The Judgment of Paris: America’s 1976 wine triumph set stage for industry growth
Napa Valley’s win over French wines rippled to the Northwest and around the world
Wine and agriculture changed in a single day 50 years ago.
On May 24, 1976, a Chardonnay and Cabernet sauvignon from Napa Valley, Calif. won a blind taste test against world class French wines in Paris.
The controversial results stunned wine experts, surprising even Steven Spurrier, the British wine merchant who organized the contest.
“The Judgment of Paris” fittingly came during preparations for the U.S. Bicentennial, a nostalgic celebration of the country’s formation and continued greatness.
Here was another American triumph to applaud — U.S. wine was as good as anything Europe could offer.
Time magazine spread the news in a four-paragraph article.
“Not bad for kids from the sticks,” Jim Barrett told the magazine.
Barrett was owner of Chateau Montelena, which produced the winning Chardonnay, while Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars had the top Cabernet sauvignon.
The Judgment of Paris upended conventional wisdom that French wine was superior, setting the stage for future U.S. growth, particularly in California.
According to the Smithsonian, California had 330 wineries in 1975. By 2004, that figure was nearly 1,700.
The blind tasting’s impacts rippled north to Oregon and Washington, where the industry was in its infancy 50 years ago, with vintners viewed as eccentrics.
Today, despite headwinds, West Coast wine is an economic behemoth.
The 2025 winegrape harvest alone was worth $3.1 billion in California, $260 million in Oregon and $233 million in Washington, according to the USDA.
The Judgment of Paris also inspired winemakers around the world, said Juan Muñoz Oca, an Argentinian and the estate director for Stag’s Leap.
“If the kids from the sticks can do it in Napa Valley, so can I,” added Muñoz Oca.
A major shift in agriculture
Americans who flew to Europe didn’t understand a seminal moment had occurred, said Andy Beckstoffer, a winegrape grower who transported bottles to France with several industry members.
“We didn’t think it was any big deal,” he added.
The group, including Barrett, didn’t attend the blind tasting and instead traveled to wineries.
“We would visit three in the morning and three in the afternoon,” he added.
Beckstoffer, founder of Beckstoffer Vineyards, said the wineries chosen to participate weren’t considered Napa Valley’s best and the winning bottles were from 1973, which wasn’t an amazing vintage.
But Napa Valley wines started appearing on tasting panels with European greats.
“It was great for American wine and it was great for us as farmers because we knew we were doing the right thing,” Beckstoffer said.
Many Californian winegrape growers had mimicked French techniques.
Farmers wouldn’t irrigate because the French wouldn’t irrigate, despite California not getting much rain during the growing season.
The Judgment of Paris ended that copycat mentality.
“It was a major shift in agriculture,” Beckstoffer said.
Americans had the freedom to pursue the best practices for their soils and climate, as U.S. terroir produced top notch wines.
Winemaking has evolved dramatically from 50 years ago, with technology providing a wealth of information, but its spirit hasn’t changed.
“A great wine is the true, full representation of the place. That’s why the wine was successful in 1976 and that’s why the wine is successful today,” Muñoz Oca said.
A different type of wine
The character of most American wine changed, however.
Winegrapes were one of California’s first crops, but in 1976 there were worries about the industry’s rapid growth and new plantings, especially premium varieties.
The dominant style was sweet fortified wines “meant to get you drunk,” said Jason Lett, owner and winemaker for The Eyrie Vineyards.
In 1965, his father David Lett planted the first Pinot noir and Chardonnay in Oregon’s Willamette Valley near Dundee, Ore., as well as the first commercial Pinot gris outside Europe.
Lett said the industry moved toward table wine meant to be paired with food in a bonding experience.
That shift, combined with American consumers’ spending power, made the U.S. the top wine market in the world, Muñoz Oca said.
“If you make wine anywhere in the world, you want to sell wine in the United States. That’s rooted in this one event,” he added.
Oregon joins the map with Pinot noir
European connoisseurs attacked the Judgment of Paris as flawed, insisting France still produced the best wines.
A subsequent blind tasting, 1979’s “Wine Olympics” in France, included more types of wine and more regions represented.
