Great Chardonnay Showdown
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Great Chardonnay Showdown
The Great Chardonnay Showdown, held in the spring of 1980, was organized by Craig Goldwyn, the wine columnist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' and the founder of the Beverage Testing Institute, with help from three Chicago wine stores. A total of 221 Chardonnays from around the world were selected for the blind wine competition.Grgich Hills Estate celebrates the 35th anniversary of The Great Chicago Chardonnay Showdown: Chicago Tribune called 1977 Chardonnay "The Best Chardonnay in the World"
January 15, 2015, PRNewswire/Grgich Hills Estate

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Chardonnay Moldova
Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new and developing wine regions, growing Chardonnay is seen as a 'rite of passage' and an easy entry into the international wine market. The Chardonnay grape itself is neutral, with many of the flavors commonly associated with the wine being derived from such influences as ''terroir'' and oak.Robinson, 2006, pp. 154–56. It is vinified in many different styles, from the lean, crisply mineral wines of Chablis, France, to New World wines with oak and tropical fruit flavors. In cool climates (such as Chablis and the Carneros AVA of California), Chardonnay wine tends to be medium to light body with noticeable acidity and flavors of green plum, apple, and pear. In warmer locations (such as the Adelaide Hills and Mornington Peninsula in Australia ...
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Sonoma County (wine)
Sonoma County wine is wine made in Sonoma County, California, in the United States. County (United States), County names in the United States automatically qualify as legal appellations of origin for wine produced from grapes grown in that county and do not require registration with the United States Department of the Treasury, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Sonoma County is one of California's largest producers of wine grapes, far outproducing the Napa Valley AVA. History Grapes were planted in Sonoma County at Fort Ross as early as 1812. Padre Jose Altimira planted several thousand grape vines at Mission San Francisco Solano in what is now the city of Sonoma, California, Sonoma, in southern Sonoma County. Cuttings from the Sonoma mission vineyards were carried throughout the northern California area to start new vineyards. By the time of the California Republic, Bear Flag Revolt in Sonoma and the subsequent annexation of California by the United States in 1854, ...
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Wine Tasting
Wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is as ancient as its production, a more formalized methodology has slowly become established from the 14th century onward. Modern, professional wine tasters (such as sommeliers or buyers for retailers) use a constantly evolving specialized terminology which is used to describe the range of perceived flavors, aromas and general characteristics of a wine. More informal, recreational tasting may use similar terminology, usually involving a much less analytical process for a more general, personal appreciation. Results that have surfaced through scientific blind wine tasting suggest the unreliability of wine tasting in both experts and consumers, such as inconsistency in identifying wines based on region and price. History The Sumerian stories of Gilgamesh in the 3rd millennium BCE differentiate the popular beers of Mesopotamia, as well as wines from Zagros Mountains or Lebanon. In th ...
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Grand European Jury Wine Tasting Of 1997
In the Grand European Jury Wine Tasting of 1997, the Grand Jury Européen, consisting entirely of European judges, conducted a blind tasting of 27 Chardonnay wines from seven countries. Held in Bordeaux, 70 percent of the entries in the wine competition were from France (Burgundy). All other countries were represented with one entry each, except for Australia, which had two. The French wine entries were "a regular Hall of White Burgundy Fame. They had such great vineyards and outstanding producers as Meursault Charmes from Domaine Comtes Lafon and Meursault Perrières from Domaine Coche-Dury." In addition, "Various hyphenated ''grand cru'' Montrachets showed up: two Chevalier-Montrachets, one from Bouchard Père et Fils, the other from Maison Louis Jadot. Other ''grands crus'' included a Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet from Olivier Leflaive and two Corton-Charlemagnes (Louis Latour and Domaine Bonneau du Martray). Two Montrachets were present as well, from Marquis de Laguiche ...
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California Wine
California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted ''Vitis vinifera'' vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious services. In the 1770s, Spanish missionaries continued the practice under the direction of the Father Junípero Serra who planted California's first vineyard at Mission San Juan Capistrano. Its contemporary wine production grew steadily since the end of Prohibition, but mostly known for its sweet, port-style and jug wine products. As the market favored French brands, California's table wine business grew modestly, Taber (2005), p40 but quickly gained international prominence at the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, when renown French oenophiles, in a blind tasting, ranked the California wines higher than the primer French labels in the Chardonnay (white) and Cabernet Sauvignon (red) categories. Taber (2005), pp216–220 The result caused a ‘shoc ...
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Globalization Of Wine
Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20th century (supplanting an earlier French term ''mondialization''), developed its current meaning some time in the second half of the 20th century, and came into popular use in the 1990s to describe the unprecedented international connectivity of the post-Cold War world. Its origins can be traced back to 18th and 19th centuries due to advances in transportation and communications technology. This increase in global interactions has caused a growth in international trade and the exchange of ideas, beliefs, and culture. Globalization is primarily an economic process of interaction and integration that is associated with social and cultural aspects. However, disputes and international diplomacy are also large parts of the history of globalizat ...
