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The Judgement of Paris

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Alok Chandra
Last Updated : Nov 15 2014 | 12:07 AM IST
In May 1976, British expat wine merchant Steven Spurrier organised a blind wine tasting near Paris for 10 French experts - the wines were top Chardonnays from France and California and leading Bordeaux wines against the best California Cabernet Sauvignons. This came to be known as "The Judgement of Paris". Since the Californian wines were rated as equal to if not better than the French wines, the tasting demolished the myth that French wines were the best in the world.

While Spurrier had invited the French press for the tasting, nobody deigned to attend - so the story was broken by the only press person to attend the tasting: George Taber of Time.

On average, the wine ratings were:
Reds: (1) Stag's leap Wine Cellars 1973 USA. (2) 1970 Château Montrose France. (3) Château Mouton-Rothschild, 1970, France.

Whites: (1) Chateau Montelena 1973 USA. (2) Meursault Charmes Roulot 1973 France. (3) Chalone Vineyard 1974 USA.

Naturally, there was a storm of protests, and Spurrier was banned from the French wine circuit for one year for having the temerity to organise such a heretical exercise. The best account of this (and subsequent tastings) is probably on Wikipedia, which lists in detail all wines tasted and the ranking of individual judges.

A 30th anniversary re-tasting of the wines was organised by Spurrier in 2006 simultaneously in California and London with some of the world's foremost wine experts, including Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson - and again the results showed the superiority of the Californian wines.

A movie (Bottle Shock, starring Alan Rickman as Spurrier) has been made about the event, while another (Judgement of Paris, based on George Taber's book) is under production.

I was reminded of all this history when having lunch last Sunday with Spurrier (who's one of the world's foremost wine experts) and four other wine aficionados from Bengaluru at Olive Beach, the objective being to get his assessment of selected wines from Grover Vineyards - the oldest surviving winery in India (Grover Red and Grover White were launched in 1991). Grover has had its share of problems in the past but is trying to make a comeback. Here are Spurrier's tasting notes for the wines tasted:

Grover Art Series Sauvignon Blanc 2014: Lovely pale colour, floral nose, crisp finish, very nice wine.

Grover 2011 'La Reserve': Very good depth of fruit, some spice, rich yet dry finish.

Interestingly, in 2005 Spurrier had rated the 2004 La Reserve as 'the best new world red' for Decanter magazine, and it's taken nearly 10 years for him to come back to the wine which at Rs 800/bottle is amazing value.

It's good to see that the quality of wines from Grover Vineyards is back on track - indeed, most of those present at the lunch admitted that they had not tasted Grover wines "for several years", and said that this would certainly change in future.

Let's hope the company can keep up the good work (one of the biggest drawbacks of Indian wines is consistency of quality) in the future - warrants a try, I think.

Alok Chandra is a Bengaluru-based wine consultant

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First Published: Nov 15 2014 | 12:07 AM IST

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