PARIS, 1976

The Day California Defeated France

May 24, 1976. A blind tasting that shocked the wine world. A Chardonnay from a small Napa Valley estate bested the finest white Burgundies of France. Today, exactly 50 years after that historic milestone, the legacy of Chateau Montelena remains untouched.

"It was as if the old world had been asked to judge its own successor — and gave the crown away."

George Taber, TIME Magazine, 1976