Académie du Vin
school in France
The Académie du Vin was established in Paris in 1973 by Steven Spurrier as France's first private wine school. It is associated with the 1976 Judgement of Paris blind wine tasting which brought international recognition to California wines and viticulture in the New World.
History
Spurrier had opened the Caves de la Madeleine, a wine store in 1970. In 1973, he partnered with International Herald Tribune writer Jon Winroth and Patricia Gallagher to open the school in a former locksmith shop adjacent to his store. Its original mission was to teach wine appreciation to ex-patriate British and Americans living in France with English-speaking instruction. However, when Parisians' interest grew, French-speaking courses were provided.
Judgment of Paris
The Académie du Vin was an early consideration for hosting the 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting. As more interest grew in the event it was eventually deemed too small.
References
External links
Académie du Vin.
The public source identifies “Académie du Vin” as school in France. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Académie, school and France.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 7, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2822414. VIAF identifies the subject as 132105161. The Library of Congress control number is n83060819. Authority coordinates are 48.880, 2.317. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1973, 1976 and 1970.
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This entry incorporates text from “Académie du Vin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.