The Judgement of Clapham Junction
BY NEAL MARTIN |
At this year’s annual "Southwold" tasting, one unmistakable voice was missing. That voice, which might be described as “received pronunciation with occasional stutter”, would often be heard defending wines being given a rough ride by the more “pugilistic” members of our tasting group.
“Well, I think you’re being unfair,” that voice would pipe up. “I think they’re jolly good wines.”
That voice belonged to Steven Spurrier. Last year, Spurrier joined the fine wine bacchanal up in the sky, where I imagine he is still diligently jotting tasting notes, defending downtrodden wines, chewing the fat with Broadbent and engaging in conversation with any young person with the smallest interest in fermented grape juice. That’s how Steven was.
We wanted to celebrate his extraordinary life, and extraordinary is no exaggeration if you read his biography (I am still gobsmacked to read how he came downstairs at his London apartment to find Jimi Hendrix.) So, this year we re-enacted his legendary Judgement of Paris tasting in order to raise a glass and drink copious amounts of delicious wine.
Convening at the outstanding Hatched restaurant in Clapham Junction after a full day tasting 2017s, each person contributed a bottle from either the Old or New World. Today, the landscape of wine is unrecognizable compared to that of 1976, when the Judgement of Paris took place. Unwittingly, that tasting shifted the axis of wine appreciation. I feel it is sometimes misconstrued as California triumphing over Bordeaux. If you examine tasters’ scores, France did not perform badly. The ripples came from the unanticipated result, at least for the French tasters, that proved California was producing wines just as good as – and occasionally better than – classic French regions. It proved that history, high prices and let’s be honest, a bit of Gallic snobbery, did not guarantee superiority. The Judgement of Paris had the same effect as punk music. The Sex Pistols’ Anarchy in the UK was released only six months after Spurrier’s tasting and changed people’s mindset, inspired a new generation to just get up on the stage, make a noise and pursue their dreams. Likewise, the Judgement of Paris gave notice that fine wine was not exclusive to Bordeaux or Burgundy and their roll call of famous names and expensive bottles. If you have the right bit of land and a decent winery, along with talent and a hard-work ethic, then there is nothing to stop you from making world class wine, wherever you are.
No tasting has altered the world of wine as the late Steven Spurrier's Judgement of Paris in 1976. As a member of our "Southwold" group, we honoured our departed friend with an informal recreation of that epochal event last October with a raft of spectacular wines from Bordeaux and California.
