JancisRobinson.com
by Jancis Robinson

Yesterday 1,000 of the major players in Silicon Valley and the global media gathered at the Tuileries in Paris for eG8, President Sarkozy’s pre-Deauville online initiative. Attendees at the conference included Rupert Murdoch, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Eric Schmidt of Google and Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezoz. A small group of them were invited to the Elysée Palace for an informal lunch with the President who was attempting, not altogether successfully by the sound of it (see John Gapper's ft.com blog), to persuade the moguls of the need for regulation.

Last night 300 of the most influential attendees were invited to a private showing at the Louvre, not of art in the conventional sense but a selection of some of California’s most prized wines. The event was put together by Joe Schoendorf, famous in Davos for the extravagance of his wine selections when entertaining at the World Economic Forum. Schoendorf, a Napa Valley resident, explained, ‘I wanted to show off California’s other great valley.’

Apparently it took two weeks’ intense negotiation before the French accepted his literally outlandish proposal, that American wines be served at the Louvre for the first time, on condition that the honour of French wine was upheld by the Dom Pérignon champagne served beforehand.

The date could hardly have been more propitious. By complete coincidence, it was 35 years on to the day from the seminal Judgment of Paris tasting in which California wines trounced the finest of France in a much-discussed blind tasting with France’s most respected palates.

Co hosts with Schoendorf’s company, the Palo Alto-based global venture and growth equity firm Accel Partners, were Publicis, Intel and Yahoo! The 13 wines poured at the event were all donated by their respective producers – two cases apiece - and chosen by  Schoendorf together with Greg Castells and Matthew Wilson of Soutirage of the Napa Valley. Predictably, they focused on Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

In keeping with the nature of the crowd, guests were able to access tasting notes for each wine by pointing their smartphones at the quick response (QR) code on the bottle which took the taster to a special section on Soutirage’s website designed to provide more details about each wine.

Just three white wines were chosen:

• Hyde de Villaine Chardonnay 2008 Carneros
• Knights Bridge Chardonnay West Block 2008 Knights Valley
• Peter Michael Chardonnay La Carrière 2007 Knights Valley.

The red wines were:

• Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 Oakville
• Casa Piena Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 Yountville
• Sloan Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 Rutherford
• Colgin Red Wine IX Estate 2005 Napa Valley
• Harlan Estate Proprietary Red Wine 2005 Oakville
• Sine Qua Non Syrah Ode to E 2004 Sta Rita Hills
• Staglin Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 Rutherford
• Favia Red Wine Cerro Sur 2003 Napa Valley
• BOND Proprietary Red Wine Vecina 2001 Oakville
• Chappellet Cabernet Sauvignon Signature 1997 Napa Valley. 

Winery owners Englishman Sir Peter Michael and Jim Bailey of Knights Bridge were at the tasting in person.

Let’s hope these gems were fully appreciated and not just thoughtlessly downed while gossiping about the future of the internet. At over a bottle a head, the servings could have been quite generous.