A blind tasting that shook the wine world

FORTY years ago, a publicity stunt for a small wine school in Paris changed the world of wine forever. The scene would look unremarkable today: nine wine professionals swirling, sniffing, sipping, spitting and scoring their way through 20 wines in a "blind tasting", meaning the wines were not identified until after the scores were tallied. Yet the Paris Tasting, also known as the Judgment of Paris, became famous because of its quirky cast of characters, a bit of luck and, most of all, the results: California wines beat the best of France.

The story is well-known among wine lovers. Steven Spurrier, a young British expat who owned the Académie du Vin and an adjacent store, Caves de la Madeleine, in central Paris, and his American associate, Patricia Gallagher, held the tastin…