As a Frenchman it is a slightly sad anniversary, but as a wine lover it is a great one: 2026 marks 50 years since the Judgment of Paris. For those not yet familiar with the event, I wrote a full article on the Judgment of Paris right here.
In a few words: in 1976, at the InterContinental hotel in Paris (just by the Opéra), the French wine elite gathered to taste the best of Bordeaux and Burgundy. At the last minute, a wine merchant suggested adding a few California wines and doing the whole thing blind. The French critics agreed, certain it would be a formality. It was not. The California wines out-scored the French ones, and the room was stunned. Today the story is good fun, but more importantly it was the first time non-French wines earned that kind of recognition. If you want the full account, it is right here.
Back to the celebration. A few weeks ago I received an invitation from the California Wine Institute to mark the anniversary with a lunch and tasting at the American Club in Hong Kong. My French pride took a small hit, but I accepted, and I came away delighted that I did. Here is the debrief from a genuinely lovely discovery of California wines.
The California Wine Institute is marking the 50th anniversary with tastings across Asia. This one was at the American Club, Hong Kong, on 29 May 2026.
I had tasted a little California during my WSET Level 3 training, but that was among a hundred other things, and like everything in WSET the goal is to grasp the typical characteristics of a region, not to fall for its diversity. So this was really my first proper discovery of California wines.
Discovering the white wines from California
The whites came with a butter-poached lobster, caviar and a touch of gold leaf. A serious way to start.
Butter-poached lobster with Siberian caviar, the pairing for the opening Chardonnay.
Grgich Hills, Chardonnay 2022. A classic, beautifully made Chardonnay, and the perfect partner for the lobster. There is real poetry in opening with this one: Grgich Hills was founded by Miljenko “Mike” Grgich, the very winemaker who made the 1973 Chateau Montelena that won the white flight in 1976. The bottle we drank is even labelled the “Paris Tasting Commemorative” cuvée, with his face on it.
Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay 2022, the “Paris Tasting Commemorative” bottle with Mike Grgich on the label.
Veedercrest, Chardonnay 2022. Crisp, floral, even a little herbal. One of my favourite whites of the lunch. And another lovely thread to the story: Veedercrest was one of the California Chardonnays poured in the original 1976 tasting. The label literally celebrates the 1976 Judgment of Paris and the winery’s 50th anniversary.
Veedercrest Chardonnay 2022. The label marks “1976 Judgment of Paris” and the estate’s 50th anniversary.
David Bruce, Chardonnay 2022. A good wine, but a slightly too textbook expression of Chardonnay for me, with the oak a touch too present. In comparison to the others it sat just below, though I would still happily drink it any day I wanted a good Chardonnay. Fittingly, David Bruce (in the Santa Cruz Mountains, founded in 1964) was also in the original 1976 line-up.
David Bruce Chardonnay 2022, from the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Discovering the red wines from California
Then came the reds, alongside a USDA beef tenderloin with a merlot jus.
USDA beef tenderloin, the main course for the red flight.
Titus, Napa Valley Zinfandel 2023. A real banger. Titus is a family estate in St. Helena working 40-year-old, dry-farmed Zinfandel vines, and it shows: concentrated, generous, exactly what you want from a Napa Zin.
Titus Vineyards Napa Valley Zinfandel 2023.
Terah Wine Co., Barbera 2024. An even bigger banger, and a surprise, because Barbera is a Piedmontese grape, not a California classic. It is made by Terah Bajjalieh (trained in Montpellier, of all places) from the organically farmed Shake Ridge Ranch in Amador County, whole-cluster and on native yeast. Bright, juicy and full of energy.
Terah Wine Co. Barbera 2024, from Shake Ridge Ranch in Amador County.
Maggy Hawk, Jolie Pinot Noir 2021. Seriously good too. This is cool-climate Anderson Valley Pinot (part of the Jackson family of estates), all bright red fruit and lift. A complete change of register after the Zinfandel and Barbera.
Maggy Hawk “Jolie” Pinot Noir 2021, from the Anderson Valley.
Ridge Vineyards, Monte Bello 2023. Maybe the most historic bottle on the table. Ridge Monte Bello is one of the very few wines that ran in both the 1976 tasting and the 2006 30th-anniversary rematch, which it won outright. A Santa Cruz Mountains Cabernet built for the long haul, tight and serious in its youth.
Mayacamas Vineyards, Cabernet Sauvignon 2021. Another original 1976 competitor. Grown high up on Mount Veeder, it is the classic mountain Napa Cabernet: structured, mineral and clearly made to age for decades rather than to charm you tonight.
Robert Mondavi, To Kalon Reserve Cabernet 2022. Insanely good. To Kalon, in Oakville, is one of the most storied vineyards in Napa, and Mondavi was the great evangelist who helped put California on the map in the first place. A fitting wine to finish on.
Robert Mondavi To Kalon Reserve Cabernet 2022, with the Hong Kong skyline behind.
Mayacamas Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, from Mount Veeder.
What I learned during the event
When you love wine, every tasting is also a lesson, and this lunch was no exception.
The first thing I will remember is simply how good California wines are. I had never really dug into the region (there are always so many others to discover), but this lunch shot it to the top of the places I want to explore properly. I hope we will be able to take you to California one day and taste these wines where they are made.
The second thing struck me more quietly. I was sitting in the middle of the American wine market, and while I spend a lot of time around people complaining about the state of the wine world, that was not the tone here. What I remember from the speeches was a phrase: it is our duty to stay relevant, to earn the glass. That kind of rhetoric is a long way from the “we have to survive the crisis” I hear in other regions, and I found it genuinely refreshing.
In the end it was a very happy lunch, and even the Frenchman in me had a wonderful time. A beautiful discovery of California wines, exactly 50 years after California gatecrashed Paris.
