At a recent event at UC Davis Shields Library, I learned a little about wine tasting as art and a lot about the “Judgment of Paris.” I knew little about either before this. This event was held on the first floor of the library in room 167, one of multiple weekly events that the library hosts in classrooms throughout the quarter.
Shields Library hosted “Movie and an Archive: ‘Bottle Shock’ and the True Events of the 1976 Judgment of Paris Wine Tasting,” in mid May. The library held a screening of the movie “Bottle Shock,” starring Chris Pine, Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman, served along with popcorn, and a discussion about how Napa got on the map as a wine place. The library created a special display of items in its Food and Wine Collections that tell the story of that put California wine on the global map, such as (played by Rickman). UC Davis also gets several shout-outs in the film for its wine expertise.
Guest speaker Elizabeth McQueen, assistant professor in the ý of Fine Arts at Florida State University, gave the audience perspective on wine tasting as art. She spoke specifically about the history of the events regarding the “Judgment of Paris.” This was a 1976 competition in France where six Californian wine academies were pitted against French wines. This event established Napa as true competitor in wine, its wines rivaling the quality of wine produced in France.
Interestingly, McQueen explained there is no real written evidence of the Judgment of Paris. The story as we know it now has been formed from the retelling of events and few archival materials that were saved from the competition. In the classroom, some of the archival material was set up, highlighting key figures in the Judgment of Paris event, as well as reviews to the movie “Bottle Shock.”
The movie followed the son of an owner of a failing winery in Napa who ultimately won the Judgment of Paris competition. Unfortunately, the movie excluded many key figures that were present in the real events. It was a very dramatic film that included emotional relationships and scenes between characters. Although the movie was not accurate to the events that took place in the real Judgment of Paris, I enjoyed Professor McQueen’s presentation that the real events cannot be removed from the plot of “Bottle Shock.”
The movie may initially seem very disconnected from UC Davis, but the saving grace for the plot of the failing winery was actually a visit to a fictional UC Davis Professor Saunders. A visit to campus saved the main characters from wasting hundreds of bottles of wine after misunderstanding the chemistry of oxidation. This fact, as I learned at the event, is appropriate as UC Davis holds one of the greatest archival collections of wine history in the country.
I left the event feeling educated on a history of wine that few people know about. An event and history so local to us was refreshing to learn.
Find upcoming and past events at the library: