USA triumphs in GJE tasting

Published: 23 July, 2008

The best wines from California have trumped their French counterparts again, this time at a tasting conducted by the Grand Jury Europen (GJE) - dubbed The Judgement of Sauternes'.

The tasting was held at Chteau Guiraud in Sauternes, from 28 September to 1 October, and among the tasters was Harpers' contributor Neil Beckett.

The GJE organised the tasting after it admitted it was unhappy with the way the Judgement of Paris (which was held earlier this year, 30 years on from the original event) was run. At the GJE event, the tasting was conducted semi-blind; the tasters knew the list of wines, but not their order.

Overall, the three top-scoring wines were all from California. In first place was St Helena winery Abreu, which scored

an average of 90.47 points; second was Beringer Private Reserve, with 90.41; and third was Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red, with 90.21. The highest-scoring French wine was Chteau Valandraud from St Emilion, which achieved 90.32 points (each taster's ranking was taken into account, which is why certain wines with fewer points were ranked higher than other wines with more points).

In conclusion, a GJE spokesman said: To say that Bordeaux and California are fighting one against the other is not anymore the subject. Both regions have highly rated representatives of finesse, on one side, and power luxurious [sic] on the other side.'

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