How Bordeaux overturned Judgment of Paris

On May 24, 1976 a young British wine merchant, Steven Spurrier, arranged a blind tasting in Paris between the top wines of Bordeaux and the relatively unknown top wines of California. It was predicted to be a walkover, and indeed it was but - shock, horror - not in the way everyone expected. The Californian upstarts won convincingly and the press made a meal of it.

The 'Judgment of Paris' (as it became known) thus passed into wine folklore and was milked by the Californian wine industry for every cent it was worth. A book of the same name was written by George Tabers and two feature-length films have also been made – the most recent being Bottle Shock (2008), starring Alan Rickman as Spurrier. It was a Hollywood production, so, of course, the young, cool Californian winemakers are the heroes, Spurrier is a rather effete upper-class English gent and the factual boundaries are somewhat stretched.

So, what actually happened at this momentous event in Paris? The best French wines were probably Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Haut Brion 1970 - both first growths from a very good year. The best Californians were two Cabernet Sauvignons: Stag's Leap 1973 and 1971. The wines were tasted blind by mainly French expert tasters and, of course, the latter wines triumphed.

But actually, nearly everyone except the Californians agrees that the French wines were superior, and their respective market prices continued to bear this out long after the tasting.

Bordeaux has a marginal climate and long growing season; their great wines mature over 10 to 25 years, so the ones in question were simply far too young. The Californian counterparts were grown in much warmer conditions and would therefore have been drinkable almost immediately - but they wouldn't have had the same ageing potential.

The great Bordeaux are also more complex wines; they get better with each glass. The first glass of a Californian wine tends to be the best, and after that it's something of a static experience.

In fairness to the Americans, however, theirs was a new industry at the time, benefiting from modern techniques and winemakers, while France was languishing in former glory. Nowadays in France - partly due to the shock of the Judgment of Paris - all of that has changed. ·