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Judgment Of Paris (wine)
The Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, also known as the Judgment of Paris, was a wine competition organized in Paris on 24 May 1976 by Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant and his colleague, Patricia Gallagher, in which French judges carried out two blind tasting comparisons: one of top-quality Chardonnays and another of red wines (Bordeaux wines from France and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from Napa, California). A Napa wine rated best in each category, which caused surprise as France was generally regarded as being the foremost producer of the world's best wines. Spurrier sold only French wine and believed that the California wines would not win. The event's informal name "Judgment of Paris" is an allusion to the ancient Greek myth. The wines Red wines White wines The judges The eleven judges were (in alphabetical order): Method Blind tasting was performed and the judges were asked to grade each wine out of 20 points. No specific grading framework was given, leaving the ...
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Chateau Montelena
Chateau Montelena is a Napa Valley winery most famous for winning the white wine section of the historic "Judgment of Paris" wine competition. Chateau Montelena's Chardonnay was in competition with nine other wines from France and California under blind tasting. All 11 judges awarded their top scores to either the Chardonnays from Chateau Montelena or Chalone Winery, another California wine producer. A fictionalized version of Chateau Montelena's historic victory was featured in the 2008 film ''Bottle Shock''. History Tubbs In 1882, entrepreneur Alfred L. Tubbs bought of land just north of Calistoga at the foot of Mount Saint Helena. Tubbs had made a fortune from the rope business during the Gold Rush, and knew the area from visits to the White Sulphur Springs Resort nearby. He planted vines, and by 1896 Chateau Montelena was the seventh largest winery in the Napa Valley. With the onset of Prohibition in the United States, winemaking ceased at the Chateau and in the period ...
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Mike Grgich
Miljenko "Mike" Grgić (born April 1, 1923) is a Croatian-American winemaker in California. He was born into a winemaking family in the town of Desne on Croatia's coastal region of Dalmatia. He is notable for being the winemaker behind the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that bested several white Burgundy wines in the wine tasting event that became known as the Judgement of Paris. In recognition of his contributions to the wine industry, Grgich was inducted into the Culinary Institute of America's Vintner's Hall of Fame on March 7, 2008. The tribute came at the same time that Grgich was celebrating his 50th vintage of winemaking in the Napa Valley. History He attended the University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, where he studied viticulture and enology. However, he learned about California and wanted to leave the then-Yugoslavia to become a winemaker there. In 1954, he left communist Yugoslavia for West Germany, obtaining a fellowship to study there. From there he emigra ...
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Vintage
Vintage, in winemaking, is the process of picking grapes and creating the finished product—wine (see Harvest (wine)). A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine, where Port houses make and declare vintage Port in their best years. From this tradition, a common, though not strictly correct, usage applies the term to any wine that is perceived to be particularly old or of a particularly high quality. Most countries allow a vintage wine to include a portion of wine that is not from the year denoted on the label. In Chile and South Africa, the requirement is 75% same-year content for vintage-dated wine. In Australia, New Zealand, and the member states of the European Union, the requirement is 85%. In the United States, the requirement is 85%, unless the wine is designated with an AVA, (e.g., Napa Valley), in which case it is 95%. Technically, the 85% r ...
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Grgich Hills Estate
Grgich Hills Estate (formerly Grgich Hills Cellar) is a winery located in Rutherford, California in the heart of the Napa Valley. The winery changed its name in 2006 when it first began producing only "estate grown" wines made from grapes grown exclusively in vineyards owned by the winery. The Napa Valley Wine Train has a passenger stop located at Grgich Hills Estate. Grgich Hills' vineyards are certified organic and biodynamic and it converted to solar energy in 2006. History The colors in the winery's first sign reflect the winery was born on July 4, 1977. Winemaker Mike Grgich had gained international recognition at the historic Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 when the Chardonnay he produced at Chateau Montelena won first prize among white wines. Grgich and Austin Hills (of Hills Brothers Coffee) soon became business partners and established Grgich Hills Cellar on July 4, 1977. The name ''Grgich Hills'' does not describe a geographical feature but is instead a combination ...
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Wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are major factors in different styles of wine. These differences result from the complex interactions between the biochemical development of the grape, the reactions involved in fermentation, the grape's growing environment (terroir), and the wine production process. Many countries enact legal appellations intended to define styles and qualities of wine. These typically restrict the geographical origin and permitted varieties of grapes, as well as other aspects of wine production. Wines not made from grapes involve fermentation of other crops including rice wine and other fruit wines such as plum, cherry, pomegranate, currant and elderberry. Wine has been produced for thousands of years. The earliest evidence of wine is from the Caucasus ...
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