Famed 1976 American Triumph In Paris Becomes Not One, But Two Films!

Americans love to be the best. We have spent most of the past 100 years proving our dominance to the rest world in terms of military prowess, economic strength, technological innovation, and mass media distribution. Yet, despite all that, we have a giant inferiority complex when it comes to Food and Wine. And why not? If there is any nation that surpasses the U.S. of A. in arrogance, it is surely France, the home to all things gourmand. And so when Uncle Sam rolled into to Paris (the most arrogant of all cities) in 1976 to compete in a blind tasting versus the best of La France and won? Well, a legend was born. And legends don’t go long before becoming immortalized in our oh-so American way of commercial consumerism in the form of a book (George Taber’s best selling “Judgement of Paris” was published only a few years ago) or film (the ultimate compliment in our society).

Now two films are competing for the telling of the validation of the Wine America (why does that always happen?). “Bottle Shock“, directed by Randall Miller, just screend at Sundance and stars Bill Pullman and Alan Rickman. Rickman plays Steven Spurrier, British wine merchant and the organizer of the ’76 tasting. It is Spurrier that is now quoted in Decanter Magazine saying that “Bottle Shock” is a “defamation and gross misinterpretation”. Spurrier is involved in the other, “official“, telling of the story that is based on Taber’s book.

But is American wine better than French wine? I have tasted a lot of wine from all over the world. And though I am as American as Apple Pie (actually more like Motzah Ball Soup or Gefilte Fish, but that’s another story), I cannot honestly say that the best of the U.S. does not match the best of France. There is only one Champagne, there is only one Burgundy, and so on. But that is my opinion. Apparently on that famed day on our nation’s bi-centenial year, in a city that prides itself on culinary eminence, the judges found favor with California. And ever since then, deep inside our national consciousness, we have claimed another victory for the stars and stripes. We can do wine.

This entry was posted on January 27, 2008 at 10:40 pm and is filed under France, USA, wine competitions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.