Grape-quake
Judgment of Paris

December 5, 2008

A 1976 blind tasting in Paris sent shock waves through the wine world that needed a Richter scale to measure. The epicenter was Bordeaux. The new movie Bottle Shock should send wine enthusiasts scurrying to read George M. Taber's seminal book on the subject.

Taber, the only reporter to cover the event, ably develops the central players: Steven Spurrier (the young English proprietor of a Parisian wine shop), Jim Barrett (owner of Chateau Montelena), Mike Grgich (Montelena's winemaker) and Warren Winiarski (owner and winemaker of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars). The twelve California wines and eight French classics (four from Bordeaux and four from Burgundy) selected for the competition are superbly detailed. The book is not just a story but a well-researched analysis of growing and production techniques, globalization of the wine trade, the bona fides of the scoring system and wine selection methods used and much more. It vividly recounts the astonishment of the biggest names in French wine and cuisine that served as judges.

Consider staging your own blind tasting rematch (as Spurrier did in 1986) using nifty suggestions in the annex of the 2006 Scribner paperback edition. Expect to fork out over $2500 to replicate exactly the vintages still available. Cheaper but just as fun alternatives are spelled out. Ask your wine-nutty friends to read Judgment of Paris first and foment a frothy debate around Scribner's suggested discussion points. The Minute 00:60 loved the thoroughness of the book and is hopeful that there will be a movie based on the book.

Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the historic 1976 Paris tasting that revolutionized wine.

www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm

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