is Napa wine as highly praised as other "traditional" wine such as French wine from Bordeaux?

Answer 1

not in Europe, and certainly not in France
they refer to it as 'that American swill'

Answer 2

The one thing that launched the CA wine industry in the 1960's into super status was the French. A tasting was conducted with very well know world class sommeliers from France. The bottles of wine were from USA & France. All the bottles were covered with alum. foil so they could not be identified.
The first round came they were whites and the French judges scored them very harshly. The next round of whites came and much better scores were given. And instead of openly rude remarks the judges gave praise.

Then the foil was removed from the bottles and it was the American wines that the French judges gave high praise to.

Then came the reds. Now the judges made comments that these are real wines not "white." The process was the same. First rounf of reds were served & the French judges loved them. They said this is diffenetly a French red wine. Very good. The next round of reds were scored much more harshly. Once again the foil was removed and the wines scored the highest by thre French wine experts were American. A couple of the judges wanted their score cards back but were refused.

It was published in all the big wine mags around the world and Napa took-off as a great wine region.

Boy those French are smart. LMAO

True Story

Answer 3

Some snobs may scoff, but in official blind taste testing contests, Napa wines surprisingly have been winning for quite a few years. Yes, there is some French rootstock, but the methods are the same. Like Mumms. There's the French Mumms (Cordon *****, etc...) and then there's Mumms Napa Valley. Same vision, only the French one gets called Champagne, the CA version is "sparkling wine". But same methods. Professional sommeliers can't tell the difference most of the time. We've been beating French wines for a few years and winning awards.

Answer 4

Yup... and that is from someone born and living in Europe.
Napa has some great wines that are highly rated over here by those that know their wines, but like any region it also has its mass produced ropey plonk... and sadly this is what is seen in most of the shops over here (you have to send it somewhere right LOL). Many of the good US wineries do tend to favour their domestic market, possibly because Europe was introduced to US wine through mass marketed things like Paul Mason Californian Carafe and sadly, to wipe out this image for the mass market is an uphill struggle when they also have to compete on price. If they have a domestic market that already appreciates them, can sustain them and provide growth then how attractive a business prospect is struggling for mass recognition in Europe?

Answer 5

Of course. Napa has a number of wines that rival even the best French wines. Some of the better Napa wines came from French root stock, so that may help.

Answer 6

Definitely