Legendary Winemaker Warren Winiarski Dies at the Age of 95

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A man who helped put California wine making on the map has passed away. Warren Winiarski, who’s Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars California Cabernet Sauvignon beat the best of Bordeaux in the famed 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting, died this past Friday at the age of 95. Winiarski was originally a philosophy instructor at the University of Chicago before heading west in 1964 to become a winemaker. He founded Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars in 1973 from a 50-acre prune orchard and shocked the world with his Judgment of Paris tasting win just three years later. Winiarski sold Stag’s Leap in 2007 for $185 million and transitioned to farming grapes and selling them to wineries through Arcadia Vineyards.