Qualla: The Bottle That Humbled France

The Bottle That Humbled France: Introduction

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nagarazoku, CC BY-SA 2.0. The bottle now sits in the Smithsonian, alongside Neil Armstrong's spacesuit, Abraham Lincoln's top hat, and the Spirit of St. Louis. It is a 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, a Napa Valley winery that had been in existence for only six years when its wine defeated the most prestigious reds of Bordeaux in a blind tasting organized by a British wine merchant in Paris. The result stunned the French judges, who had been so confident in the superiority of their own vintages that they agreed to the tasting as a promotional event for their wines. It did not go as planned.

Image: Nagarazoku | CC BY-SA 2.0

The Bottle That Humbled France: From Machiavelli to Merlot

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand, CC BY 2.0. Warren Winiarski's path to winemaking wound through Renaissance political theory. A Chicago academic, he first encountered wine during a year-long trip to Italy studying the works of Niccolo Machiavelli. The experience redirected his life. Back in Chicago, he began making wine at...

Image: Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand | CC BY 2.0

The Bottle That Humbled France: A Taste of What Was Possible

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand, CC BY 2.0. In 1970, Winiarski tasted a homemade wine from the vineyard of Nathan Fay, a pioneer growing Cabernet Sauvignon in the rocky soils east of the Silverado Trail. The effect was immediate. "I said to myself, Eureka! That's it," Winiarski later recalled. "This wine satisfied what I h...

Image: Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand | CC BY 2.0

The Bottle That Humbled France: The Judgment of Paris

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. On May 24, 1976, British wine merchant Steven Spurrier organized a blind tasting in Paris pitting California wines against the elite of France. The French judges -- restaurateurs, sommeliers, and critics of the highest rank -- tasted ten red wines without knowing which were Ameri...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

The Bottle That Humbled France: The War of the Apostrophe

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand, CC BY 2.0. Success brought legal complications. In the same year Winiarski founded his winery, Carl Doumani established a neighboring operation called Stags' Leap Winery. Both men claimed first use of the name, which derived from a local legend about a stag leaping across the rocky palisade...

Image: Phillip Capper from Wellington, New Zealand | CC BY 2.0

The Bottle That Humbled France: An Italian Ending

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The 35-acre S.L.V. vineyard -- the original Stag's Leap Vineyard whose grapes produced the 1973 Judgment of Paris winner -- still produces Cabernet Sauvignon from the same volcanic soils Winiarski chose more than fifty years ago. The winery was sold in 2007 to a partnership betwe...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain