The Judgment of Berlin

Twenty-eight years after the earthshaking "Judgment of Paris" wine tasting in 1976, a similar tectonic shift took place in 2004 Berlin.  If you recall, it was the Stag's Leap Wine Cellars 1974 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon that won Best of Show back in '76 sending the wine world recoiling into a protracted spell of the heebee-jeebies.  Back then California was a primitive backwater, unworthy to be on the same table as sophisticated Europe.  In 2004 Berlin it was Chile's time to play "David" to King Europe's "Goliath."  Chile took the top two places out of a field of sixteen of the finest wines in the world at Berlin.

The prevailing wisdom with regard to Chilean wines is that they are a great value.  We consider ourselves to be very much in that camp.  We even extend our valuation to their finer, higher ticket types that compete at higher price points.  Recently we sold through a case of Apaltagua Domus Aurea at eighty dollars a bottle.  That fine red would have compared well with acclaimed types at fifty dollars higher.  So as much as we enjoy our Chilean wines, we have to admit we think of them in relative terms, with the underlying assumption being that the other one, the one the Chilean is being compared to, is really the better wine.

The Berlin quaff-off was the project of Eduardo Chadwick of Vina Errazuriz located in the Aconcagua Valley of Chile, forty or so miles north of Santiago.  Among the French wine glitterati Chadwick had the audacity to challenge were Bordeaux Chateaux Lafite, Latour and Margaux.  Among the Italian Super Tuscans were Tignanello and Sassacaia.  Of course, it was a blind tasting and the judges were beyond reproach.  

Think Chadwick had any anxieties as the first glass was poured?  He claims it would have been a crushing defeat if his wines failed to measure up.  We're not so sure.  Chile isn't really supposed to compete with first world wines, is it?

The number one wine at the Judgment of Berlin tasting was the 2000 Vinedo Chadwick, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon effort.  Number two was Chadwick's 2001 Sena, a Bordeaux blend featuring 75% Cabernet.  Number three was the 2000 Chateau Lafite.  Number four was the 2001 Margaux.  Five was the Sena 2000.  Six was Chadwick 2001 and down at number nine was Chadwick's Dom Maximiano.  So out of sixteen of the world's best wines; six Chileans, six French and four Italians; Chile scored five of the top ten.  Not Bad.

Since then the tastings have been repeated twenty-two times around the world and the Chileans have repeated similar results to Berlin.  Fifty-five percent of the time they dominate the top five and 90% of the time they place in the top three.  Not bad.