The Judgment of Princeton was a wine tasting (or blind tasting) event held on 8 June 2012 during a conference of the American Association of Wine Economists held at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. The purpose of this event was to compare, by a blind tasting, of several French wines against wines produced in New Jersey in order to gauge the quality and development of the New Jersey wine industry. Because New Jersey's wine industry is relatively young and small, it has received little attention in the world wine market. The state's wine production has experienced growth in recent years largely as a result of state legislators offering new opportunities for winery licensing and repealing Prohibition-era laws that have constrained the industry's development in past years. This event was modeled after a 1976 blind tasting event dubbed the "Judgment of Paris" in which French wines were compared to several wines produced in California when that state's wine industry was similarly young and developing. The New Jersey wine industry heralded the results and asserted that the rating of New Jersey wines by the blind tasting's judges was a victory for the state's wine industry. [1]
The Judgment of Princeton, held at Princeton University on Friday, June 8, 2012, was a structured blind tasting of top New Jersey wines against top French wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] The event was based on the famous 1976 Judgment of Paris (wine), in which California wines famously beat French wines in a blind tasting. The Judgment of Princeton was spearheaded by George M. Taber, who had been in Paris for the original Judgment of Paris and later written a book on the subject. [8] Along with Taber, the tasting was organized and carried out by economists Orley Ashenfelter, Richard E. Quandt, Karl Storchmann, and Mark Censits, owner of CoolVines, a local wine and spirits shop, who acted in the role of merchant Steven Spurrier, gathering the competition wines from the NJ winemakers and selecting and sourcing the French wines against which they were to be pitted. The French wines were sourced from the same estates as the original wines of the Paris tasting. The event also included other members of the American Association of Wine Economists, who then posted the data set from the tastings online as an open invitation to further analysis. [9] [10]
Of the nine judges in Princeton, six were American, two French, and one Belgian. They are listed here in alphabetical order.
Name | Affiliation | Nationality |
---|---|---|
Jean-Marie Cardebat | Université de Bordeaux | France |
Tyler Colman | DrVino.com | USA |
John Foy | The Star-Ledger, thewineodyssey.com | USA |
Olivier Gergaud | BEM Management School | France |
Robert Hodgson | Fieldbrook Winery | USA |
Danièle Meulders | Université Libre de Bruxelles | Belgium |
Linda Murphy | Decanter (magazine), American Wine | USA |
Jamal Rayyis | Gilbert & Gaillard Wine Magazine | USA |
Francis Schott | Stage Left Restaurant, RestaurantGuysRadio.com | USA |
The judges were told, in advance, similar to the set up in the Judgment of Paris, that six wines in each flight of ten were from New Jersey. Subsequently, several of the judges complained about the revelation of their judgments, as also occurred in the Judgment of Paris.
In 1999, Quandt and Ashenfelter published a paper in the journal "Chance" that questioned the statistical interpretation of the results of the 1976 Judgment of Paris. The authors noted that a "side-by-side chart of best-to-worst rankings of 18 wines by a roster of experienced tasters showed about as much consistency as a table of random numbers," and reinterpreted the data, altering the results slightly, using a formula that they argued was more statistically valid (and less conclusive). [11] Quandt’s later paper "On Wine Bullshit" poked fun at the seemingly random strings of adjectives that often accompanied experts' published wine ratings. [12] More recent work by Robin Goldstein, Hilke Plassmann, Robert Hodgson, and other economists and behavioral scientists has shown high variability and inconsistency both within and between blind tasters; and little correlation has been found between price and preference, even among wine experts, in tasting settings in which labels and prices have been concealed. [13] [14]
