Judgment of Paris (wine)

The Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, also known as the Judgment of Paris, was a wine competition to commemorate the United States Bicentennial, organized in Paris, France, on 24 May 1976. In the competition, French oenophiles participated in two blind tasting comparisons: one of top-quality Chardonnays and another of red wines (Bordeaux wines from France and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from California). A wine from Napa County, California was rated best in each category, which caused surprise as France was generally regarded as being the foremost producer of the world's best wines. By the early 1970s, the quality of some California wines was outstanding, but few took notice, as the market favored French brands. Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant, and his American colleague, Patricia Gallagher, organized the competition. Spurrier sold predominantly French wines and believed the California wines would not be favored by the judges. The event's informal name "Judgment of Paris" is an allusion to the ancient Greek myth.

The wines

Red wines

White wines

The judges

The eleven judges were (in alphabetical order):

Method Blind tasting was performed and the judges were asked to grade each wine out of 20 points. No specific grading framework was given, leaving the judges free to grade according to their own criteria. Rankings of the wines preferred by individual judges were based on the grades they individually attributed. An overall ranking of the wines preferred by the jury was also established in averaging the sum of each judge's individual grades (arithmetic mean). However, grades of Patricia Gallagher and Steven Spurrier were not taken into account, thus counting only grades of French judges.

The results

White wines California Chardonnays vs. Burgundy Chardonnays

Official jury results:

Red wines California Cabernet Sauvignon vs. Bordeaux

Official jury results

Average Original grades: out of 20 points.

Breakdown by judge The original grades (out of 20 points) are shown, in alphabetical order by judge.

Pierre Brejoux Original grades: out of 20 points.

Claude Dubois-Millot Original grades: out of 20 points.

Michel Dovaz Original grades: out of 20 points.

Patricia Gallagher Original grades: out of 20 points.

Odette Kahn Original grades: out of 20 points.

Raymond Oliver Original grades: out of 20 points.

Steven Spurrier Original grades: out of 20 points.

Pierre Tari Original grades: out of 20 points.

Christian Vanneque Original grades: out of 20 points.

Aubert de Villaine Original grades: out of 20 points.

Jean-Claude Vrinat Original grades: out of 20 points.

Interpretations and replications

Statistical interpretation Orley Ashenfelter and Richard E. Quandt analyzed the results of all 11 judges instead of only nine and proposed a slightly different ranking (see below). They also stated that only the scores of the first two and of the last one wines in their ranking were statistically valid, and that the seven other wines could not be differentiated statistically.

USA Stag's Leap Wine Cellars '73 France Montrose '70 France Mouton '70 France Haut Brion '70 USA Ridge Monte Bello '71 USA Heitz Martha's Vineyard '70 France Leoville-las-cases '71 USA Freemark Abbey '69 USA Mayacamas '71 USA Clos du Val '72 In a 2026 analysis, Richard Ballantyne MW identified arithmetic errors in the white wine totals published in Taber's 2005 book, finding that Château Montelena and Meursault Charmes scored identically on the official nine-judge panel, making the white flight a tie rather than a clear Californian victory. Applying ordinal ranking, Borda count and the Condorcet method to the red wine scores, Ballantyne found Château Haut-Brion to be the most consistently preferred wine on the panel, placing first on three of four aggregation methods.

Tasting replications Some critics argued that French red wines would age better than the California reds, so this was tested.

San Francisco Wine Tasting of 1978 The San Francisco Wine Tasting of 1978 was conducted 20 months after the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976. Steven Spurrier flew in from Paris to participate in the evaluations, which were held at the Vintners Club. On 11 January 1978, evaluators blind-tasted the same Chardonnays tasted earlier in Paris.

USA – 1974 Chalone Vineyard USA – 1973 Chateau Montelena USA – 1973 Spring Mountain Vineyard France – 1972 Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles Domaine Leflaive. Ranking lower were Meursault Charmes Roulot 1973, Beaune Clos des Mouches Joseph Drouhin 1973, and Batard-Montrachet Ramonet-Prudhon 1973. On 12 January 1978, evaluators blind-tasted the same Cabernet Sauvignons tasted earlier in Paris.

USA – 1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars USA – 1970 Heitz Wine Cellars Martha's Vineyard USA – 1971 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello France – 1970 Château Mouton Rothschild. Ranking lower were Château Montrose 1970, Château Haut-Brion 1970, and Château Leoville Las Cases 1971.

French Culinary Institute Tasting of 1986 Two tastings were conducted by the French Culinary Institute (now called the International Culinary Center) on the tenth anniversary of the original Paris Wine Tasting. White wines were not evaluated in the belief that they were past their prime. Steven Spurrier, who organized the original 1976 wine competition, assisted in the anniversary tasting. Eight judges blind tasted nine of the ten wines evaluated. The evaluation resulted in the following ranking:

Results USA – Clos Du Val Winery 1972 USA – Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello 1971 France – Château Montrose 1970 France – Château Leoville Las Cases 1971 France – Château Mouton Rothschild 1970 USA – Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973 USA – Heitz Wine Cellars 1970 USA – Mayacamas Vineyards 1971 France – Château Haut-Brion 1970

Wine Spectator Tasting of 1986 Four of the judges were experts from Wine Spectator and two were outsiders. All tasted the wines blind.

Results USA – Heitz Wine Cellars 1970 USA – Mayacamas Vineyards 1971 USA – Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello 1971 USA – Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973 USA – Clos Du Val Winery 1972 France – Château Montrose 1970 France – Château Mouton Rothschild 1970 France – Château Leoville Las Cases 1971 USA – Freemark Abbey Winery 1969 France – Château Haut-Brion 1970

30th anniversary A 30th anniversary re-tasting on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean was organized by Steven Spurrier in 2006. As The Times reported,

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