San Francisco Chronicle

California’s most famous wine upset is now an opera — with a world premiere in Napa Valley
December 2025

Renowned San Francisco composer Jake Heggie plans to debut his newest work in the Bay Area next summer. 

His one-act opera “The Judgement of Paris” is set to make its world premiere at Festival Napa Valley at Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena on July 18, part of the Wine Country event’s 20th anniversary season.

The comedy reimagines the 1976 blind wine tasting that made Napa Valley famous by melding myth and modernity, putting the gods of Olympus in discussion with California wine pioneers. It marks Festival Napa Valley’s first opera commission and is expected to be performed with a full orchestra. 

“Premiering this opera in Napa Valley feels like bringing the story back to its spiritual source,” Heggie told the Chronicle. “The 1976 tasting rewrote expectations about what American creators could achieve, and Festival Napa Valley has that same spirit of bold possibility. It’s the perfect place to pop the cork on a comedy that celebrates risk-taking and reinvention — and it's particularly special to premiere this new work so close to my home."