(Wines&Vines) - Celebrating his 90th birthday with a tasting and lunch for media members and friends, California winemaking legend Miljenko “Mike” Grgich reminded his guests about familiar facts from his life and added many interesting tidbits.

Grgich, of course, is the immigrant winemaker from Croatia who has worked in Napa Valley for 55 years and co-owned Grgich Hills Cellar (now Grgich Hills Estate) since 1977. He was the winemaker responsible for the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that, along with Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars’ Cabernet Sauvignon, forever made California a legitimate contender with France in winemaking.

In the famed Paris tasting of 1976, organized by Steven Spurrier to celebrate America’s bicentennial, those two wines beat the best of white Burgundy and red Bordeaux wines, a decision that sent shock waves through the wine world and still reverberates today after many similar comparisons.