1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay
date: label: Date made
content: 1973
name: label: referenced
content: Spurrier, Steven
label: owner
content: Barrett, James L.
label: referenced
content: Chateau Montelena Winery
label: maker
content: Grgich, Mike
notes: label: Description
content: This bottle of 1973 Chardonnay was made by Miljenko "Mike" Grgich, winemaker at Chateau Montelena Winery in Calistoga, California. This wine is famously known for outscoring the best whites of France at a blind tasting held in Paris in 1976.
label: Description
content: Organized by Steven Spurrier, an English wine merchant, and his American business partner Patricia Gallagher, the tasting involved a panel of nine experienced French judges, all experts in food and wine. Without knowing the identities of the wines, they ranked a select group of whites and reds from France and California. The results were shocking and controversial: wines made by a new generation of winemakers in California bested the best of France in both categories.
label: Description
content: The "Judgment of Paris" had a tremendous impact on the California and U.S. wine industries. It crushed the widely-held belief that only the French could make fine wine and inspired American vintners to expand their operations. The aftermath of the tasting played out most vigorously in California, where, between 1975 and 2004, the number of wineries grew from 330 to 1,689. By 2004, California accounted for most of the $643 million in annual U.S. wine exports. And Mike Grgich, an immigrant from Croatia who crafted the winning 1973 Chardonnay for Chateau Montelena, quickly established a new winery with Austin Hills, called Grgich Hills, in 1977. He died at age 100 in 2023.
place: label: place made
content: United States: California, Napa
label: referenced
content: United States: California
label: referenced
content: United States: California, Calistoga
topic: label: Subject
content: Wine
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Food Technology
label: See more items in
content: Food
label: See more items in
content: National Treasures exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: Food: Transforming the American Table
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revoluntionized Wine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of James Barrett, owner of Chateau Montelena Winery
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1996.0028.01
label: accession number
content: 1996.0028
label: catalog number
content: 1996.0028.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: bottle of wine
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 12 in x 3 in; 30.48 cm x 7.62 cm