Wine Shock: 'The Judgement of Paris'

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2017

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In May 1976, new unknown Californian wines beat top French wines in a blind wine tasting in Paris. The result shocked the wine world, it transformed the reputation of Californian wine, and horrified the French wine industry. We hear from Steven Spurrier, the man who organised the wine tasting.

Photo: A man smells wine in a wineglass. (Getty Images)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC
0:35.4	Sounds.
0:38.4	Choosing what to watch.
0:39.4	Night after night.
0:41.1	The flicking through. The endless searching is a nightmare. We want to help you. On our
0:46.7	brand new podcast off the telly we share what we've been watching.
0:50.3	Cladie aider. Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming, lovely.
0:55.0	Off the telly with me Joanna Paige and me, Natalie Cassidy,
0:59.0	so your evenings can be a little less searching
1:02.0	and a lot more watching listen on BBC
1:04.7	sounds hello and thank you for downloading witness from the BBC World Service
1:09.8	with me Alex Last and today we go back to May 1976 and a historic moment in the world of wine, which
1:18.8	became known as the judgment of Paris. I didn't realize the impact it was going to have.
1:27.0	It's been part of my life ever since,
1:32.0	and I certainly don't regret it. How often do you create
1:36.4	an historical event?
1:40.7	In the 1970s a rather dapper Englishman Stephen Spourier was making a name for himself in the world of French wine.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.