2 minute read
A Tribute to Napa Legend Steven Spurrier
A TRIBUTE TO Steven Spurrier (1941-2021)
BY LAURIE JO MILLER FARR
When asked how California wines were viewed in France in 1976, Steven Spurrier replied, “California wines were not viewed. California wine did not exist.”
In his memoir, A Life in Wine, Spurrier describes his introduction to wine at age 13.
Judges Table, Paris - 1976 Photo by Bella Spurrier Steven recently indicated this photo in the vineyard with his dog Maud was a favorite. Photo by Lucy Pope
Referring to l’Académie du Vin’s blind tasting he hosted that year at the InterContinental Paris, Spurrier summed up the event a few months ago. “On May 24, 1976, the nine judges chose California wine above the top wines of France. And the rest is history...I should know. I was there.”
Surrounded by his beloved family, homegrown Bride Valley vines, and walls covered with art he loved, Steven Spurrier passed away at home in Dorset, England in March. It was just weeks before the 45th anniversary of the landmark event that became known as the “Judgment of Paris.”
“The stars were aligned,” said Steven in January during a video conversation with George Taber, TIME journalist who covered the 1976 tasting, and Patricia GastaudGallagher, his colleague at l’Académie du Vin. “We had so much help. We were doing it from the seat of our pants, but we were professionals. We were altruistic and it was all done for the right reasons. It opened the game.” The world of wine so eloquently shaped by Steven Spurrier will sorely miss him: wine merchant, author, educator, vintner, champion of wine regions all over the world. For Napa, there’s no question about the defining significance of that Monday afternoon in Paris. A permanent sculpture is being commissioned to provide Napa with an everlasting remembrance. As Steven himself put it, “Napa is a beacon. Napa Valley and California are a beacon of quality to wine around the world.”
