2007 – The Next ‘Judgment of Paris?’

2007 is going to be a very important vintage for U.S. wines in the international marketplace. This very well might be the year with the most significance on that front since the famed 1973 vintage, one in which California gained credibility across the globe as Chateau Montelena (Chardonnay) and Stag’s Leap (Cabernet Sauvignon) out-dueled the French in the famed 1976 ‘Judgment of Paris’ tasting.

Without a doubt, California has been a source of consistent high quality offerings over the past twenty something years, with some truly great vintages like 1994 and 2001. But during that time, the European market was holding its own in terms of quality and developing a bias against “California style” wines, which has become a descriptive term for high alcohol content, heavy-handed wines without the complexity or structure of their French and Italian cousins.

This sentiment was something of a double standard. While criticizing the new “American” style, many Italian and French winemakers were bending their own harvest times and techniques to meet the U.S. demand for a more fruit forward style, as well as to cater to rating publication preferences. Italians increased their supply of Super Tuscans and fuller bodied single varietals to satisfy American import demand, while some French winemakers reportedly went so far as to kick their wines up a notch with unlabeled varietals, for example by adding a touch of syrah to a Burgundy (pinot).