In 2004 I decided to try an experiment… While I could not duplicate the exact wines from the now famous Judgment in Paris tasting of 1976, I thought matching up some of the best Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines from Napa Valley and those of Bordeaux would be a fun, competitive way to spend an afternoon. Seven years and four tastings later, I have a veritable wine-bath on my hands. I thought it would be fun to look over the four tastings and see how things are fairing.

The first installment took place on October 16, 2004. I was looking to taste a set of six wines that were at equivalent quality levels with the same degree of maturity and drinkability. The results were as follows:

By Wine
Wine	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
	(3 pts)	(2 pts)	(1 pt)
1991 Heitz Trailside Vineyard	0	1	1	3 pts
1987 Spottswoode	0	0	2	2 pts
1987 Forman	0	2	1	5 pts
1990 Leoville-Barton	1	1	0	5 pts
1990 Pichon-Baron	3	0	0	9 pts
1990 Haut-Brion	2	2	1	11 pts
By Region
Napa Valley			10 pts
Bordeaux			25 pts

The next installment took place on April 21, 2007. California was looking for payback, but we were committed to keeping an even playing field. Once again I tried to match wines of equal breeding that were showing well. The results were as follows:

By Wine
Wine	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
	(3 pts)	(2 pts)	(1 pt)
1994 Forman	0	1	4	6 pts
1996 Dunn	6	2	1	23 pts
1994 Joseph Phelps Insignia	4	2	3	19 pts
1995 Fieuzal	1	4	1	12 pts
1990 Lynch-Bages	1	2	3	10 pts
1990 Haut-Brion	4	2	1	17 pts
By Region
Napa Valley			48 pts
Bordeaux			39 pts

So with the score tied 1 to 1, a rematch was called for and on October 10, 2009 Napa squared off against Bordeaux for the third time. In this installment I dug deep to find some really special bottles, wines that at the time of their release were considered spectacular. The results were as follows:

By Wine
Wine	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
	(3 pts)	(2 pts)	(1 pt)
1987 Dunn	0	1	0	2 pts
1987 Opus One	0	0	0	0 pts
1987 Caymus Special Select	4	2	0	16 pts
1983 Kirwan	1	2	1	8 pts
1988 Cheval Blanc	4	1	0	14 pts
1986 Margaux	0	2	0	4 pts
By Region
Napa Valley			18 pts
Bordeaux			22 pts

France barely pulled out a victory, so it was inevitable that a fourth match-up would need to take place. On October 22, 2011 the mighty regions squared off again this time with wines from one of the best vintages of the last century. The results were as follows:

By Wine
Wine	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
	(3 pts)	(2 pts)	(1 pt)
1987 Silver Oak	1	0	1	4 pts
1985 Dunn Howell Mountain	2	1	1	9 pts
1985 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard	0	0	1	1 pts
1985 Clerc Milon	0	1	1	3 pts
1985 Pavie	5	1	1	18 pts
1985 Lynch-Bages	4	4	0	20 pts
By Region
Napa Valley			14 pts
Bordeaux			41 pts

So after four installments, France has a commanding lead with 3 check marks in the win column. Point-wise the French have 127 points to Napa’s 90 points, a fairly sizable margin. Where does it go from here? Well if history repeats itself, I imagine a fifth match-up in 2013, either in April, or October…

Should be fun, as usual!