The blind tasting panel was made up of nine expert judges, with each wine graded out of 20 points. The tasting was performed behind closed doors at Princeton University, and results were kept secret from the judges until they were analyzed by Quandt and announced later that day. According to an algorithm devised by Quandt, each judge's set of ratings was converted to a set of personal rankings, which were in turn tabulated cumulatively by “votes against," with a lower score better (representing higher cumulative rankings) and a higher score worse (representing lower cumulative rankings). The data were then tested by Quandt for statistically significant differences between tasters and wines using the same software he had previously employed to re-analyze the Judgment of Paris results. [15]
Shortly after the tasting was completed and the results tabulated, Taber, Quandt, and Ashenfelter announced the results to an audience of media, New Jersey winemakers, wine economists, and the judges themselves. The event took place in an auditorium at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs as part of the American Association of Wine Economists’ annual meeting. Due to the technical limitations of Quandt's custom-built, floppy-disk-powered FORTRAN system, it was necessary for Goldstein to scrawl the results onto a giant chalkboard, eliciting murmurs of disapproval from the audience over his poor handwriting. [16]
“Votes against” in the Ashenfelter-Quandt methodology are indicated here. (The maximum possible score in this tasting would have been 9, and the minimum 90.) Only one wine was significantly better, statistically, than the other wines: the Beaune 1er Cru Clos de Mouches 2010, the cheapest of the four white Burgundies in the lot. The rest of the wines were statistically indistinguishable from each other based on the data, meaning that no conclusions can be drawn from the rankings of wines #2 to #10. [16]
Significantly better than the other wines:
Rank | Votes Against | Winery | Wine | Vintage | Origin |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 33.5 | Joseph Drouhin | Beaune Clos des Mouches | 2009 | France |
Not statistically distinguishable from each other:
Rank | Votes Against | Winery | Wine | Vintage | Origin |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2. | 38 | Unionville Vineyards | Pheasant Hill Chardonnay | 2010 | New Jersey |
3. | 45.5 | Heritage Vineyards | Chardonnay | 2010 | New Jersey |
4. | 47.5 | Silver Decoy Winery | Black Feather Chardonnay | 2010 | New Jersey |
5. | 52 | Domaine Leflaive | Puligny-Montrachet | 2009 | France |
6. (tie) | 53 | Bellview Winery | Chardonnay | 2010 | New Jersey |
6. (tie) | 53 | Marc-Antonin Blain | Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru | 2009 | France |
8. | 54.5 | Amalthea Cellars | Chardonnay | 2008 | New Jersey |
9. | 57.5 | Ventimiglia Vineyard | Chardonnay | 2010 | New Jersey |
10. | 60.5 | Jean Latour-Labille | Meursault-Charmes Premier Cru | 2008 | France |
“Votes against” in the Ashenfelter-Quandt methodology are indicated. (The maximum possible score in this tasting would have been 9, and the minimum 90.) The only wine that was significantly worse, statistically, than the other wines was #10, the Four JG’s Cabernet Franc 2008, from New Jersey. The rest of the wines were statistically indistinguishable from each other based on the data, meaning that no conclusions can be drawn from the rankings of wines #1 to #9. [16]
Not statistically distinguishable from each other:
Rank | Votes Against | Winery | Wine | Vintage | Origin |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 35 | Château Mouton-Rothschild | Pauillac | 2004 | France |
2. | 40 | Château Haut-Brion | Pessac-Léognan | 2004 | France |
3. | 40.5 | Heritage Vineyards | BDX (Bordeaux-style) | 2010 | New Jersey |
4. | 46 | Château Montrose | Saint-Estèphe | 2004 | France |
5. | 49 | Tomasello Winery | Cabernet Sauvignon Oak Reserve | 2007 | New Jersey |
6. | 50.5 | Château Léoville-Las Cases | Saint-Julien | 2004 | France |
7. | 52 | Bellview Winery | Lumière (Bordeaux-style) | 2010 | New Jersey |
8. | 54 | Silver Decoy Winery | Cabernet Franc | 2008 | New Jersey |
9. | 55 | Amalthea Cellars | Europa VI (Bordeaux-style) | 2008 | New Jersey |
Significantly worse than the other wines:
Rank | Votes Against | Winery | Wine | Vintage | Origin |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
10. | 73 | Four JG's Orchards & Vineyards | Cabernet Franc | 2008 | New Jersey |
Robert McDowell Parker Jr. is a retired U.S. wine critic. His wine ratings on a 100-point scale and his newsletter The Wine Advocate are influential in American wine buying and are therefore a major factor in setting the prices for newly released Bordeaux wines. This made him the most widely known and influential wine critic in the world.
