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 tasting of California and French wines in honour of that year's American Bicentennial. They wanted to draw attention to the revolutionary new wines of California.

And although the organisers implored several journalists to cover the event, only one came: George Taber, a young correspondent for Time magazine who had taken a class at the Académie du Vin and who had nothing else to cover. To this day, the California wine industry is grateful that May 24, 1976, was a slow news day in Paris. Mr Taber's short article deep in the June 7, 1976, edition of Time trumpeted the surprising news that "California defeats all Gaul" as the Chateau Montelena 1973 Chardonnay and the Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon were the top wines.