How One Afternoon in Paris Remade Napa Valley

May 24, 1976. A blind tasting in Paris, arranged by a British wine merchant, pits French wine against wines from a California valley most of the judges had never heard of. A 1973 Cabernet from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars beats Bordeaux. A 1973 Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena beats Burgundy. One journalist, a correspondent for Time, is the only reporter in the room. French papers barely cover it. American investors do not look away. By 1981, Napa Valley becomes California’s first federally recognized wine region. In 2007, the winery that beat Bordeaux sells for one hundred eighty five million dollars.