Spurrier (Steven) Papers, 1954-2021

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Summary

Title:
Steven Spurrier Papers
Dates:
1954-2021
Creators:
Spurrier, Steven and Spurrier, Arabella
Abstract:
The Steven Spurrier Papers documents the life of Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant, writer, founder of the Academie du Vin and orchestrator, along with Patricia Gastaud-Gallagher, of the 1976 Judgment of Paris. The collection contains articles and newsclippings written by and about Spurrier, correspondence, journals, wine event programs and menus, and photographs.
Extent:
2.2 linear feet
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Steven Spurrier Papers, D-690, Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains personal and professional correspondence, a large collection of articles written by Spurrier, newspapers and clippings, travel documents, papers on the 1976 Judgment of Paris and subsequent anniversary tastings, plans for a documentary project on the event (2018), Bottle Shock movie, menus and programs for various wine tastings and wine industry events, Saintsbury Club programs, journals written by Spurrier, one from about 1967 and the others from the 2000s, business cards, photographs, slides, negatives, and materials about Spurrier's life. The materials range from the 1950s through 2021, with the bulk of correspondence being between 2010 to 2019. Some materials are in French and German.

Biographical / historical:

Steven Spurrier (1941-2021) is described in his autobiography "A Life in Wine" as a "wine merchant, world traveler, explorer of cellar and vineyard" whose long and storied career in the wine industry led him through many different facets of the wine world, including wine seller, teacher, taster, award-winning columnist, grower, and winemaker (Spurrier 2020, 7). Spurrier is perhaps most well-known for the 1976 Judgment of Paris, a groundbreaking wine tasting credited with propelling California wines to new heights and causing a lasting impact on the global wine market. In memoirs about Spurrier, friends and colleagues describe him as "an unforgettable force in the cause of fine wine" (Caillard qtd in Spurrier 2020, 17) and "a real disrupter in the world of fine wines, championing the recognition of quality beyond preconceived ideas, origin, or history." (Chadwick qtd in Spurrier 2020, 16).

Spurrier officially entered the wine trade in 1964, but his passion for wine began when he was 13 and his grandfather allowed him to try a glass of Cockburn's 1908 Port. Spurrier describes this as his "Damascene moment, the moment when the seed was firmly planted for my life in wine" (2020, 47). In 1971, after four years spent working as an apprentice wine merchant, Spurrier moved to France and subsequently purchased a wine shop "Les Caves de la Madeleine." By 1973 Spurrier founded "Academie du Vin," the first bilingual wine school in France.

The Judgment of Paris

In 1976 Spurrier and Patricia Gastaud-Gallagher, the director of the Academie du Vin, organized a wine tasting in celebration of the American Bicentennial. The tasting highlighted wines from small family-run wineries in California, the final selections handpicked by Spurrier. In order for the wines to be judged fairly and without any nationalistic or institutional bias by the French judges, Spurrier opted to change the event into a blind tasting (Spurrier 2020, 122-127), a decision that Mark Andrew (wine expert and co-founder of Noble Rot), recalls as "a very innovative way to compare and contrast wines" at the time (CNN 2021). Spurrier had intended the event to bring exposure to California wines, to prove they could compete on a global scale. However, in an unforeseen upset, California wines came out on top, with California's 1973 Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena winning the white wine category and California's 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag's Leap Wine Cellars narrowly winning the red category, despite the judges taking more care to determine the origin of the red wines and subsequently rating California wines much lower in an effort not to replicate the results of the white wine tasting (Spurrier 2020, 132-133).

Andrews described the tasting as a "seismic moment in the modern history of wine, because it demonstrated that not only were New World wines worth paying attention to, but that many of the greatest palates in France – in a blind tasting scenario – actually preferred them" (CNN Travel 2021). George Tabor of Time magazine was present for the tasting and coined the name "Judgment of Paris" for which the tasting is now famously known (Spurrier 2020, 129). Robert Mondavi wrote in his autobiography that "The Paris Tasting was an enormous event in the history of California winemaking. It put us squarely on the world map of great wine-producing regions…people had a new respect for what we were doing, for they saw we could make wines as good as France's best" (Qtd in Spurrier 2020, 137). The tasting elevated California wines, and specifically Napa Valley wines to new heights and was replicated many times over the years, including in 2006 when Spurrier organized a re-enactment of the event to judge the original red wines and California wines claimed the five top places (140).

Following the Judgment of Paris, Spurrier spent the next several years cultivating his relationships with wine producers, traveling to host wine tastings, and building up his shop to become "one of the best-stocked wine shops in Paris" (Spurrier 2020, 141). He explored a number of joint business ventures, including mail-order sales, writing scripts for a wine-centric soap opera, and entering the restaurant business as a partner at two different restaurants. In 1979 Spurrier and his wife Arabella and daughter moved to New York to attempt to set up a wine school similar to the Academie. This venture ultimately failed and Spurrier and family moved back to the UK.

The 1980s proved to be a decade of change for Spurrier. With his relocation to London, Spurrier was offered the opportunity to design a wine course for Christie's Education and in 1982 Spurrier began as director of the Christie's Wine Course. In 1983 Spurrier was asked to be a judge at the Sonoma County Wine Fair, which was the first of many judging positions Spurrier would accept (Spurrier 2020, 175-176). The 1980s also saw Spurrier begin a new venture as a wine writer. He wrote six books over the course of the next 40 years and became a columnist and wine correspondent for several publications. He also joined the Circle of Wine Writers and served as chairman and president for two terms each (180). The 1980s also proved to be a difficult financial time for Spurrier, with a series of financial setbacks leading him to sell his wine shop, restaurant, and all other interests in France in the late 80s.

