Paris revisited - Green & Blue do a 1976
In 1976, a wine tasting in Paris changed the world when, in a line up of top Claret against top Cabernet's from Napa Valley, California triumphed. We re-created our own version of this and these are the results. By Kate
In 1976, a wine tasting in Paris changed the world when, in a line up of top Claret against top Cabernet's from Napa Valley, California triumphed. We re-created our own version of this and these are the results. Paris Revisited tasting at Green and Blue – June 18th 2007
These are the notes of a quite lovely tasting we had at Green & Blue in June, some months after two of our best customers (thanks Jonathan and Andreas asked me to put it together. Sadly, It has taken me till now to organise and post them but 2007 will never go down as one of my more laid back years. Jude and I are finally having some time off in Hermanus but the weather is shocking – the building is being buffeted by gale force winds and it is raining – so we decided to go back to bed for the day. The most wonderful, luxurious idea in the world, actually. Jude is reading and I suppose I am working, but it somehow doesn’t feel that way. However, all of that is a massive digression.
In 1976, one of the most historic wine tastings in the history of the industry took place in Paris. Such was its impact that I believe 2 films detailing the story are currently in production, the 30th anniversary having been celebrated last year. At the time, very well respected wine wine writer Stephen Spurrier was living in Paris and running wine courses. These were well attended by ex-pat Americans, many of whom bought bottles of top wines from California - in those days, still an impossibly exotic novelty – to taste. So good were these, that he thought it would be an amusing idea to organise a blind tasting which pitted the best of Bordeaux against the Bordeaux blends from California as well as the best of white Burgundy againstt oaked Chardonnays from this part of the new world.
He assembled a panel of 11 French judges which included a leading sommelier, restaurateurs, wine writers and critics and no less than the head of the AOC board. When the line up had been tasted and scored, the results were absolutely unthinkable and totally explosive.
1. 1973 Stags Leap Wine Cellars – 127.5 – a wine made from vines only 3 years old!!!
2. 1970 Mouton-RothsChild – 126
3. 1970 Haut-Brion – 125.5
4. 1970 Montrose - 122
5. 1971 Ridge Montebello – 105.5
6. 1971 Leoville-Las-Cases – 97
7. 1971 Mayacamas – 89.5
8. 1972 Clos du Val – 87.5
9. 1970 Heitz Cellars ‘Martha’s Vineyard’ – 84.5
10. 1969 Freemark Abbey – 78
Much has been said and written about this over the years, including all sorts of accusations leveled at the method of scoring and the accuracy of holding only one tasting on one day in order to reach these results. None of this changes the fact that in many profound ways, this changed everything. Wine makers in the new world got a glimpse of what they were capable of and those in the old knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt (and to borrow a phrase used years later to describe the onslaught of wines from these far away places) that ‘the barbarians (were) at the gates’
I could not hope to replicate the original tasting at Green & Blue. For one thing, I certainly did not have the time to try to track down bottles of the the wines shown and for another, it would have been stupidly expensive if I had. Instead, we decided to do our own version, tasting 6 wines, blind, 3 from Bordeaux and 3 from California, giving them all marks as we did so.
It was a much smaller group – a mere 8 people – than we usually have at our tastings, but then this was costing an eye watering £60 a ticket, so no surprise there. We showed the wines in 2 flights – the 3 older wines first and then the younger and it proved amazingly hard, even for regular drinkers of finer wines, to identify origins with accuracy. As at the original tasting – it was a Californian wine which triumphed, the following being my tasting notes and the results. Personally, I loved all of the wines very much – they all showed their pedigrees to a great or lesser extent. If I absolutely had to pick my favourites though, I would give joint first place to the Shafer and the Leoville-Barton, but then I have a soft spot for aged wines. By a narrow margin, most of the group tended to prefer the younger, fleshier flight which was understandable as by and large, these had a lot of impressively concentrated but none the less very elegant fruit.
1. 2002 Frogs Leap Rutherford Cabernet, Napa Valley, California.
Very closed on nose – hints of rich, glossy black-currant underneath. Still amazingly youthful and closed on the palate but bursting with intense, pure and elegant black fruit with a liquorice and black coffee edge. Dips very slightly mid palate but comes back with a pure, crushed berry finish. This is so young, it is barely walking but the purity and pedigree of the fruit is evident. I was very worried about this when we first opened it – it was incredibly closed and really too edgy for comfort but after 2 hours in a decanter it is bright and delicious.
