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Article: `Harvests of Joy,' by Robert Mondavi; Harcourt Brace (368 pages, $27).
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- December 7, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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During the U.S. bicentennial celebration in 1976, the California wine industry fought its own version of the battle of Yorktown, except that this time the Yankees roughed up the French.
An English wine expert organized a competition in Paris that pitted the elite red wines of Bordeaux and white wines of Burgundy against their counterparts from California's Napa Valley: cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay. In a blind tasting, French experts chose the 1973 Stag's Leap cabernet over a murderer's row of Bordeaux. Meanwhile, three of the top four chardonnays were from Napa, with the 1973 Chateau Montelena placing No. 1.
Mon dieu!
The results were ...