The Vineyard Fish

San Francisco, CA

The Vineyard Fish Writes:

“Last night I had the pleasure of attending an exciting event that included a tough to beat wine tasting and the premier of a new film. While this may have just been another day in the life of The Vineyard Fish, the focus of both the party and the film  made the night particularly interesting—the historic wine tasting of 1976.

For those who have never heard of said tasting, I will do my best to summarize.

In 1976, a British gentlemen and wine enthusiast by trade, Steven Spurrier, hosted a wine tasting in Paris that featured wines from both California and France (reds being Bordeaux blends and whites Chardonnay). The judges were French, the wines were tasted blind. As you can imagine, after the scores were tallied, wines from California had won both categories. This event might have gone completely under the radar had there not been one reporter on hand. Luckily that one reporter worked for Time magazine and, although only a small blurb made it in the back of the next issue, the news spread quickly and changed the perception of Californian wines forever. The ripple effect of this event is still being seen today as winemakers continue to search for the next great place to produce world class vino.  Needless to say this was relatively important wine tasting and I have copied the results below:

WHITE
1 Chateau Montelena 1973
2 Meursault Charmes 1973
3 Chalone 1974
4 Spring Mountain 1973
5 Beaune Clos des Mouches 1973
6 Freemark Abbey 1972
7 Batard-Montrachet 1973
8 Puligny-Montrachet 1972
9 Veedercrest 1972
10 David Bruce 1973

RED

1 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars 1973
2 Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1970
3 Chateau Montrose 1970
4 Chateau Haut-Brion 1970
5 Ridge Monte Bello 1971
6 Chateau Leoville-Las-Cases 1971
7 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard 1970
8 Clos Du Val 1972
9 Mayacamas 1971
10 Freemark Abbey 1969

So after a few warm-up glasses of Flowers Chardonnay 2006 (Sonoma--very nice but just about as much oak as I can take) we headed across the street to the Crushpad wine facility where the reenactment of the ‘76 tasting took place. While I enjoyed tasting the whites, I would find it difficult to say any was “the best I’d ever had” and that was reflected in my scores. The reds, on the other hand stole the show. Please stay tuned for my scores, notes and guesses in the next few days (left them at home).

The movie, Bottle Shock, was a pleasant surprise. Having entered the theater with the lowest of expectations I found Bottle Shock was able to avoid being OVERLY cheesy by adding industry humor, sex, drugs and by telling an interesting and entertaining story. Having recently completed the book “The Judgment of Paris” I can confidently say this movie was perhaps 30% historically accurate. The characters in the story are mostly based on real people but some liberties were clearly taken with how the whole thing unfolded.

Particularly disappointing, I thought, was the fact that Mike Grgich was not represented in the film as he is possibly the greatest player in the whole saga. An immigrant from Croatia, he came to the US and toiled for many years as a cellar rat. He eventually earned the position of head wine maker at Chateau Montelena where he then made the winning Chardonnay.  

If you really want to know what you’re getting into, think “Lords of Dogtown” but for wine making instead of skateboarding. Take a humorous dramatization of a historical event, combine it with beautiful shots of wine country (more spectacular than in Sideways) and you have a movie that more or less captures the spirit of the pioneer—the vision and hard work of those who brought Napa Valley into the spotlight. And, like a good wine movie should, you'll want to pour yourself a glass of Napa Valley Cab when it's over.

Lastly, I HIGHLY recommend the book The Judgment of Paris if you are interested in reading a great story and learning a lot about wine at the same time."