2. 1996 Chateau Latour- a –Pomerol, Pomerol, Bordeaux, France
Also quite closed on nose with just hints of rich plum coming through. Deliciously ripe plum, chocolate and espresso with with even more chocolate and coffee coming out towards the back. Layered complexity with a rich and satisfying mid palate and a sweetly spiced finish. Beautifully made wine – definitely in the modern style, the cream of the oak is evident but certainly not over powering.
3. 1999 Ridge Montabello, Santa Cruz, California
Crushed berries, some coffee and very evident mineral with buttered oak underpinning everything. I have just said that I don’t usually taste the American oak on Ridge but tonight I think I do. Not that this is a problem – there is more than enough structured fruit to cope with it, but it is very much there. Muscular but still utterly elegant and wonderful with, for me, the most obvious minerality of any of the wines in the line-up.
4. 1984 Shafer Cabernet, Napa Valley, California
Still very youthful on nose – sun warmed fruit with hints of undergrowth. Acidity still really very fresh and the fruit still sweet but much more baked than fresh on the palate. Red fruit, licquorice, hints of chocolate with a thrillingly spicy mid palate and finish. The gloss is gone from this but in its place is a beautiful soft, velvet quality and fabulous length – better than even the Leoville actually – nuts, milk chocolate and spice at the back.
5. 1986 Leoville Barton, St-Julien, Bordeaux, France
Still very youthful with strong, fine but structured tannins and fresh acidity. Soft plum and leather with a strong seam of pencil lead underneath the fruit and a lovely rich, baked fruit, chocolate finish. Still very much alive with the most amazingly persistent length – fine, smoky mineral appearing right at the end.
6. 1983 La Lagune, Haut-Medoc, Bordeaux, France
Quite closed on nose – smoky, leathery, pencil lead on the palate. The fruit is pretty much completely gone but it is still very much alive – green pepper hints and black coffee in the mid palate and on the finish. The tannins are polished and very fine – lovely to drink if you like elderly wines, somewhat lacking in gloss and flesh if you don’t. Also, not long for this world, I don't think - drink now.
In 1976, a wine tasting in Paris changed the world when, in a line up of top Claret against top Cabernet's from Napa Valley, California triumphed. We re-created our own version of this and these are the results. Paris Revisited tasting at Green and Blue – June 18th 2007
These are the notes of a quite lovely tasting we had at Green & Blue in June, some months after two of our best customers (thanks Jonathan and Andreas asked me to put it together. Sadly, It has taken me till now to organise and post them but 2007 will never go down as one of my more laid back years. Jude and I are finally having some time off in Hermanus but the weather is shocking – the building is being buffeted by gale force winds and it is raining – so we decided to go back to bed for the day. The most wonderful, luxurious idea in the world, actually. Jude is reading and I suppose I am working, but it somehow doesn’t feel that way. However, all of that is a massive digression.
In 1976, one of the most historic wine tastings in the history of the industry took place in Paris. Such was its impact that I believe 2 films detailing the story are currently in production, the 30th anniversary having been celebrated last year. At the time, very well respected wine wine writer Stephen Spurrier was living in Paris and running wine courses. These were well attended by ex-pat Americans, many of whom bought bottles of top wines from California - in those days, still an impossibly exotic novelty – to taste. So good were these, that he thought it would be an amusing idea to organise a blind tasting which pitted the best of Bordeaux against the Bordeaux blends from California as well as the best of white Burgundy againstt oaked Chardonnays from this part of the new world.
He assembled a panel of 11 French judges which included a leading sommelier, restaurateurs, wine writers and critics and no less than the head of the AOC board. When the line up had been tasted and scored, the results were absolutely unthinkable and totally explosive.
1. 1973 Stags Leap Wine Cellars – 127.5 – a wine made from vines only 3 years old!!!
