sprouted up as challenges to this exclusive dominance, while California ever so slowly began strutting its challenge to this status quo over a period of many decades. In 1855, the gaggle of French Chateaux was organized into a tiered quality system that has almost prevailed to this day.
Enter Prohibition in America in 1920, which seriously decimated the budding industry in the United States and forced many a winemaker into his basement while the bigger players like Christian Brothers survived by making sacramental wines.
After Prohibition ended, the badly wounded industry began reinventing itself in the 1960s, using the same inimitably feisty spirit that made America great.
Fast forward to 1976, when Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant, postulated that it might be time to challenge France’s then-Goliath-like stranglehold on the industry. He assembled a highly credentialed group of serious tasters to stage a blind match-up of Old World versus upstart New World wines.
When the dust settled (sacre bleu!), traumatic headlines trumpeted the results as the newly anointed winners were announced:
IN RED WINES:
#1 – 1973 Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon – California
#2 – 1970 Chateau Mouton Rothschild – France
#3 – 1970 Chateau Montrose – France
#4 – 1969 Chateau Haut Brion – France
#5 – 1971 Ridge Monte Bello Cabernet Sauvignon – California
#6 – 1971 Chateau Leoville las Cases – France
#7 – 1970 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon – California
The reds were tied. On to the whites.
IN WHITE WINES:
#1 – 1973 Chateau Montelena – California
#2 – 1973 Meursault Charmes Roulot – France
#3 – 1974 Chalone – California
#4 – 1973 Spring Mountain Vineyard Chardonnay – California
#5 – 1973 Beaune Clos Des Mouches – Joseph Drouhin – France
#6 – 1972 Freemark Abbey Chardonnay – California
#7 – 1973 Batard Montrachet Ramonet-Prudhon – France
#8 – 1972 Puligny Montrachet Les Pucelles – LeFlaive – France
The whites were tied, as was the case with the reds. Most notably, however, was the clear first-place finish of California in both categories.
California was now on the world map, as is recapped in the movie Bottle Shock, and it forever changed the complexion of the wine world.
So dramatic were these results that I feel they helped further spur worldwide quantum quality improvements. No one now owns the throne, and wonderful wines may be readily found from places as diverse as Argentina, Alsace, Australia, Chile and Hungary. What fun for us, the consumers.
Cheers to all of you quality renegades!
