Fifty years ago, on May 24, 1976, the world of wine changed irrevocably thanks to a historic blind tasting competition pitting French wines against California wines. The result, giving victory to the United States in both white and red wine categories, was later called the Judgement of Paris.  Saturday evening, guests at Deer Valley Resort celebrated the tasting’s anniversary with a paired dinner featuring Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, the vineyard that won first place 50 years ago for its cabernet sauvignon.  Courchevel Bistro Chef Clement Gelas was the featured chef for the meal, which was part of the resort’s Taste of Luxury dinner series.  Jacob Musyt, the resort’s vice president of food and beverage, said he knew Gelas before taking the role at Deer Valley and invited the French chef to be one of the first guests in the early days of Taste of Luxury. Gelas’ event has since become an annual tradition, held in the summertime on the Deer Valley Plaza deck. It was ironic, given the theme of the night’s dinner, to have a French chef behind the menu, joked Stag’s Leap Head Winemaker Marcus Notaro.  Notaro said he played hooky from the vineyard’s record-early picking season, which started Wednesday, to attend the dinner. “I raced over here, and, needless to say, my crew has no idea where I am,” he joked. “As far as they know, my truck broke down somewhere in the middle of something.” The winemaker said the event was special on a personal note because it was the first wine dinner he attended along with his newly 21-year-old daughter, earning cheers from the crowd.  Michael and Kathy Landon, a couple from Salt Lake City, are wine enthusiasts who attended Saturday’s dinner at Deer Valley Resort. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Husband and wife Michael and Kathy Landon had come up from their home in Salt Lake City for the event. They said they’d planned a little staycation from the dinner, staying at a hotel a short walk from the Deer Valley Cafe so they could “stumble home.” The couple considers themselves wine enthusiasts, often planning vacations around vineyards like recent trips to New Zealand, Italy and Washington state. They also did their “research,” watching the 2008 film “Bottle Shock,” featuring Chris Pine, which tells the story of the early days of California winemaking and the Judgement of Paris. For those who weren’t as knowledgeable, Notaro gave an overview of the historic tasting and Stag’s Leap founder Warren Winiarski. “Warren had moved his family to Napa Valley in the mid ’60s, and at that time, Napa was not the winery Disneyland that it is today,” Notaro said. “It really was still recovering from that great American idea called Prohibition.” Winiarski met a winemaker named Nathan Fay, the first person to plant cabernet grapes in the region. Turned out that not only did those grapes thrive, but they made good wines, inspiring Winiarski, whose 1973 cabernet sauvignon was a winner at the Paris tasting. The victory didn’t just change the game for American wines, but inspired other countries like Italy and Spain to level up their winemaking, too, Notaro said. Today, Notaro carries on the Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars legacy, and throughout the dinner he introduced the wines for each course, explaining his process for developing each one, including the impacts of weather, barrels and blends.  In between courses, including a Utah melon gazpacho, a Dungeness crab salad and a coffee-rubbed duck breast, Notaro and chef Gelas walked around to interact with guests and answer any questions. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Courchevel Bistro chef Clement Gelas designed the menu for Saturday’s wine dinner, with courses like a crab salad, left, and a duck breast entree designed to pair with a series of Stag’s Leap wines. The winemaker said that, while it was his first visit to Deer Valley, he enjoys any chance to come to Utah, not just for the mountains, but for the nostalgia, too. “I remember as a pretty young winemaker coming out to a winemaker dinner in Salt Lake,” he said. “It was so much fun because the people were so freaking happy. I’ll never forget that. … I love making wine, and I want everybody to enjoy the wine. And that dinner was just so jacked up.” The Landons were especially giddy for the cabernet sauvignon portion of the meal — along with most of the crowd, who cheered when Notaro announced, “It’s cabernet from here on out!”  Depending on where cabernet is grown, it takes on a different personality, Notaro explained. It’s what they hoped to showcase with the three wines on the menu: Stag’s Leap labels “Artemis,” “Fay Vineyard” and “SLV Vineyard.” The last two were poured as a side-by-side pairing for the final entree, designed to highlight the differences between the soils of the two vineyards. “These are very different. I want them to be,” said Notaro. “I feel like it’s my job to maintain the identity of the place, not only the character of Stag’s Leap, its classic elegance and flavor, but to maintain the individual personalities of these two vineyards.” Chef Clement Gelas, a French chef based in Park City, returns to Deer Valley Resort for his annual Taste of Luxury appearance. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Deer Valley’s director of beverage Josh Hockman closed out the night with a final toast to the resort team, welcoming them to the deck for a round of applause.  The next Taste of Luxury dinner, happening Friday, features Kansas City-style barbecue chef Ryan Arensdorf. To learn more, visit deervalley.com/things-to-do/activities/taste-of-luxury-series.  The post Napa vineyard stops at Deer Valley for 50th anniversary of pivotal wine tasting: the Judgement of Paris appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less