How to sum up the influence of the USA…well, is there anywhere better than to begin with the Paris Wine Tasting of 1976? Comparative tastings are always a bit of a lottery (a wine can show wonderfully well one day, and yet 24 hours later, it doesn’t really ‘sing’ to quite the same extent). However, the fact remains that when France’s Bordeaux big guns went head-to-head with their Californian counterparts in May of that year, it was the American wines that were judged to have won the day. All of a sudden, the world of fine wine was rather turned on its head! Amazing wines have continued to be made, whether the source be Napa or Sonoma, Oregon or Washington State, from the heat of Texas to the cool of New York’s Finger Lakes.