Judgment of Paris

We have mentioned the famous wine competition in 1976 a few times in class, and today we get to meet the Vineyard Manager from Grgich Hills, the vineyard that carries the name of the winemaker responsible for the production of the Chateau Montelena's Chardonnay 1973 that won the competition.

The importance of this wine tasting for the American wine industry cannot be overestimated. One of the bottles produced by Mike Grgich is now part of the Smithsonian Institute collection. In fact, the bottle is part of a collection called "101 Objects That Made America" that includes Lewis and Clark's compass, Abraham Lincoln's stovepipe hat, Alexander Graham Bell's telephone and Neil Armstrong's spacesuit. The red that also won the competition is Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973, also included on this list. 

The rest of the world also enjoys a big part of the benefits from the episode. After the US gained a seat at the table with the best wines in Europe, other wine producers around the world found hope for producing premium wines. Producers from South America, Africa, Australia started investing more and the production of high quality wines grew, to the benefit of all of us.

How is that for "Change lives, change organizations, change the world"?

A note on the side for those who wish to learn more about the Judgment of Paris. The movie "Bottle Show" is fun and inspiring in my opinion, but definitely doesn't give you a close look into what happened. Mike Grgich isn't even mentioned, for example. The 2005 book "Judgment of Paris" by George Taber (the only journalist present at the event) is much more accurate. The third option is to wait for a more promising movie by Robert Mark Kamen (Yes, the one from Karate Kid - who is also a vintner) based on Tader's book might come to life if he manages to find investors to fund the venture.