The 'Judgement of Paris' sparked a rivalry between US and European wineries — a tariff war could reignite it

The year is 1976, Paul McCartney's Wings are top of the Billboard charts, and European wine is about to face its biggest fight against America's "kids from the sticks".

The "Judgement of Paris" — an event that uprooted the reputation of French wines in favour of Californian underdogs — would shift the wine market between the competing countries.

Now, as European alcohol faces a new threat from a looming Donald Trump tariff war, here's how a blind taste test almost 50 years ago first ignited a rivalry between the United States and Europe.

The blind taste that changed the game

A Parisian taste test between French wines and their Napa Valley counterparts seemed so ludicrous in 1976 that few journalists even showed up.

The exception was Time magazine's George Tabar, who viewed the event with skepticism.

"Everybody knows that French wines are going to win, so why waste a day?" he recounted in 2016.

At the time, Napa Valley was barely a burgeoning wine destination.

Some estimates show there were only 330 wineries in California in 1975, and most were considered eons behind their French rivals in Bordeaux and Burgundy.

Not only was Californian wine unpopular overseas, the test's creator, Steven Spurrier, said it "did not exist" as far as the French were concerned.

The British-born Mr Spurrier believed it an unfair assessment and, imbued with a sense of wine justice, he put eight wines from Burgandy and Bordeaux up against 12 Californian rivals.

To equal out the contest, he made the then-unusual step of hiding the labels.

"I was an Englishman in Paris, I was already a square peg in a round hole," he later explained.

"And these were very, very good wines. So why don't we do something about it?"

What followed would be called "a kick in the rear for French wine".

'Not bad for kids from the sticks'

Mr Spurrier's set of judges were nine French wine experts, who Mr Tabar described as an "oenophile's Who's Who".

Their reactions were, on the surface, predictable.

"Ah, back to France!" exclaimed one — sipping a Napa Valley Chardonnay.

"That is definitely California. It has no nose," said another, after downing a French label.

The esteemed panel first awarded top scores to a 1973 chardonnay from a boutique vineyard in Calistoga, California.

Mr Taber called Jim Barrett, the part owner of Chateau Montelena, the vineyard that produced the winning white, for a reaction.

Reds were to follow and again, a Cabernet from Californian winery Stag's Leap took out the top prize.

Despite French outrage, including from judge Odette Khan who unsuccessfully demanded her scorecard back, the results were undeniable.

The US wine market was catapulted into the international Zeitgeist, and today, the number of wineries in California is more than 3,000.

Now, decades on, a looming tariff war has unearthed an old rivalry between the US and Europe.

France shapes up to 'retaliate' in next big battle

On Thursday, the US president threatened to impose a 200 per cent tariff on alcohol from the European Union in a tit-for-tat feud after the bloc's planned 50 per cent levy on American bourbon whiskey.

"If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES," Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.

In response, French Foreign Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin said his country would "not give in to threats" and that it was "determined to retaliate".

Even after US wine gained global respect, the nation still accounts for 31 per cent of EU wine and spirits exports, according to Eurostat.

Likewise, the EU accounted for roughly 40 per cent of all spirits exports in 2023, according to trade group Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

Champagne company Tattinger said a tariff war would mean their bottle prices could rise from $US60 to $US180 ($95 to $285).

Bordeaux Wine Council, the advocacy group for Napa Valley's old foes, says the US still remains the top market in terms of value and volume for wines from the region.

And unlike 1976, a tariff spat could threaten the US market too.

In New York, Winestogo Wine & Spirits owner Mario Duta said both parties were "playing poker" with consumers.

"I think they need to act like grown-ups, sit at the table and make things fair," he told Reuters.

"It will definitely affect the consumer because most, if not all of those tariffs are going to be passed on to the consumer.

"We have certain margins that we have to start at in order to keep the door open.

"And those tariffs, they will go to the consumer. They will be hurt.

Australia invokes 'buy local' in midst of war

After the 1976 revelation, doors were opened to a whole new world of global wine suppliers, including those in Australia.

As Stag's Leap Wine Cellars' Ted Baseler told Time years later "that helped other people say, 'Gee, we can too,' whether it was in New Zealand, Australia, Oregon, Washington, Chile".

As of 2024, the US remains the third biggest importer of Australian wines, raking in $324.8 million.

That's more than 100 million litres of Australian produce a year.

In what could be seen as a potential pre-emptive measure, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spruiked the benefits of buying local and invoked "Team Australia" in a flurry of recent media appearances.

"Australians can have an impact by buying Australian goods," he told ABC Melbourne this week.