California reds win by a nose in tasting rematch

I know that California is geologically quite active, but I'm pretty sure the Monte Bello vineyard and winery are still in the Santa Cruz Mountains and haven't moved 80 miles to the north and into the Napa Valley.

;-)

Dana

Tastings such as this are all but meaningless in my opinion. The problem is that the best years for certain US and French types are seldom the same, and the rate at which the wines mature is often quite different. The Monte Bello Ridge Cabernets from the 70s often were very good and lasted well, with 1971 being one of the better ones. The 1970 Mouton is decent, but hardly near the top of Mouton vintages. If one had selected the 1945 or 1961 Mouton, it likely would have won by a landslide, but then the people from California would have complained that the match was not fair because of the difference in ages of the Mouton and Ridge wines. Then many of the French Bordeaux wines usually are blends of Cabernet Sauvignon with lesser amounts of other wines, while many of the better Cabernets from California in the 70s were either pure or mostly Cabernet Sauvignon. Thus one is comparing apples and oranges, to some extent. I could make US wines look quite bad by selecting the 1974 BV private reserve(this did not live up to early expections and often is over the hill now) and Mouton Rothschild 1945. I could make French wines look quite bad by selecting Lafite-Rothschild

1968 and BV private reserve 1968. However this type of "test" makes good copy for the press.

type of "test" makes

I agree with you about the meaning, but Spurrier's 1976 tasting was rather more important as it gave a fledgling CA wine industry some international exposure. This more recent one's significance derives most of its value from the original one, as the "battle" is mostly over now and both CA and Bordeaux are vastly different places than they were in '76. One of the other factors rendering this competition even more absurd is the fact that it was conducted in two locations with no way to verify that the condition of the wines in the two venues was the same. The vastly different showings for the Martha's and Mayacamas suggest that bottle variation may have played a role in the outcome.

Mark Lipton

I say "buy CA wines everyone, they are the best"

then the 05 en primeur bdx prices may slide a little and I'll be able to afford a few more (or move upscale) :-))))!

greybeard (who is trying to secure a few 05 bdx bottles for the cellar)