What happens when a $15 wine goes head-to-head with a $1,000 First Growth in a blind tasting? Sometimes the underdog wins. And sometimes it’s not even close.
I’m counting down the 10 biggest upsets in wine history, the moments when David didn’t just compete with Goliath, he knocked him clean out. From the legendary 1976 Judgment of Paris (California destroyed French First Growths so badly the judges demanded their scorecards back) to a $7 Trader Joe’s Pinot Noir beating bottles five times its price in my own tasting.
These blind tastings prove that reputation and price tags don’t always tell the whole story. English sparkling wine fooling French experts in Paris. Canadian Chardonnay beating Burgundy. Chilean Cabernet taking down Château Lafite. A $15 Chinese wine winning against the world’s best. These are the stories that changed wine forever and remind us you don’t need to spend a fortune to find greatness.
I’m Dustin, and I’ve tasted thousands of wines—my mission is to make wine accessible and fun for everyone by cutting through the snobbery and complication with honest, helpful reviews for non-wine people.
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TIMESTAMP
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:36 Upset #10
00:02:37 Upset #9
00:03:33 Upset #8
00:04:18 Upset #7
00:05:59 Upset #6
00:07:17 Upset #5
00:08:40 Upset #4
00:09:48 Upset #3
00:10:51 Upset #2
00:11:37 Upset #1
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21 Comments
Most of them become expensive after they won the expensive wines
Gandolini is also a good example, about HKD300, defeating first growth Bordeaux in China blind tasting, judged by several MWs, price rises to ~HKD1500 now
Another great video, as always! Judgment of Paris is particularly funny because the French tried to hide it, but there was one American journalist who shared findings with the rest of the wine world and that's created Napa as we know it today. And old school Napa is a very different beast than what we get today, for the most part.
I just learned this year about Stag's Leap Wine Cellars win for Cabernet Sauvignon at the same event that Chateau Montelena won. Only because of the movie! I just started drinking wine this past November and I am loving it! Thank you for your content and I am on your email list! I love it!!!
wine content without wine tasting is a clickbait
I recently tasted a Chateau La Tour Du Pin Figeac 2016 from St. Emilion, it comes in at around $30 but it tasted like a hundred dollar wine. I couldn't quite put a finger on what expensive wine it tastes like (or beats), but the layers, the complexity all screamed top notch wine making. I would love to hear others' opinions too if someone had tried it as well!
Such a great video, what a story!
Nice job. I only knew of the Bordeaux upset, not the others. Thanks for sharing.
For me, those judgements show that you just pay the big bucks for the history, reputation and scarcity of bottles from the famous wineries. My perceived line is somewhere between 50-100$, at this point, it's not about the winemaking / attention to detail / hand selection anymore. I would love to hear your thoughts about the perceived parkerization of wines or the gravitation towards a neutral "international" taste. I recently had those modern barolos and some burgundy pinot's around 50$ which all might as well have been hot climate bordeaux blends. Full bodied, opulent fruit, quite a lot of wood, medium acidty at best, closer to an italian primitivo than what you would expect from their terroir/style. Sorry for the rant, but I'm getting tired of everything tasting more and more the same, it just becomes grey. Like with all the AI stuff we see/hear, all just becomes grey, no character, no rough edges, just bland and boring 🤷🏻♂️
Imagine all those snooty European sommeliers. Already biased to French wines from experience, but getting schooled by their own palettes.
Great concept, fun video. Thank you. I believe there are many great value bottles out there and I appreciate you trying to find and highlight some of them for us viewers.
Could you do a wine review of penultimate and the mascot
Great video! Well, British sparkling already are the next big thing, they've massively improved during the last years and they keep winning blind tastings, it's not a fluke. Judgment of Paris is iconic, New world wine ftw! Cheers
Thanks for all rewies, always well done!
But what bout Napa valley? Those wines seem not tastable because the extreme prices.
Are there any good ones at a reasonable price? 20-30 dollars?
I've had a couple of these wines (albeit not in the same vintage)! Nytember is, indeed, excellent sparkling wine, with wonderful minerality, acidity, and brioche nose, and costs a shade less than Champagne (IIRC, my bottle was $30ish?). Montelena still makes amazing, classic chard — and Mike Grgich (Montelena's winemaker for the '73 chard) founded his winery and continued making amazing wines (seriously — the Chicago Tribune once bought every American-made chardonnay they could find, and did a blind tasting. Grgich won that too) until his retirement; his successor is his nephew Ivo who was his assistant winemaker for years, and has maintained the quality and house style. And Stag's Leap Fay is the spiritual successor to the OG Judgement of Paris wine, as the Paris cab was made using fruit from Nathan Fay's vineyard. And Penfold's Grange, though now not even remotely affordable, is excellent, if someone else is picking up the tab 🙂
lol
un americain qui parle de pinard et melange meme les cepages
C est comparer des carottes et des patates, ca ne se compare pas
Amateur
I think the sommeliers are biased to not pick french wines purposefully, they immediately know which wine it is when they taste a top tier bordeaux or Burgundy, but intentionally decided to downgrade them
I'm a new follower to your channel, but let's go Canada!! NOTL and PEC regions are such amazing wine regions making amazing pinot and cab franc!!
Thanks for another great video.
What about the Oregon Pinot smashing the DRC competition?
Dude. Clos des mouché? That means the enclosure that has had its nose blown. It’s pronounced Clos des moosh (it means flies, probably fruit flies). For the Champagne, that’s one off, and the British sparklers cost as much as grower Champagne. So yes, they’re gaining ground but not sure “underdogs” (at least if price is a criterion). This is true for most of these tastings. Fun anecdotes but not sustained greatness (I’ve had a few Canadian chards and some were good but not many, and again, the good ones aren’t cheap). .