Friday, May 12, 6:00 pm*
Members $70, guests $85

* Please note special time

Thirty years ago, a small wine tasting in Paris permanently changed the industry. On May 26, 1976, Steven Spurrier, a young British wine merchant, arranged to have nine French judges blind taste 20 red and white wines from the top wine-growing regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy and a few upstart vineyards in California. The idea was to see how well the neophyte New World wines held up against their revered Old World ancestors.

The results of that tasting rocked the wine world. The judges unknowingly selected a 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars as the top red and a California Chardonnay produced in the same year by Chateau Montelena as the finest white. The story ricocheted around the world. “Unthinkable” was how Time magazine described the result. The American fine-wine industry—and hundreds of debates over whether or not the results were a fluke—was born.

To mark the anniversary of this momentous event in American enology, Morrell’s Wine Bar & Cafe has planned a tasting that will settle the debate once and for all. Described by Where New York as “a wine bar to end all wine bars,” Morrell’s is not your run-of-the-mill stop for a carafe and a panino. Boasting a 2,000-bottle list and 150 by-the-glass options, Morrell’s is a destination for serious wine drinking. According to New York magazine, the eatery “has taken connoisseurship to the next level.”

But Morrell’s is not all swirling and sipping. Customers also happily dine on chef Edwin Bellanco’s contemporary French-influenced, wine-inspired cuisine. Bellanco learned his trade from some of the country’s best chefs, including Tom Colicchio, David Bouley, and Thomas Keller. Under their tutelage, he mastered the technique and refinement that came to typify upscale dining in America and that has made those toques world-renowned stars. But in the tradition of his Italian grandmother, from whom he first learned to cook, Bellanco has now returned to a more unassuming style that emphasizes simple preparations and lets the raw ingredients—and their accompanying wines—take center stage.

In keeping with the California vs. France theme of Bellanco’s visit to the Beard House, a glass from each region will be paired with every dish.