Wines

France's outstanding reputation for fine wines—whether red, white, or sparkling—doesn't come out of thin air. Rather, it stems from hundreds of years of tradition that have created the gold standard by which all other wines around the world are measured.

No place on Earth has a more ancient and important tradition of winemaking than Italy. Thousands of years before wine became commonplace in France or the Napa Valley, Italians were producing their own unique varieties and making wine an essential part of Italian—and human—culture.

In 1976, a single event rocked the wine world. In the famed Judgment of Paris Tasting, top French wine experts chose two unknown wines over the best that France—long considered the epitome of great winemaking—had to offer. The source of those remarkable wines? California.