Before 1976, U.S. wines were virtual unknowns relative to the worldclassb stats we hold today. While there's no doubt that U.S. wine would have eventually emerged among the best on the world stage, a unique blind tasting competition in honor of the U.S. Bicentennial judged by some of France's most respected and credentialed wine professionals was sponsored by a small wine shop and school in Paris. This competition featured a flight of unknown California wines against the venerable Chardonnay's of Burgundy and Classified Growths Bordeaux. A true David vs Goliath competition that ended with California's Chateau Montelena Chardonnay and Stag's Leap Cask 23 achieving the blind tasting's top scores -- along with several other Napa wines besting France's finest. This seemingly innocent event suddenly brought instant international recognition and credibility to California's wine regions.

In this taste and "Judge for Yourself" seminar, we'll be featuring more recent vintages of Chateau Montelena's Chardonnay and Stag's Leap Cask 23 against two wines from French producer's that were featured in the 1976 competition -- along side a Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon and Central Coast Chardonnay (because why not right?). We'll discuss the back story leading up to the wine competition how the competition unfolded and a bit of the history behind the regions in France and wines from the U.S. that were involved.

You can be the judge scoring the wines yourself and comparing your opinions with the others in the seminar to see if California still reigns supreme!