WINOS ONE, WINOS ALL — In the wake of Mike Grgich’s passing last week, we have recreated (IN THE LOOSEST POSSIBLE SENSE) the Judgement of Paris to honor his memory.
What is a Mike Grgich, you ask? And who is this “Judgement of Paris” anyway? Don’t worry, dear winos, all will be revealed to you shortly.
The Judgement of Paris was a “historic” wine competition that “took place” in 1976, where top American wines (the stuff that French sommeliers probably used for cooking) went head to head with top French wines. But hold onto your tiny little berets, because things got juicy. The event, organized by Steven Spurrier, resulted in a SHOCKING victory for California wines, challenging a long-standing delusion that only French “terroir” could produce world-class wines.
In the white wine category, a 1973 Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena, a California winery in the Napa Valley, emerged as the winner, rattling the French wine establishment and slapping the pretentious French critics squarely across their stinky little mustaches. In fact, more than one of them was quoted accidentally disparaging French wines, confident that the ones they favored MUST be from their homeland.
DID YOU KNOW… Odette Kahn, a prominent French food & wine critic who was present at the historic event, reportedly demanded (unsuccessfully) that her score card be returned to her so that she could destroy it after she discovered that the wines she rated the highest were not, in fact, French.
This event revolutionized the wine world, elevating Napa Valley's reputation as a world-class wine region and inspiring winemakers globally. The victory of California wines in both the red and white categories in the Judgement of Paris played a significant role in shattering the long held belief in French wine superiority, and energizing the California wine industry, leading to increased recognition and influence for California Chardonnays.
Notably, a wonderful little “film” called Bottle Shock portrays the historic 1976 Judgement of Paris, where Chateau Montelena Chardonnay outperforms the “finest” Chardonnay bottlings from Burgundy. With all due disrespect to the humble, yet pompous Mike Grgich, Bottle Shock largely fails to acknowledge the CRUCIAL role of Mr. Grgich in the triumph of Chateau Montelena Chardonnay.
So this week, we decided to have a little blind “judgement” of our own.
We structured our blind tasting relatively casually, with a range of vintages and prices, and certainly not taking particularly special care to ensure that the prestige of each bottle was at level with one another — but in a way, that’s in the spirit of the original event. The basics are as follows: we chose 3 bottles of Chardonnay from Burgundy, and 3 bottles of Chardonnay from Napa Valley and pitted them against each other blind.
THE RESULTS WILL (or perhaps, will not) SHOCK YOU!
… AND NOW FOR THE REVIEWS (IN ORDER OF PRICE):
2021 Domaine Saint Germain Bourgogne / 88 Points / $20
Profile: orange peel, apple, persimmon, hint of apricot, cherry blossom, honeysuckle, flint.
Light body, dry, medium+ acidity, medium finish.
This is a relatively simple wine, a little lacking in concentration and balance, but still pleasant to drink. It is light bodied and shows orange peel, apple, persimmon, a hint of apricot and some flinty mineral notes.
Positives: Extremely interesting wine with a distinctive aroma/flavor of Hershey’s kisses that you wouldn’t expect from a Chardonnay (much less a Chablis!). Nicely layered and pretty well balanced with pronounced flavors and a long finish.
Negatives: Perhaps a tad too acidic (could improve with a little more age), and due to its unusual profile, conventional pairings did not work as well — you’ll have to get creative!
This is a well-balanced example of Napa Valley Chardonnay made in a classic style with good concentration of fruit with balanced acidity and just enough oak influence to keep things “spicy” (LIKE ME!)
Perhaps we underscored this wine relative to “alternative palates” due to our lack of affinity for boldly oaked Chardonnay in general, but kudos to team USA on this effort.
Really well balanced — perhaps the best of the bunch in that regard. Layered with well integrated oak. A bit more subtlety than the Montelena, with notes of honey and jasmine chiming in alongside the fruit. Very nice bottle. Hats off to the Grgmeister on this one.
There is perhaps a bit of prestige price inflation on this one, but by and large this was the winner — fitting, given the circumstances. Powerful and complex aromas and flavors that continue to develop for hours after opening the bottle. Very well balanced with a long finish.
Well, well well, what do we have here? This so-called Burgundian icon is about as “elegant” as a hippo in a tutu. This completely lacks concentration of fruit and comes off as very thin and unbalanced — a pedestrian effort for such a “fine wine.”
While there were no distinctive telltale aromatics of flaws (e.g. brett, TCA, unintentional oxidation, etc), the fruit aromas and flavors were very muted, which makes us question whether it may have been improperly stored to a fault or otherwise have some bottle specific issues at play here. Nonetheless, on the basis of how it presented, our most expensive bottle of the tasting falls in dead last by no small margin, raking in just 82 points.
This bottle of “Puligny Montrachet” can eat my red, white and blue shorts. Points lost for team France.
Regardless of the variation in the scores, most of these bottles were of great quality, and some even delivered on value. But one thing is for certain — the profiles across these bottles varied immensely; a testament to the versatility of the varietal, with unique expressions seen all over the globe (and even between vineyard sites).
I know you’re all Grgitchin’ to grab a few of these bottles and get Grg-sippin’, so DO IT! And do it blind if you can, as that’s the best way to shed all bias and just focus on whether or not you enjoy the sweet sweet drippins.
Until next time, HAPPY DRINKING PEOPLE.
RIP Mike Grgich.
Cheers!
Isaac & Zach
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Outstanding issue!
Congratulations, Isaac and Zach, you distinguished winos!