June 15th, 2012--A DAY TO REMEMBER in New Jersey WINE HISTORY by Philip S.Kampe

'THE JUDGEMENT OF PRINCETON' wine tasting took place on June 15th, 2012, which was modeled after the famous 1976 'JUDGEMENT OF PARIS' blind wine tasting.
In the 1976 blind tasting ,California wines emerged as victors over the French wines, thus creating the present California wine frenzy.
George Taber, former journalist for TIME magazine, who covered the 1976 event, recreated the details to mirror the 1976 event. Scoring, like in 1976, was on a 20 point basis. A panel of nine judges was assembled to blind taste four French wines and six from New Jersey, from each of the three categories. The categories included white, 100% Chardonnay and reds that came from any of the Bordeaux blend grapes; Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot and had to be grown in New Jersey.
New Jersey wines for the competition were submitted to an informal panel of judges who were not eligible to taste wines at the final competition. 
The final panel of judges for the competition included vineyard owners, international wine critics and journalists, including three from Belgium and France. Each judge sampled ten wines from each class, white and red.
The results: New Jersey wines took three out of the top four in whites and ranked third and fifth highest in reds. The tasting took part at a four day conference on the campus of Princeton University, hosted by the American Association of Wine Economists.
Below are the rankings:
Whites
1 JOSEPH DROUHIN BEAUNE Clos MOUCHES 2009 (France)
2 UNIONVILLE Chardonnay 2010 (New Jersey)
3 HERITAGE Chardonnay 2010 (New Jersey)
4 SILVER DECOY "Black Feather" (New Jersey)
5 SOMAINE  LEFLAIVE  PULIGNY-MONTRACHET  GRAND  CRU  2009 (France)
6 (tied) BELLVIEW Chardonnay 2010 (New Jersey)
7 (tied) DOMAINE MACR-ANTONIN  BATARD-MONTRACHET GRAND CRU 2009 (France)
8 AMALTHEA CELLARS Chardonnay 2008  (New Jersey)
9 VENTIMIGLIA Chardonnay  2010 (New Jersey)
10 JEAN-LATOUR  LABILLE   MERSAULT-CHARMES  PREMIER  CRU 2008  (France)

Reds
1 CHATEAU  MOUTON  ROTHCHILD  2004  (France)
2 CHATEAU  HAUT-BRION  2004  (France)
3 HERITAGE  ESTATE  RESERVE BDX  2010  (New Jersey)
4 CHATEAU  MONTROSE  2004  (France)
5 TOMASELLO  CABERNET SAUVIGNON  'Oak Reserve'  2007  (New Jersey)
6 CHATEAU  LEOVILLE  Las CASES  2004  (France)
7 BELLVIEW  LUMIERE  2010  (New Jersey)
8 SILVER  DECOY  CABERNET  FRANC 2008  (New Jersey)
9 AMALTHEA  CELLARS  EUROPA VI  2008 (New Jersey)
10 FOUR  JG's  CABERNET FRANC  2008 (New Jersey)

The tasting results will go down in history, as did the results in 1976. But from the state of New Jersey??

PHILIP S. KAMPE