Steven Spurrier, the Brit who got California wines to be taken seriously, dies at 79
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Steven Spurrier in the Halls of Congress in 2016, on the 40th anniversary of the Judgment of Paris tasting.Lucy PopeShow MoreShow Less
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Steven Spurrier in the Halls of Congress in 2016, on the 40th anniversary of the Judgment of Paris tasting.Lucy PopeShow MoreShow Less
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Steven Spurrier, left, with French wine writer Michel Bettane in 2010.Saez VictorShow MoreShow Less
Steven Spurrier, who died Tuesday morning at age 79, was an unlikely champion for California wines. In 1976, the British wine merchant was running a shop in Paris that specialized in the great wines of France — Burgundy, Bordeaux — when he visited Napa Valley, at the time considered a podunk farming town.