A variety of vintages from California's muddled mosaic.

Investment Adviser, June, 2009

Byline: Feargus O'Sullivan

In 1976, a host of top Californian wines beat their French counterparts in a blind tasting organised by British vintner Steven Spurrier.

It's always gratifying to see someone puncture the unassailable smugness of the French, but this event - since dubbed the 'Judgement of Paris' and given a central place in wine folklore - had its downside too, unleashing a characteristic wave of US triumphalism that proved almost as tiresome.

Trumpeting the glories of Californian wine, in fact, seems rather nonsensical to the average British wine drinker. Our main contact with the region's products, after all, comes through indifferent, fluffy brands like Blossom Hill or those silly carafes they used to peddle in the 1980s to...

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