Judgement + 50 – a historic tasting event * SAVE THE DATE *
Time & Location
21 May 2026, 19:00 – 23:00
The 'Rag' - Army & Navy Cub, London, 36-39 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5JN, UK
About
Introduction
Fifty years ago, the wine world was rocked by a blind tasting held in Paris, during which unknown Napa Valley wines outscored top French wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy. No other event and its ensuing media explosion has catalyzed wine production as much, creating the global industry of today. The story has been memorialized in the book Judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine by George M. Taber, and the 2008 movie Bottle Shock, starring Alan Rickman and Chris Pine.
IWFS is celebrating the 50th anniversary of this “Judgement of Paris” by organising an international blind wine tasting which pits French classics against challengers from around the world. Hundreds of participants will be involved. No other wine society in the world is able to organize such an event on a global scale.
Who wins – France or somewhere else? You decide!
Event Description
Like 50 years ago, IWFS’s Judgement + 50 will taste two flights of wine - Chardonnays and Bordeaux Blends. To reflect today’s broad wine world, we will expand beyond a California vs France head-to-head tasting to include entries from France, North and South America, South Africa and Oceania.
IWFS Capital Branch and London Branch are jointly holding a tasting event in London. We are coordinating with other branches around the world in a series of local/regional tasting events during the week leading up to and including Saturday 23rd May. Locations will include
London UK
Manchester UK
Leeds UK
Bristol UK
Singapore
New South Wales
California
The results will be collated and tabulated for media announcements on Sunday 24th May.
More details and ticket sales will follow in the coming weeks, so watch this space!