Wine Spectator is an American lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture, and gives out ratings to certain types of wine. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertainment pieces. Each issue also includes from 400 to more than 1,000 wine reviews, which consist of wine ratings and tasting notes. The publication also awards its 100 chosen top wineries each year with the Winery of the Year Awards.
The Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, also known as the Judgment of Paris, was a wine competition organized in Paris on 24 May 1976 by Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant and his colleague, Patricia Gallagher, in which French judges carried out two blind tasting comparisons: one of top-quality Chardonnays and another of red wines. A Napa wine rated best in each category, which caused surprise as France was generally regarded as being the foremost producer of the world's best wines. Spurrier sold only French wine and believed that the California wines would not win.
Blinded wine tasting is wine tasting undertaken in circumstances in which the tasters are kept unaware of the wines' identities. The blind approach is routine for wine professionals who wish to ensure impartiality in the judgment of the quality of wine during wine competitions or in the evaluation of a sommelier for professional certification. More recently wine scientists have used blinded tastings to explore the objective parameters of the human olfactory system as they apply to the ability of wine drinkers to identify and characterize the extraordinary variety of compounds that contribute to a wine’s aroma. Similarly, economists testing hypotheses relating to the wine market have used the technique in their research. Some blinded trials among wine consumers have indicated that people can find nothing in a wine's aroma or taste to distinguish between ordinary and pricey brands. Academic research on blinded wine tastings have also cast doubt on the ability of professional tasters to judge wines consistently.
Pierre Brejoux was Inspector General of the Appellation d'Origine Controlee Board, which controls the production of top French wines. he served as an expert wine taster in the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976. In the blind tasting, California wines won both the red and white wine categories. After the tasting, there were many calls for him to resign his position as Inspector General because so many people and groups were highly displeased with the results. He later revealed to George Taber that he traveled to California in 1974 and 'learned a lot - to my surprise...'. Brejoux also authored several books on French wine.
Christian Vannequé was a French sommelier and restaurateur.
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George McCaffrey Taber is a journalist and entrepreneur.
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Orley Clark Ashenfelter is an American economist and the Joseph Douglas Green 1895 Professor of Economics at Princeton University. His areas of specialization include labor economics, econometrics, and law and economics. He was influential in contributing to the applied turn in economics.
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Bellview Winery is a winery in the Landisville section of Buena in Atlantic County, New Jersey. A family produce farm since 1914, the vineyard was first planted in 2000, and opened to the public in 2001. Bellview has 40 acres of grapes under cultivation, and produces 8,000 cases of wine per year. The farm was named by the great-grandfather of the current owner, and is of Italian origin.
Old York Cellars is a winery in the Ringoes section of East Amwell in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Originally owned and established by the Fishers of Ringoes, the winery was purchased by David Wolin in 2008 and opened to the public in 2010. Old York Cellars has 12 acres of grapes under cultivation, and produces an estimated 3,600 cases of wine per year. The winery is named for the road where it is located.
Ventimiglia Vineyard is a winery in Wantage Township in Sussex County, New Jersey. The vineyard was first planted in 2002, and opened to the public in 2008. Ventimiglia has 5 acres of grapes under cultivation, and produces 1,000 cases of wine per year. The winery is named after the family that owns it.
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Tomasello Winery is a winery located in Hammonton in Atlantic County, New Jersey. Tomasello is the second-oldest active winery in the state, after Renault Winery. The vineyard was first planted in 1888, and opened to the public in 1933 after the end of Prohibition. Tomasello is one of the largest winegrowers in New Jersey, having 70 acres of grapes under cultivation, and producing 65,000 cases of wine per year. Although the winery is in Hammonton, most of the grapes are grown on three vineyards in the neighboring Winslow Township in Camden County. The winery is named after the family that owns it.
The American Association of Wine Economists (AAWE) is a non-profit, educational organization based in New York City.