On May 24, 1976, inside a banquet hall at the Paris InterContinental, two neat rows of wine glasses sat on tables with their labels hidden. Nine judges—every one of them French—took part in a blind tasting that organizers had expected to be little more than a publicity boost for California wines.
The results, however, flipped expectations on their head. In the red category, California’s Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars took first place, and Chateau Montelena, also from California, won the white. Time reporter George Taber immediately dubbed the stunning upset the “Judgment of Paris.”
May 24, 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of that tasting. I turned my attention to one of the twelve wineries that faced the judges that day—an estate whose story still resonates.
◆ The only winery judged in both categories
Freemark Abbey was the only American winery at the Judgment of Paris to submit both a red and a white: a 1969 Cabernet Sauvignon and a 1972 Chardonnay. The Chardonnay landed in the top 10, while the 1969 Cabernet stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the great Bordeaux châteaux.
When the tasting was re-created in Tokyo in 2017, Freemark Abbey’s 1969 Cabernet actually finished first—proof of the wine’s classic, age-worthy structure. But the winery’s reputation was built long before 1976.
◆ Land founded by Napa Valley’s first female winemaker
In 1881, Josephine Tychson and her husband John purchased 150 acres north of St. Helena and planted vines. After John’s death in 1886, Josephine—at a time when women rarely owned property or ran businesses—kept the vineyard going on her own. She built a cellar with a 30,000-gallon capacity and is recorded as Napa Valley’s first female winemaker. Although she later sold the property after pest damage in the early 1890s, her legacy endured on that land.
The estate was reborn as Freemark Abbey in 1941, a name created from the initials and names of Charles Freeman, Marquand Foster, and Albert “Abbey” Ahern.
In 2020—140 years after the original plantings—a woman winemaker took the reins again: Kristy Melton. She’s been recognized by Wine Enthusiast’s “40 Under 40” and named one of Drinks Business’s “30 Under 40 to Watch.”
◆ Rutherford dust—the essence of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon
Freemark Abbey’s Cabernet Sauvignon is rooted in the Rutherford Bench, the stretch of Napa where the vineyard sits. That patch of earth puts just the right amount of stress on the vines to concentrate the fruit, producing wines with focused intensity.
From that soil comes the so-called “Rutherford dust”—a dusty tannic texture that’s central to Freemark Abbey’s Cabernet profile. In the glass you’ll find a deep garnet color and layered aromas of blackberry, blackcurrant, dark chocolate, cedar, and leather. On the palate, creamy tannins balance ripe fruit, finishing with notes of cocoa powder, black cherry, and a hint of pepper.
◆ A witness to Napa Valley’s 140-year rise
The Judgment of Paris was about more than French wines losing a contest; it raised the larger question of where authority comes from. In a blind tasting, with every label hidden, only the wine’s true quality mattered—and that day put Napa Valley on the global wine map.
Freemark Abbey was there to witness it. From Josephine Tychson’s solo stewardship in the 1880s, through the upheaval of 1976, to the return of a woman winemaker in 2020, the winery’s 140-year story mirrors Napa Valley’s journey onto the world stage.
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