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I just though the author could do better. I knew a little bit of the history of the Paris judgment. He takes a lot of pages on the story of the wine makers, which is interesting but too much detailed. Since this book is told by someone present there, it is the most reliable source of information. I think the history is very interesting on itself. The judgement itself has much less space, and I think the author could have taken it longer. After the judgment and its repercussion the author takes a lot more on considerations on all world regions.It is all interesting, but I had bought the book for the Paris judgement, not for the author's opinion on South African wines.
Loved the historical recount of the land, the wineries and the wine makers, didn't love the superfluous progression of modern wine closing chapters.
Most of the world agreed at the time (1976) that France made the world's best wines. Or did you.This book is a wonderful insight into the minds and tactics of some of the world's greatest winemakers. But when the tasting written about in this book took place, the California winemakers consisted largely of devoted, tireless men (and a few women) who poured their every ounce of energy and knowledge into producing wine that would surpass any others in the world. With Judgment Of Paris, George Taber takes the reader on a journey through time, following a set of characters, sometimes through generations, who have made the wine industry what it is, or at least what it was before it started to slip. Taber did an amazing job researching this book. You didn't need to be a genius to figure out who'd come out on top of that one.
After all, French wines opposite California wines.
Taber tells the tale of the great event where California wines were pitted against French wines by an English wine expert, in France.
The loving detail to which Taber enlightens the reader to wine's past is delicately interwoven with stories of small wineries and hard working winemakers struggling to get a place of their own, then planting and harvesting their grapes, and the endless challenges they faced to get their final product to be the best it could possibly be.
The wine business is becoming more and more another corporate calamity, with a few holdouts supplying very little, very expensive, top of the line wines while a good many are producing middle of the road wines for somewhat fair prices.
It tells of the lives of many of the major players in the growth of the Napa Valley and Sonoma County as a wine haven.
A Time magazine reporter stationed in France, he was the only journalist to attend the tasting.
Not because he was the only one asked, but because most thought the tasting was doomed to be non-news.
I couldn't suggest this more vehemently to anyone interested in the wine industry, or to those who just like to read stories of greatness and how it is achieved.
You will not regret buying it.
The emergence of these winemakers is very much like the process of creating a good wine. "The best fertilizer for a vineyard is the footsteps of the owner." Tabor captures the sentiment of this statement as he gives his readers a sense of the passions of the California winemakers whose wines were in the Judgment of Paris. The bio-sketches of the legendary winemakers are truly American: immigrants, innovators, entrepreneurs, and scrappy. Tabor also includes the importance of the agricultural information available to these pioneers from the University of California at Davis. The impact of this little event in Paris is still reverberating globally. The cross-pollination of ideas and methods of creating wines occurred in all directions and continues today.
I enjoyed this book because it skillfully connected so many of the puzzle pieces of my experiences.Take this book, along with Mastering the Art of French Cooking, with you on your next trip to the Napa Valley. These pioneers did not have a choice; they had winemaking in their DNA.Tabor has an interesting story to tell. As a Californian and having lived in Napa for a while, I was aware of the tasting in 1976 at Paris, but never had the appreciation or history of its impact. Because soil is so important to the character of wine, Tabor faithfully included the geological makeup of the soil and sub layers in the description of the vineyards in California and France. Tabor captures these winemakers' special ability of looking at land and determining it suitability for sustaining a vineyard - how do you learn that. Visit these wineries, stop at the restaurant, Julia, at Copia, and enjoy the treasures of this valley.Thanks to George Tabor who captured this bit of history for us to savor.
Cheers.
This book traces the history of the first great California winemakers in childish detail, like a four year old telling about their day. It's the most poorly written book I've ever read, and the occasional interesting factoid was hardly worth the trouble.Unless you are related to one of the winemakers in the book or are just so passionate about the history of California wine that you don't mind digging through a truckload of pea gravel to find two or three marbles, buy a bottle of wine from one of these great vineyards instead of reading the book. it will cost a lot more than the book, for a good reason.I am an enthusiastic reader who has never panned a book before.
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