1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay

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.

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.

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.