Half a century ago, a Croatian immigrant’s Chardonnay stunned the French and put Napa Valley on the map forever. We went inside Grgich Hills Estate to hear how that bottle changed everything.
Half a century ago, a bottle of Chardonnay made by a charming Croatian immigrant shook the wine world to its foundations. This year, as the 50th anniversary of the legendary 1976 Judgment of Paris approaches, that story is being told anew from the sun-drenched vineyards of Grgich Hills Estate in St. Helena, where the legacy is very much alive and still fermenting.
Miljenko “Mike” Grgich arrived in Napa Valley in 1958 with little more than a dream and a university degree in viticulture and oenology. He had grown up in a small, poor village in Croatia, where wine wasn’t a luxury it was simply life. “My father grew up actually stomping grapes and making wine,” recalls his daughter Violet, now President of Grgich Hills Estate, who has been working at the winery since 1977. From those humble beginnings, Mike rose to craft the 1969 Cabernet that put Robert Mondavi on the map, before moving to Chateau Montelena, where he made the Chardonnay that would rewrite history…