Judgement of Paris

Luc Gauthier · Post by **Luc Gauthier** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:06 am

Just finished reading The judgement of Paris . ( A blind wine tasting held in Paris in 1976 , between California & French wines )

To sum it all up , California wines kicked some french butt . . .
There were 9 wines from the Napa valley .
There were 9 french judges .

Alll 9 judges chose a Chardonnay from the Napa valley for the top white and another Napa valley red garnered top spot !! ( Beating out , a Mouton Rothchild 1970 !!! ) The french laughed , it was a fluke . . .

So , 30 yrs later , another blind tasting .Guess what ? Napa valley wines took the top 5 positions . . .

In '76 I was 14 and shooting pucks in Montréal .

Luc

tastingnote · Post by **tastingnote** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 9:28 am

In the 2006 tasting, did they taste the same wines, and the same vintages?

Frederick Blais · Post by **Frederick Blais** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 8:37 pm

Tanker in 2006 it was Chateau Margaux 2000 the #1. But guess what people in England did like most the Bordeaux but giving good score to americain wines and in the USA they prefered the nappa wines and gave bad scores to the Bordeaux. So at the end the average favoured the Napa Valley wines except the 1st spot.

In 2006 they did not exactly put the same wines, some producer where not present. In 2006 all wines where not tasted fully blind as in 1976, you knew beforehand if you had a Napa or Bordeaux wine in front of you for IMHO totally biased results.

One thing we have to recognize, 1970 and 1971 in Bordeaux are both poor year, 2000 bordeaux are mostly closed right now! 2001 and 2002 Napa are expressive in their youth. How about a great vintage from both side of the Atlantic in the 80's . I don't think anything can beat 1982 Bordeaux.

At the end, just remember that its not a question of quality, its more a matter of taste. When I enjoy a meal with friends, the Bordeaux always goes down first even if they don't know what they drink.

If you like Napa wines you are happy about the results and if you like Bordeaux it won't make you buy more anyway and the results are not even having fluctuation on the prices so is there a real interest about doing such a tasting? That's another debate

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 1:25 am

Since this has nothing to do with Port, I think this needs to be moved to the Other Discussion forum.

Luc Gauthier · Post by **Luc Gauthier** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:34 am

I guess I was a little off the mark . . .
But hey , you can't blame a port enthousiast for trying :)

Post by **Andy Velebil** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:12 am

tanker wrote: But hey , you can't blame a port enthousiast for trying :)

Never

Luc Gauthier · Post by **Luc Gauthier** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:21 am

I get the point . . . Port rules ( and so it should )

tastingnote · Post by **tastingnote** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 1:31 am

One thing we have to recognize, 1970 and 1971 in Bordeaux are both poor year, 2000 bordeaux are mostly closed right now!

On two of the three, I agree! 1971 was a bad year and 2000 are closed, but 1970 was certainly not a poor year in Bordeaux! OK, it was no 1961, but it was the best of the 1970's by a mile!

Anyway, just for the record, the Judgement of Paris has always been a flawed result. You cannot compare wines from one country with another to determine who is best. It would be like putting Richard Petty in a modern Formula One car and saying "there you go, beat Michael Schumacher". These wines are like chalk and cheese, even if they are the same grape varieties!

And as for the vintages, what does anyone expect other than American wines to come out more drinkable? There are thousands of wonderful American wines, which benefit from time in the bottle, but nobody can deny that they are all a hell of a lot more approachable when young than any Bordeaux. That doesn't make them better or worse, it just means that Bordeaux needs time.

And now, back to Port!

Peter[/i]