It’s one of the most dramatic moments in wine history — and it almost didn’t happen. Steven Spurrier, an Englishman running a small wine shop and the first independent wine school in Paris, organized what was supposed to be a friendly Franco-American comparison in honor of the U.S. bicentennial. His colleague Patricia Gallagher had visited Napa, tasted the wines, and believed. The California winemakers themselves had no idea their bottles were even entered.
Getting the wine to Paris was its own adventure — Patricia Gallagher sweet-talked TWA passengers into carrying bottles in their personal luggage just to get past the two-bottle limit.
The blind tasting results stunned the room. A Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena topped France’s finest Burgundies. The 1973 Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon outscored Château Mouton Rothschild and Château Haut-Brion. One judge demanded her ballot back. Spurrier was reportedly banned from France’s prestigious wine tour circuit for a year.
The lone journalist in the room filed his story for Time magazine. It ran on page 85, next to a tire ad. Nobody thought it mattered.
Then came 2006. The same wines, tasted again — 30 years later. The French had long insisted California wines couldn’t age. The rematch told a different story: all top five wines were from California.
The whole story comes alive in the film Bottle Shock — highly recommended viewing.
