San Francisco Wine Tasting of 1978

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The San Francisco Wine Tasting of 1978 was conducted 20 months after the historic Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 in which leading French experts blind tasted and ranked California red and white wines higher than all their prestigious French competitors. Steven Spurrier flew in from Paris to participate in the evaluations, which were held at the Vintners Club.

On January 11, ninety-eight evaluators blind tasted the same Chardonnays earlier tasted in Paris. The 1974 Chalone Winery was ranked the highest, the 1973 Chateau Montelena came in second, followed by the 1973 Spring Mountain Vineyard. In fourth place was the 1972 Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles Domaine Leflaive. Ranking lower were Meursault Charmes Roulot 1973, Beaune Clos des Mouches Joseph Drouhin 1973, and Batard-Montrachet Ramonet-Prudhon 1973.

On January 12, ninety-nine evaluators blind tasted the same Cabernet Sauvignons earlier tasted in Paris. The 1973 Stag's Leap Wine Cellars again won first place. It was followed by the 1970 Heitz Wine Cellars Martha’s vineyard in second place and the 1971 Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello in third place. In fourth place was the 1970 Château Mouton Rothschild. Ranking lower were Château Montrose 1970, Château Haut-Brion 1970, and Château Leoville Las Cases 1971.

It should be noted that the French Cabernet Sauvignons in the wine competition were the "best of the best." Three were from the 1970 vintage, identified by the Conseil Interprofessionel du Vin de Bordeaux as among the four best vintages in the past 45 years or more. The third was a 1971, described by the Conseil as "very good." [1]Thus, three of the four French red wine entries were First Growths (the best in Bordeaux) from one of the best vintages in almost half a century.

[edit] See also

The following wine competitions are unique and significant because (1) all tasting was done blind and (2) the results were listed in rank order from highest to lowest with only one winner per rank.

Also

[edit] Source

  • Taber, George M. Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the historic 1976 Paris Tasting that Revolutionized Wine. NY: Scribner, 2005.
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