Odette Kahn (, 1923–1982) was a leading authority on wine and editor of the ''

La Revue du vin de France ''La Revue du vin de France'' is a French magazine on wine published monthly. The publication has been described by wine critic Jancis Robinson as "France's only serious wine magazine". Following the magazine's acquisition by Groupe Marie Claire i ...

'' (Review of

French wine French wine is produced all throughout France, in quantities between 50 and 60 million hectolitres per year, or 7–8 billion bottles. France is one of the largest wine producers in the world, along with Italian, Spanish, and Amer ...

) and of ''Cuisine et Vins de France'' (Food and Wines of France). She was a judge at the historic Paris Wine Tasting of 1976. Kahn was outraged at the results of the tasting, unsuccessfully demanded her ballot back, refused later to speak to organizer Steven Spurrier after the event, claimed fraud, and wrote disparagingly about the

wine competition A wine competition is an organized event in which trained judges or consumers competitively rate different vintages, categories, and/or brands of wine. Wine competitions generally use blind tasting of wine to prevent bias by the judges. Types of ...

. This event was later portrayed in the movie ''

Bottle Shock ''Bottle Shock'' is a 2008 American comedy-drama film based on the 1976 wine competition termed the "Judgment of Paris", when California wine defeated French wine in a blind taste test. It stars Alan Rickman, Chris Pine, and Bill Pullman and is ...

''.

Biography

Kahn was an expert in the field of French gastronomy and wines, for which she was a well-known ambassador throughout the world. After graduate studies in one of the best French business schools (

HECJF "Haut Enseignement Commercial pour les jeunes filles", also called "HEC jeunes filles", was named after HEC, the most famous French business school. HECJF is a state recognized degree in France. The diploma allowed to teach economics and manage ...

), she became first the assistant director, and then the editor-in-chief of two magazines, ''Cuisine et Vins de France'' and ''Revue du Vin de France''. In 1968, after the death of Madeleine Decure, co-founder with Edmond Saillant (aka Curnonsky) of ''Cuisine et Vins de France'', Kahn became director of Société française d’éditions vinicoles, the publisher of ''Cuisine et Vins de France'' and ''Revue du Vin de France''. She was a member of the International Academy of Wine, as well as forty wine and gastronomy fraternities throughout the world. She is the author of a cookbook published by Calmann-Lévy in 1977 under the title ''La Petite et la Grande Cuisine''. She also collaborated in the writing of several other books, including ''Cuisine sans Souci'' (1974) and ''La Vraie Cuisine de l’Alsace'' (1976). Until the early 1980s, she was in charge of the national "Meilleur sommelier de France" competition and served as general secretary of the Association of women cooks and restaurant operators. Kahn founded the "Amitiés Gastronomiques Internationales" association. She participated in numerous radio and television broadcasts, and was a member of the jury in some of the most renowned gastronomic contests. She received many awards, including the Chevalier du Mérite National, Chevalier du Mérite Agricole, and the City of Paris Medal. She unsuccessfully demanded her scorecard back after rating an American wine better than French.

Biography

Published work

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