In 1989 Spurrier was hired on as a wine consultant for Singapore Airlines, which he continued at until 2014. He also served as a consultant for other firms over the years, such as Harrods and Hediard. In 1993 Spurrier began writing for Decanter magazine where he later became a consultant editor. While at Decanter he developed the Decanter World Wine Awards in 2004 and served as the chair. He would later be nominated as 2017 Decanter Man of the Year. In 2006 he was instrumental in the founding of the Wine Society of India, where he served as chairman. In 2016 Spurrier was elected as honorary president of the Wine and Spirit Education Trust.

In 2009 Spurrier once again struck out into a new corner of the wine industry, this time as a wine producer. He turned his Dorset farm estate into Bride Valley Vineyard and in 2014 presented his own wines for the first time, at the Liberty Wines' annual trade tasting. Spurrier recalled that "Presenting my own product was a brand-new and exciting experience" (2020, 244).

Between his consulting work and wine judging, Spurrier traveled around the world many times over, and had participated in wine events on every continent. In 2019 alone, at the age of 78, he attended events in France, Italy, Romania, Canada, Oregon, and Uruguay, and in the early months of 2020 Spurrier gave a masterclass in Budapest, was a judge for the Virginia's Governor's Cup, and attended the launch of an education and tasting center in Toronto in March, his last public event before the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020. Spurrier died of cancer on March 9th, 2021 at Bride Valley Vineyard.

Sources

"Academie Du Vin," July 8, 2019. https://academieduvin.com/.

Academie Du Vin Library. "The Judgement of Paris, the Historic 1976 Tasting That Revolutionized," September 3, 2020. https://academieduvinlibrary.com/blogs/blog/the-judgement-of-paris-the-historic-1976-tasting-that-revolutionized-wine.

Bride Valley. "About Steven Spurrier." Accessed May 21, 2024. https://bridevalleyvineyard.com/about-steven-spurrier/.

Bride Valley. "Judgement of Paris." Accessed May 21, 2024. https://bridevalleyvineyard.com/judgement-of-paris/.

CNN, Jacopo Prisco. "Judgment of Paris: The Tasting That Changed Wine Forever." CNN, September 24, 2021. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/judgment-of-paris-wine-tasting-cmd/index.html.

Decanter. "Steven Spurrier, Author at Decanter." Accessed May 21, 2024. https://www.decanter.com/author/stevenspurrier/.

Mercer, Chris. "Wine World Legend Steven Spurrier, 1941-2021." Decanter, March 9, 2021. https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/steven-spurrier-dies-wine-world-tributes-454555/.

Ridge Vineyards. "The Judgement of Paris | about the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting," n.d. https://www.ridgewine.com/about/explore/judgment-of-paris/.

Spurrier, Steven. A Life in Wine. Ascot [England: Académie du Vin Library, 2020. Print.

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. "1976 Judgment of Paris Blind Tasting | Stag's Leap Wine Cellars." Accessed May 21, 2024. https://www.stagsleapwinecellars.com/estate/judgment-of-paris/.

Acquisition information:
This collection was donated by Steven Spurrier in 2020 and Arabella Spurrier in 2023.
Processing information:

Elizabeth Wood created this finding aid with updates by Michelle Trujillo.

During archival processing, variation in the spelling of "judgement" and "judgment" is present. The British spelling "judgement" appears in collection titles and creator-supplied descriptions (e.g., Judgement of Paris), while the American spelling "judgment" may appear in standardized notes or added description, as well as in materials created by American record creators or publications, or as applied by archival processing staff.

Arrangement:

The records are arranged in six series, with Series 2 further arranged in subseries.

Arrangement of the materials is as follows:

Series 1: Professional activities and wine society memberships. Arrangement: alphabetical by title.

Series 2: Published Articles and Projects

Subseries 2.1: Decanter. Arrangement: Chronological by date.

Subseries 2.2: The Field. Arrangement: Chronological by date.

Subseries 2.3: General Articles by Spurrier and Others. Arrangement: Chronological by date.

Subseries 2.4: A Life in Wine Research Material. Arrangement: Chronological by date.

Series 3: Academie du Vin. Arrangement: Alphabetical by title.

Series 4: Tasting Notebooks. Arrangement: Alphanumerical, first by title, then by date.

Series 5: Judgment of Paris. Arrangement: Alphabetical by title.

Series 6: Personal. Arrangement: Alphabetical by title.

Physical location:
This collection is stored off-site at the Northern Regional Library Facility. Researchers should contact Archives and Special Collections to request collections in advance.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Biography by Elizabeth Wood
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-05-20 14:21:54 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research use.

Terms of access:

All applicable copyrights for the collection are protected under chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code. Requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California as the owner of the physical items. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Steven Spurrier Papers, D-690, Special Collections, UC Davis Library, University of California, Davis.

Location of this collection:
University of California, Davis, Special Collections, UC Davis Library
100 NW Quad
Davis, CA 95616-5292, US
Contact:
(530) 752-1621
speccoll@ucdavis.edu
Website