Beaulieu VineyardBy the time Prohibition was repealed, American wine was a shadow of its former self. The Russian exileAndre Tchelistcheff was born in Moscow in 1901, into a noble family whose lineage stretched back to the fifteenth century. British wine merchant Steven Spurrier organized a blind tasting in Paris, pitting French classics against upstart California wines. For the first time in history, American wines outscored the French in their own capital. The result was Masseto, a bold Merlot that stunned the wine world.