The year was 1976, and in Paris an English vintner, Steven Spurrier, organized an historic tasting that, in the world's wine circles, would be talked about forever after.
Nicknamed the "Judgment of Paris," it pitted France's top Bordeaux and Burgundies against American Cabernets and Chardonnays which, while well-regarded, were virtually unknown outside California.
The California wines won -- and France has never gotten over it.
When Spurrier initially invited nine of France's most knowledgeable wine experts -- owners of top chateaux, wine critics, restaurateurs and sommeliers -- to taste California wines and give their opinions, he had trouble getting anyone to take him seriously.
"I thought this would be a marvellous way to generate publicity for my wine shop," Spurrier recalled.
"We invited many French journalists, but in the end, only one (George Taber, an American who worked for Time magazine's Paris bureau) came. The French just didn't think it was newsworthy."
Spurrier advised the tasters that not only would they be tasting "blind" -- that is, the bottles would be covered so the contents could not be identified -- but some good French examples had also been thrown in for good measure.
Among the all-French panel were Claude Dubois-Millot, commercial director of the GaultMillau food and travel guide; Jean-Claude Vrinat, owner of Michelin three-star restaurant Taillevent; and Christian Vanneque, sommelier for La Tour d'Argent. They thought it would be a bit of fun but otherwise unremarkable.
That is, until Spurrier announced the stunning results that the judges had rated the California wines higher than those of their fellow countrymen, including Mouton-Rothschild (Bordeaux), Haut-Brion (Bordeaux) and Domaine Roulot Meursault-Charmes (Burgundy).
One judge, Odette Kahn, editor of La Revue de Vin de France demanded her scores back. Several cried foul. Others were scorned by wine industry colleagues -- and at least one may have been sacked from his sommelier job -- for shaming their country.
French wine had been toppled from its safe, centuries-old pinnacle, and California's star was ascending.
"The reaction of the French was one of complete disbelief and denial," Spurrier said.
"Some people accused me of rigging the competition. Actually, I did think I had rigged it -- but in favour of the French. Why would I have put in the top French wines -- Haut-Brion, Mouton, Montrose and Leoville-Lascases -- if I didn't expect them to win?"
Taber agreed the response was unprecedented.
"It's hard to describe just how shocking this David versus Goliath outcome was," he said. "In 1976, France was a massive force in the wine world, and California wasn't even a blip."
Last year, Taber published The Judgment of Paris, an account of the fateful day and its consequences.
"There was so much controversy, and a lot of misplaced anger following my original article," he said.
"They were lambasted by their colleagues and the media. All the judges had problems afterwards. I wrote the book to set the record straight."
"To this day, some of the judges -- like Aubert de Villaine (co-owner of the iconic Burgundy estate Domaine de la Romanee-Conti) -- refuse to discuss it."
Wine columnists, shops and societies around the world continue to stage reincarnations of the original, as well as variations on the Old World versus New World theme to the ongoing consternation of the French.
Indeed, a high-profile tasting in Berlin in 2004 saw the likes of Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Margaux bested by two wines from Chile's Errazuriz wineries.
Yet none of these contests has generated quite the hullabaloo of the 1976 tasting -- until now.
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Spurrier's original brainstorm, a bigger, more elaborate event is to be held on May 24 when two panels of nine judges each will participate in a "simul-tasting" starting precisely the same time on both sides of the Atlantic.
One tasting -- chaired by Spurrier -- where judges include British wine writers Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson, as well as Michel Bettane, France's pre-eminent wine critic, will take place at London's storied Berry Brothers and Rudd wine shop.
The other, featuring former New York Times wine columnist Frank Prial and original judge Christian Vanneque will be at the Copia Centre for Wine, Food and the Arts, in Napa Valley, California.
This time, the tasting will consist of five "flights": the first will consist of the original red wines -- six California Cabernets and four Bordeaux (even if they could be found, white wines from the early 1970s will almost certainly have degraded far too much) and subsequent flights of more recent vintages of California Chardonnays, Cabernets, Burgundies and Bordeaux.
But neither Taber nor Spurrier expect any huge surprise this time around.
"Of the original wines, I'll be very surprised if more than one California wine comes within the top five," said Spurrier, referring to the original tasting when two California Cabernets came in first and fifth.
"And it will be fascinating to see whether the judges will be swung by their palates. When it comes to the younger wines -- the Europeans in London will probably favour the French wines, while the Americans will go for the California wines."
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job. “I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “I grabbed it and my wife cut it — couldn’t do it by myself, it took two of us.” Weighing in at 45 kilograms, it is the heaviest jackfruit that Brighton has ever grown on his tropical fruit farm, located