Why the 1976 Judgment of Paris Is Due for a Redo

As the Paris Olympics draw closer, the American wine industry is jumping on the spirit of competition fueling the summer of 2024. 

In early September, two teams of 10–12 judges in New York City and Charleston, South Carolina will gather to recreate the 1976 Judgement of Paris wine competition, a blind tasting that famously catapulted wines from California’s Napa Valley to international acclaim.

The original wine competition was organized by Steven Spurrier, a British wine expert and wine shop owner in Paris, and his American colleague, Patricia Gallagher. Both believed American wines could go toe-to-toe with the best wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy. 

The competition took place in Paris on May 24, 1976, as a blind tasting, comparing Chardonnays from California with those from Burgundy, and California Cabernet Sauvignon with Bordeaux wines. To the surprise and chagrin of the nine French wine expert judges, the competition ultimately resulted in wines from Napa receiving top accolades in both categories, dethroning France as the leading producer of the world’s best wines.    

For the 2024 recreation, winemakers Patrick Cappiello and Pax Mahle are teaming up with Josh Entman, the founder and CEO of VINOHEAD, a digital media company dedicated to millennial and Gen Z wine drinkers. 

Their goal? “To send waves through the industry, raise awareness for the American wine industry and uplift everyone from winemakers to consumers, new and old, American and French,” says Cappiello.

Why revive the Judgement of Paris now?

The idea of a redo first came from Cappiello, who made a plea via Instagram on February 25.

“I want to talk about a subject that most American winemakers would not be excited to talk about…sales,” he says. “American wineries are struggling right now.” He explained that wineries are maintaining a huge amount of inventory while experiencing “over twenty percent decrease in the last year in sales,” he says. “We ask for one thing and one thing only. Drink our wine.” 

Cappiello challenged sommeliers, wine merchants, wine buyers, and consumers to buy and drink only American wines for the following two months, assuring them that the results would be “lifesaving.” 

Reflecting on the 2008 movie Bottle Shock, which depicted the story of the 1976 Judgment of Paris, Cappiello says he had a new idea to draw attention to American wine, and called his trusted colleagues and friends, Mahle and Entman. On May 8, the team announced The 1976 Judgment of Paris Redo, drumming up excitement for the wine selection process and the ultimate competition later this year.  

How has the winemaking industry evolved since the original Judgement of Paris?

In 1976, the Judgment of Paris tasting placed a spotlight on the Napa Valley, a region that most people at the time had no idea existed, while Bordeaux and Burgundy were known globally. Today, Napa wines are highly sought and can command thousands of dollars per bottle in the worldwide market.

Wine pricing is also dramatically different in the United States than it was 50 years ago. In 1975, the winning Chardonnay, a 1973 vintage from Chateau Montelena, sold for $6.50 per bottle, an accessible price relative to its French counterparts. In 2024 numbers, this equals roughly $36, a much higher price point than the average bottle available in supermarkets, which, according to data collected in April 2023 by Todayshomeowner.com, are priced between $10.97 and $15.91. 

Today, wine is more financially divisive than it was in 1976. For instance, Chateau Montelena Chardonnay now costs anywhere from $60 to $80.

“We need to let wine drinkers of the world, regardless of generation, know they don’t have to drink $10 or the highest and most expensive wines,” says Cappiello. 

The revived competition also captures rising consumer interests in smaller American wine regions beyond California. 

According to a recent Arizona Wine Tourism Industry Survey, approximately 46% of winery visitors polled had journeyed from 36 states. Maynard James Keenen, owner and winemaker of Arizona winery Caduceus Cellars and New Mexico winery Merkin Vineyards, is excited to capitalize on this interest by submitting his wines for the new Judgement of Paris.

“The ’76 Redo Competition is the sort of event that will bring awareness and legitimacy to these regions and the world-class wines being produced,” he says.

How will the competition be judged?