The winning Chardonnay was from Trefethen Family Vineyards in Napa Valley.
Oregon entered the conversation through The Eyrie Vineyards’ 1975 South Block Reserve Pinot noir, which finished in the top 10.
Robert Drouhin, leader of French winery Maison Drouhin, didn’t believe the Wine Olympics chose the best French wine and organized a second round of tastings in 1980, this time with high scoring varieties from emerging regions against selections from his cellars, Lett said.
Trefethen Family Vineyards triumphed again and The Eyrie improved, taking second behind a 1959 Burgundy from Maison Drouhin.
Tastings at wine clubs, particularly of the 1983 vintage in 1985, helped build support for Oregon wine, and Robert Parker emerged as an influential wine critic who championed the state.
The International Pinot Noir Celebration in McMinnville, Ore., held from 1987-2024, also brought attention to the region.
Building momentum for Oregon Chardonnay
Oregon became so synonymous with Pinot noir, however, that industry buyers were sometimes leery of other varieties from the state.
That’s changing, in part due to a blind tasting held this March in New York City to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Judgment of Paris.
“The 1976 Redo” brought together top wines from France and the U.S. in an attempt to promote the industry during its struggles and spur interest with new wine drinkers.
Four categories were judged, and French winery Château Latour had the winning Cabernet sauvignon.
California performed exceptionally, with Las Jaras Wines winning the Chenin blanc and Scar of the Sea Wines producing the top Syrah.
A Willamette Valley offering, Flâneur Wines’ 2021 Bon Vivant Chardonnay, won its category.
“It’s a great accolade for us. It’s great for Oregon in general. There’s been a lot of momentum for Willamette Valley Chardonnay,” said Anthony Sereni, Flâneur winemaker.
The past summer, Bethel Heights’ “The High Wire” 2023 Chardonnay became the first Oregon wine to receive a 100 score from Decanter.
Now visitors to Flâneur’s tasting room — a renovated grain elevator in Carlton, Ore. — are asking for Chardonnay, said Amelia Dobbes, marketing director.
Flâneur, founded in 2013, is typical of many Oregon wineries in size.
It has eight full-time workers — two to grow, two to make vino and four to sell — and produces about 4,500 cases each year.
Its Chardonnay is from the winery’s 40-acre La Belle Promenade Vineyard in the Chehalem Mountains AVA, which sits on a slope between 720 and 820 feet in elevation.
That higher ground allows for better balance from the grapes, Sereni said.
Prior to the vineyard planting in 2014, the La Belle Promenade Vineyard was an orchard and fruit trees still dot the perimeter.
Dobbes said Willamette Valley acreage remains available for winegrapes.
Bottles from the region carry a premium price point, which is important as consumers drink less but seek higher quality wine.
A big world of wine collaboration
The Judgment of Paris was monumental but myths sometimes contain misconceptions.
A movie about the blind tasting, “Bottle Shock,” was “baloney” except for the basic premise, Beckstoffer said.
“We all laughed about it,” he added.
The French, often vilified as arrogant, were friendly to the 30 or so Americans who traveled to the country around the time of the tasting, Beckstoffer said.
He thought it was probably the first credible U.S. wine group to visit France.
“We were all told to be careful and don’t insult the French. They were extremely welcoming and curious about us,” he said.
The greatest victory from the Wine Olympics for The Eyrie was camaraderie, Lett said.
“For us, it was like being welcomed into a brotherhood and sisterhood of international wine,” he added.
Experts said the blind tastings that started with the Judgment of Paris resulted in communication and cooperation around the globe, including the founding of Domaine Drouhin Oregon in the Dundee Hills.
“The Drouhins became neighbors and they’ve been incredible collaborators ever since,” said Lett, who interned with the French family next door.
Children of European winemakers began interning in the U.S., Beckstoffer said.
“Our guys went over there and their guys came over here and we all became one big wine family,” he added.
Acclaimed wines, whether in pioneering days or modern times, spring out of communities that provide support, experts said.
And perhaps ironically, given the importance of The Judgment of Paris, the idea of “winning” is antithetical to most winemakers, who would never brag about being the best.
“I didn’t get into wine to be competitive. I set out to create something beautiful,” Sereni said.