2. 1970 Mouton-RothsChild – 126
3. 1970 Haut-Brion – 125.5
4. 1970 Montrose - 122
5. 1971 Ridge Montebello – 105.5
6. 1971 Leoville-Las-Cases – 97
7. 1971 Mayacamas – 89.5
8. 1972 Clos du Val – 87.5
9. 1970 Heitz Cellars ‘Martha’s Vineyard’ – 84.5
10. 1969 Freemark Abbey – 78
Much has been said and written about this over the years, including all sorts of accusations leveled at the method of scoring and the accuracy of holding only one tasting on one day in order to reach these results. None of this changes the fact that in many profound ways, this changed everything. Wine makers in the new world got a glimpse of what they were capable of and those in the old knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt (and to borrow a phrase used years later to describe the onslaught of wines from these far away places) that ‘the barbarians (were) at the gates’
I could not hope to replicate the original tasting at Green & Blue. For one thing, I certainly did not have the time to try to track down bottles of the the wines shown and for another, it would have been stupidly expensive if I had. Instead, we decided to do our own version, tasting 6 wines, blind, 3 from Bordeaux and 3 from California, giving them all marks as we did so.
It was a much smaller group – a mere 8 people – than we usually have at our tastings, but then this was costing an eye watering £60 a ticket, so no surprise there. We showed the wines in 2 flights – the 3 older wines first and then the younger and it proved amazingly hard, even for regular drinkers of finer wines, to identify origins with accuracy. As at the original tasting – it was a Californian wine which triumphed, the following being my tasting notes and the results. Personally, I loved all of the wines very much – they all showed their pedigrees to a great or lesser extent. If I absolutely had to pick my favourites though, I would give joint first place to the Shafer and the Leoville-Barton, but then I have a soft spot for aged wines. By a narrow margin, most of the group tended to prefer the younger, fleshier flight which was understandable as by and large, these had a lot of impressively concentrated but none the less very elegant fruit.
1. 2002 Frogs Leap Rutherford Cabernet, Napa Valley, California.
Very closed on nose – hints of rich, glossy black-currant underneath. Still amazingly youthful and closed on the palate but bursting with intense, pure and elegant black fruit with a liquorice and black coffee edge. Dips very slightly mid palate but comes back with a pure, crushed berry finish. This is so young, it is barely walking but the purity and pedigree of the fruit is evident. I was very worried about this when we first opened it – it was incredibly closed and really too edgy for comfort but after 2 hours in a decanter it is bright and delicious.
2. 1996 Chateau Latour- a –Pomerol, Pomerol, Bordeaux, France
Also quite closed on nose with just hints of rich plum coming through. Deliciously ripe plum, chocolate and espresso with with even more chocolate and coffee coming out towards the back. Layered complexity with a rich and satisfying mid palate and a sweetly spiced finish. Beautifully made wine – definitely in the modern style, the cream of the oak is evident but certainly not over powering.
3. 1999 Ridge Montabello, Santa Cruz, California
Crushed berries, some coffee and very evident mineral with buttered oak underpinning everything. I have just said that I don’t usually taste the American oak on Ridge but tonight I think I do. Not that this is a problem – there is more than enough structured fruit to cope with it, but it is very much there. Muscular but still utterly elegant and wonderful with, for me, the most obvious minerality of any of the wines in the line-up.
4. 1984 Shafer Cabernet, Napa Valley, California
Still very youthful on nose – sun warmed fruit with hints of undergrowth. Acidity still really very fresh and the fruit still sweet but much more baked than fresh on the palate. Red fruit, licquorice, hints of chocolate with a thrillingly spicy mid palate and finish. The gloss is gone from this but in its place is a beautiful soft, velvet quality and fabulous length – better than even the Leoville actually – nuts, milk chocolate and spice at the back.
5. 1986 Leoville Barton, St-Julien, Bordeaux, France
Still very youthful with strong, fine but structured tannins and fresh acidity. Soft plum and leather with a strong seam of pencil lead underneath the fruit and a lovely rich, baked fruit, chocolate finish. Still very much alive with the most amazingly persistent length – fine, smoky mineral appearing right at the end.
6. 1983 La Lagune, Haut-Medoc, Bordeaux, France
Quite closed on nose – smoky, leathery, pencil lead on the palate. The fruit is pretty much completely gone but it is still very much alive – green pepper hints and black coffee in the mid palate and on the finish. The tannins are polished and very fine – lovely to drink if you like elderly wines, somewhat lacking in gloss and flesh if you don’t. Also, not long for this world, I don't think - drink now.