While both the American and French wines in the original competition were selected by Spurrier and Gallagher, the wine selection for this year’s competition will be the result of crowdsourcing and social media. Independent American winemakers have been solicited to anonymously submit their wines for consideration. So far, Cappiello and his team have received wine submissions from ten different states including Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Mexico, Arizona, Virginia, Oregon, Washington, California, and Texas.

The redo tasting will focus on four varietal wines: Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah. To maintain an even playing field, only 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 vintages will be accepted, and each winery is allowed to submit one expression representative of each style. 

Once all the wines are received, preliminary competitions for the American selections will take place in Sonoma, California. West Coast judges include winemaker Rajat Parr of Phelan Farms, winemaker Steve Matthiasson of Matthiasson Winery, Megan Glaab of Ryme Cellars, sommelier Cara Patricia at Decant SF, wine journalist Randy Caparoso, sommelier Alex Sarovich, sommelier Mike Zima of SommPicks and Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy.

Over two to three days in late August, the judges will taste the wines in a “tin foil” walkaround tasting, in which each bottle is wrapped in foil to conceal the labels. The judges will mark scorecards which will be tallied, with the best wines of each group promoted to the next level of judging. From there, judges will be seated with dozens of wine glasses in front of them to taste and rank on a scale of 1–50, with 50 being the highest score. Once a number is used, it cannot be used again. These scores will be tallied, with the five top wines selected to compete against their French counterparts in New York City in mid-November.

The French wines will be contested in a slightly different way, in that there will be no open submission process for French producers. Instead, an elite group of sommeliers and wine professionals, both American and European, have been organizing and debating a list of more than 20 French wines across each of the competition’s categories, including classic, benchmark wines and modern styles. The finalized list will be sent out to a larger network of wine industry experts to select the top 10 wines of each variety. 

In early September, two separate teams of 10–12 judges in New York City and Charleston, South Carolina will gather to blind taste the top 10 French wines, with two varieties tasted per city, and narrow down the top five French wines for each style.  The East Coast judging team is still being assembled but will include Kenneth Crum, sommelier at Roscioli NYC, sommelier and author Vanessa Price, Graft Wine Shop sommelier and co-owner Femi Oyediran, and Eduardo Porto Carreiro, sommelier and beverage director at Rocket Farm Restaurants.  

When the top wines from both the French and U.S. sides are selected, a new team of 10–12 judges will convene in a private location in New York City to blind taste, not knowing the wines’ countries of origin, and pass their final judgments.

What wine pros are saying

So far, the competition has garnered positive reception from sommeliers and winemakers across the country.

“Looking at the original ’76 tasting as part of a zeitgeist, rather than as a massive, singular inciting incident, is perhaps a more clear-eyed evaluation of the tasting in the rear-view mirror,” says Morgan Harris, a master sommelier based in San Francisco. “Steven Spurrier certainly had a great palate and solid concept to promote the wines. It was all in support of wine culture as a whole, which is certainly something Patrick and team share.”

Even though Red Tail Ridge Winery in the Finger Lakes isn’t participating in the redo, Kristen Evans, general manager, is optimistic about the competition’s potential. 

“California can help other regions get a foothold because it’s really hard for [them] to get the limelight that they deserve,” she says. Evans adds that she hopes the competition will inspire future competitions that look past grape variety. “[Garnering interest shouldn’t be] about the variety but about a more broad perspective of varieties that work in specific regions in America.”

Donald Patz, who owns Donald Patz Wine Group, which makes small-production wines Secret Door, Maritana, and Terminim in California, believes the competition will be “an important occasion” to influence American drinkers. 

“I see an attitude, particularly by some sommeliers that all California wines are super high alcohol and highly manipulated compared to their European counterparts,” he says. “I don’t believe that is true. So, let’s see how our best examples fare today against theirs.  It should be fun.” 

Results of the final competition will be announced in November, and only the finalists will be announced publicly.