May 24, 1976, was the most significant day in California wine history. In a blind taste test, French judges in Paris did a tasting of California and French wines. And the California wines won.

At the time, it was not a big deal, and few media outlets noticed. Even the event itself only attracted one journalist, George Taber, who is the author of this book. But in the days, weeks and months afterward, the results of the competition changed the wine industry forever. The mighty French wines had been beaten by the upstart New World newbies. In the wine industry at the time, there was complete consensus that French wines were the best in the world by a wide margin. Even Californians believed that. This tasting turned that on its head.

The impact over the past few decades have been incredible. Napa Valley became world renowned (with prices to match). The California wine world became a multi-billion dollar growth industry. People across the world realized that great wine didn’t have to come from France, and that boosted expansion in Australia, New Zealand, Chile, South Africa and elsewhere.

Seldom has such a small event as a wine tasting been leveraged into an economic and social force. This book describes that event and the impact of the results. If you love wine, or simply love the Napa Valley area, read this book!

The first part of the book focuses on the people involved with the tasting. Steven Spurrier, the organizer of the event, is profiled. So are the wineries in Napa and France, with fun insights about what life was like in the Napa Valley in the early 1970’s. The middle of the book focuses on the tasting itself (with specific scores in an appendix), and the last part of the book focuses on the social and economic tsunami that resulted from Napa Valley wines coming out on top. Some of the last part of the book will quickly become obsolete as it projects the future, but it’s still interesting.

At times the book can drag with far too much detail. But that seems to be the intent of the author, who wants to get the facts straight (he is, as I said, a journalist by trade) and correct some urban legends that have sprung up about the tasting. This is a book that future wine historians will greatly appreciate because of the detail. Though, to be honest, it was a bit slow for me. Still, as a lover of wine and a Bay Area native, I loved it. I’m going to pick up Taber’s other two books soon.