A French triumph over America in a competitive wine tasting was such a forgone conclusion at a 1976 Paris event that only one reporter bothered to show up. Luckily, the Time correspondent, an American, reported the results that stupefied the panel of disbelieving French experts: California red and white won out, a result that jumpstarted the U.S. wine industry.
To celebrate the 40-year anniversary of the momentous Judgment of Paris, The Commonwealth Club will host its first annual September Soirée at the historic Green Gables estate in Woodside. The September 10 benefit tasting event is a rare chance to taste globally renowned wines from the winning Judgment of Paris wineries in a gorgeous, rarely accessed setting.
The winemakers, winery owners and vineyard specialists who helped put California wines on the map 40 years ago will each personally speak about their experiences. Attendees will have the rare opportunity to taste wines from the California wineries that participated in, and won, the Judgment of Paris, including Stag’s Leap, Chateau Montelena, Chalone, Veedercrest, Spring Mountain, Freemark Abbey, and a 2000 Monte Bello from Ridge, among others, all paired with gourmet small plates carefully chosen to accentuate these defining wines of California.
Attendees will also enjoy a view of the breathtaking scenery of the Santa Cruz Mountains from the extravagant Green Gables estate, which is recognized as a National Historic place and was built by the famed architects Greene and Greene.
The 1976 Judgment of Paris was a turning point for the California wine industry. A transplanted Englishman living in Paris, Steven Spurrier, organized a wine competition which would pose the best of the best French wines against their supposedly inferior California counterparts in a blind taste test judged by French wine experts.
After the results were announced, a renowned French wine writer is said to have demanded her scorecard back. “She wanted to make sure that the world didn’t know what her scores were,” said George Taber, the journalist from Time.
Nobody suspected that the Californians would fare well against the old world elegance of French wine – even Spurrier himself. As portrayed in the 2008 film “Bottle Shock,” starring the late Alan Rickman (pictured), the unthinkable happened — the California wines won. The success reverberated around the world, bringing credibility to New World Wines. In the words of Jim Barrett, owner of Chateau Montelena in 1976, who produced the winning Chardonnay “not bad for kids from the sticks.”
Saturday, September 10, 5 p.m VIP Reception check-in; 4 p.m. Main event check-in. Green Gables, Historic Fleishhacker Estate in Woodside. $250 for Members and $500 for non-members at 415-597-6737 or kabrams@commonwealthclub.org.
Be still, my heart.