Judgement of Paris - A hand drawn Paris cityscape showing the Eiffel Tower and other landmarks

Judgement of Paris

Today marks the anniversary of the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, a blind tasting panel that came to be known as the ‘Judgement of Paris’ – more on that in a moment… Briefly (as there’s tons of excellent documentation on this event available anywhere fine wine books are…

California wine country landscape in autumn

Sonoma Cabernet

When it comes to California Cabernet Sauvignon, it is true that Napa Valley is King.  Between the sheer amount of plantings, savvy marketers, big names, and the “Judgement of Paris” Napa will long hold the bulk of the market value for California Cab.  But with a similar Mediterranean…

Sunset shines through a sign welcoming visitors to Napa Valley wine country

Why Napa Valley?

Napa Valley Cabernet is synonymous with quality, luxury, scores, and of course, the subsequent price tags.  But what makes the wines from Napa Valley command such a market presence?  What actually makes Napa Valley wines so special? Let’s skip over the portion of history where its wines were…