Revisiting the Judgment of Paris. The Rise and the Fall of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars

In this short note, we show that the results of the famous 1976 Judgment of Paris, a blind wine tasting of ten wines by eleven judges which ranked a Californian wine, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars as first, do no longer hold. The “best” wines are French (Château Haut-Brion, Château Léoville Las Cases, and Château Mouton Rothschild). Two Californian wines (Ridge Vineyards Monte Bello and Heitz Wine Cellars) are very close to some of the Great Grands Crus de Bordeaux, but Stag’s Leap is far behind. It is not celar what happened. Either the wine was overated in 1976, or its quality decreased over time.