Judgment of Paris (wine) Judgment of Paris (wine) The Paris Wine Tasting of 1976—known as the Judgment of Paris—was a wine competition organized in Paris on 24 May 1976 by Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant, in which French judges carried out two blind tasting comparisons: one of top-quality Chardonnays and another of red wines (Bordeaux wines from France and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from California). A Californian wine rated best in each category, which caused surprise as France was generally regarded as being the foremost producer of the world's best wines. Spurrier sold only French wine and believed that the California wines would not
Bordeaux wine regions in fact exclusively lists red wine producers from the Haut-Médoc plus Château Haut-Brion of Graves, and (in a separate list) sweet white wine producers from Sauternes (including Barsac). Estates in the Médoc which were not classified in that listing may be classified under the Cru Bourgeois label. In 1953, a Classification of Graves wine was produced. Although this purports to classify the whole of Graves, it exclusively lists châteaux in Pessac-Léognan. In 1954, a separate classification of Saint-Émilion wine was set up for this Right Bank region. There are eight AOCs that cover the entire department of Gironde. Any producer