WEINBERG'S WINE NOTES: Justice served by '76 'Judgment'

More than 30 years ago, the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, also known as the Judgment of Paris, shook the foundations of the wine world. Now a new movie that opens today on the coasts, appropriately titled Bottle Shock, will commemorate the 32nd anniversary of what was, in retrospect, the American wine industry's coming of age.

Steven Spurrier, a British merchant who dealt only in French wines, organized the tasting because American enthusiasts had begun to make bold statements about the quality of California wines. Spurrier, played in the movie by Alan Rickman, believed that a panel of French judges, after blind-tasting top-quality chardonnays and cabernet sauvignons from both France and California, would reconfirm the supremacy of their native versions.

Chardonnays were tasted first, a comparison of white burgundies and some of the finest wines from the New World. Shockingly, or so it seemed at the time, the winner was the crisp, clean and refreshing Chateau Montelena chardonnay, produced by California winemaker Mike Grgich and then-struggling co-owner Jim Barrett, played by Bill Pullman. His son, legendary winemaker Bo Barrett, still makes great juice at Montelena, with recent vintages showing spicy apple, melon and pear flavors and a luscious, fruit-driven finish.

Two of the next three whites were also from California, a fact that must have been a revelation to Spurrier. Both the toasty, creamy Chalone Vineyard chardonnay, full of ripe pear and green apple, and the Spring Mountain Vineyard chardonnay scored higher than any French white except the mineral, citronella and smoke-tinged Roulot Meursault-Charmes Premier Cru, a much more expensive wine.

Then came the reds, and the winner was another Yank, the Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, made by now-venerated but then-barely-scraping-by Warren Winiarski. Stag's Leap currently makes several cabernets, one of which, the Artemis, snaps with earthy leather and the scent of sour cherry.

Although the next-ranked California wine, Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello cabernet sauvignon, with its dry currants and minerally, oaky finish, placed fifth, all three of the French Bordeaux that beat it out were considerably more expensive. Châteaux Mouton-Rothschild and Haut-Brion are two of the five iconic first-growths, and the chewy, full-bodied and tannic Château Montrose is ranked only one notch behind them in the official Bordeaux Classification of 1855.

When the results were tallied and the New World's dominance announced, the French were not amused. In fact, several judges refused to give up their notes, and one even tried to change his numbers before Spurrier whipped away the score cards!

There also were several follow-up tastings over the course of the next 30 years, and even with different judges, the Californians increased their rankings each time. In 1976, only two California reds were ranked among the top half, but by 2006, all five of the top wines were from California.

There's no question that the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 had a revolutionary impact on expanding the prestige of wines from the New World. It also gave the French a valuable incentive to review their sometimes-antiquated traditions and reexamine convictions that were little more than myths taken on trust. The result has been the improvement of wine around the world to the benefit of consumers.

A final point: Most of the wines that appeared in the 1976 tasting were either already well-known at the time or have since become so. They can therefore be quite expensive. Although I've listed the current releases of several of the highest scorers in my recommendations, I've also included some less-expensive, purely Napa-based alternatives that can provide some of the same pleasure.

Once the movie makes it to Denver, check it out and then crack open a bottle of chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon and toast the Judgment of Paris, which changed the world of wine.