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| Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine | 
 enlarge | Author: George M. Taber
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $6.71
You Save: $9.29 (58%)
New (31) Used (17) from $5.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  51 reviews
Sales Rank: 9286
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 1
ISBN: 0743297326
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.22094436109047
EAN: 9780743297325
ASIN: 0743297326
Publication Date: November 21, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New, unread, publisher over-stock copies. Ships out by NEXT Business Day. We have shipped TWO MILLION+ Amazon orders to-date. 100% Satisfaction Guarantee!
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| Customer Reviews:
 The real magic in wine making: February 6, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Mr. Tauber not only demystifies the world of wine to someone who knows little about it, but relates the wonderful story of devotion and hard work that goes into producing a top wine. I do believe that wine tastes better since reading this book.
 A Delicious Read! February 3, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I love California wines. As a Californian I am very proud of my home states history and heritage as the world's premier producer of fine wines. However, it has not always been so. Until quite recently, California wines were not reveared in such an august way. What happened? How did this change in world opinion occur? I have been curious about this mysterious evolution in Californaia wines for quite some time and after a friend suggested Judgment of Paris to me I began to hope that it would be all I had wished for. I was not disappointed. Obviously, I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys history and loves premium wine, especially wines produced in California.
The Judgment of Paris is such a tremendous book on many levels. It is full of tender and engaging stories about real people who, against all odds, helped establish California wines amongst the best in the world, culminating with their personal involvement in the now famous 1976 Paris wine tasting competition: The seminal event that turned the world of wine on it's collective head.
This book is also a fabulous review of premier wine making history, not only in California, but worldwide. If your knowledge of wines and wine making is limited or non-existent, you will feel like quite the connoisseur by the time you are finished reading. This is a really fun and informative book. Very well researched and extremely well written.
Cheers! to George Tabor for crafting such a wonderful `book-quet'. ;-)
A very good book.... November 3, 2006
1 out of 9 found this review helpful
This was a very good book. It filled in many of the blanks. However, Taber's proofreader should have been more careful... he/she would have caught Taber's mistake in referring to Jancis Robinson as a he instead of a she. It just goes to show that a non-wine person wrote (and proofed) the book!
Sets the record straight October 17, 2006
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Everyone knows this event was controversial. It is the tasting that allowed premium U.S. wineries to begin the meteoric rise in quality (and price) that we see today. Arguably, it is what launched the globe's infatuation with the "New World Style".
This is the story as told by the most reliable source available. Author George Tabor was the only journalist to attend this epochal event in 1976. He was a young journalist in Paris at a time when ex-pats gathered at the events held by British Wine Merchant, Steven Spurrier.
When Spurrier organized a daytime competition between the wines of California and France, no journalists answered the invitation. It is lucky for the U.S. wine industry that Tabor decided to attend at the last minute, or the results of this tasting would surely have been re-written by the shocked and embarrassed judges. A great read for anyone who loves wine and/or history.
Great story of an event that changed the world of wine October 13, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is the story of the wine tasting event that put California and Napa Valley on the elite winemaking map. For those who don't know, in 1976 a British wine merchant stage a blind tasting of elite French wines against California wines. The judges were all French and expected to judge in favor of the French wines. But, the California wines scored much better and suddenly French dominance of winemaking was being questioned everywhere. George Taber was the only journalist at the event and wrote a small article for Time magazine. This is his story of what happened that day and the impact it had on the world wine industry.
I was fascinated by this book not because of its description of the events, but because of Taber's description of the people and the culture of Napa Valley in the 60's and 70's that led to premium winemaking in California. I really enjoyed they way he made the personalities of the key winemakers of the time real to the reader. It would have been easy to let this story be focused on the industry and economics, but Taber tells the story of the dreamers and inventors that made it happen.
My only complaint about the book would be that Taber doesn't know when to stop. The last chapters deal with the wine industry in other countries, such as Australia, South Africa, Chile, and New Zealand. I felt this got off topic and was unnecessary and dry. Still this is a minor complaint. You can always stop reading when you get to this point and you will have had a great time.
Recommended book for anyone with an interest in wine. Also, if you are planning a trip to Napa, the wineries in the competition are a great visit.
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