Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-11-09)

67

ILLUSTRATION

BY

JAY

DANIEL

WRIGHT

CRITIC Bloomberg Pursuits November 9, 2020

President Rutherford B. Hayes hademb

temperance movement in his electionb

his first White House event in 1877,his

begged him to avert a diplomaticdisa

ter and serve wine. The dinner wasfo

Grand Duke Alexis, the Russian czar’s

son who’d enjoyed Champagne while

hunting with Buffalo Bill Cody ona

previous U.S. visit.

Theodore Roosevelt, however,wa

all too willing to accept free Champag

from Moët & Chandon for a statedinn

1902 honoring Prince Henry of Prussia

to launch the imperial yacht. Thepri

brother, the kaiser, had supplied aGe

sparkling wine and was not pleased.

Politics and wine can make forclu

ings, as detailed by the lavishly illust

strictly bipartisan Wine and the White

History. Written by Frederick RyanJr.

of the White House Historical Associati

delves widely, though not deeply, into

have chosen to highlight ceremonies,fo

and heavily promote the Americanwin

before the world viewed the U.S. asa s

It covers the full history of thep

Madeira fan George Washington—thoughhedidnt livein

the White House—to the present day.Thebiggestwineaficio-

nado was Thomas Jefferson, who servedbottlesfromFrance,

Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.

More than 100 menus from the past six decades are

included. The lists from Harry Truman’s term from 1949 to

1953, for example, illustrate how the effects of Prohibition,

exacerbated by World War II, had stunted American inter-

est in and knowledge of wine. At a dinner for Winston

Churchill, the White House paired Champagne with prime

rib rather than the rich red we’d expect today. When it

hosted Philippine President Elpidio Quirino, Champagne

was poured with the salad course, something few contem-

porary sommeliers would recommend. (The high acidity in

dressing makes dry sparkling wine taste flat.)

French wine was the norm for Presidents Eisenhower,

Kennedy, and Nixon. Even as California wines garnered public

attention in the early 1960s, Kennedy didn’t take any chances

when he hosted Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna

with 1953 Mouton Rothschild. Today it goes for $1,800 a bottle.

Nixon, on the other hand, helped put California on the

global wine map. The first president to visit China, he toasted

peace with Premier Zhou Enlai with Napa’s 1969 Schramsberg

blanc de blancs. He also continued Kennedy’s sparkling-wine-

with-dessert tradition. The idea was to revive guests with

bubbles, but pairing 1961 Dom Pérignon with sweet, orangy

GrandMarniersouffléseems a waste of DP. Future presidents

would choose sweeter sparklers, such

asthe demi-sec Schramsberg crémant

heReagans often picked to accompany

sorbets.

Matching specific bottles with guests

iplomatic purposes took off under

sident Clinton, who hired the White

ouse’s first wine professional. The con-

ections were sometimes a stretch: At a

nner in 1996 for Irish President Mary

obinson, the menu highlighted win-

eswhose owners’ ancestors had emi-

edfrom Ireland.

book doesn’t weigh in on contro-

ofmore recent vintage, like when

entObama served a 2005 Quilceda

abernet from Washington state at a

2011 for Chinese President Hu Jintao.

thewine sold for $400, which some

ravagant during a recession. (The

paid $125 for it.) More sober observ-

that the executive branch should

erica’s best, regardless of price.

p is the only president to own a winery

enhis penchant for promoting his var-

f club properties, it’s notable that he

y ofhis Virginia-produced wines at an

e event. For a dinner in 2018 for French

PresidentEmmanuelMacron, he followed diplomatic norms

andfeatureda 2014Domaine Drouhin Laurene pinot noir from

anOregonwineryfoundedby a famous Burgundian family.

Less interesting among its 456 pages are the book’s many

photos of the White House glassware collection and transcripts

of presidential toasts. But it’s redeemed by Ryan’s retelling of

the role wine has played in our diplomatic history and the

inevitable political calculations involved in presidents’ picks.

And that includes the choice to serve none at all. For their

first dinner in 1877, President Hayes and his teetotaler wife,

Lucy, eventually opened six wines from the stash of Ulysses

S. Grant, the previous White House occupant. But those would

be the last. From then on, “Lemonade Lucy,” as she was nick-

named, offered guests and heads of state fruit juice instead. 

Wine and politics have

often blended in awkward ways

By Elin McCoy

What a

President Pours

bracedthe

bid,butat

sadviseeers

as-

or

as

gne

nerin

aand

ince’s

erman

umsypair-

tratedand

eHouse:A

., chairman

ion,thebook

howpresidents

osterdiplomacy,

ne industrylong

eriousproducer.

presidency,from

ughhedidn’tlivein

w

a

th

fruit

M

fordi

Pres

Ho

ne

di

Ro

eri

grate

The

versies

Preside

Creekca

dinnerin

Atthetime,t

deemedext

WhiteHouse

ersinsisted

showcaseAme

DonaldTrump

whileinoffice.Giv

ioushotelandgol

hasyettoserveany

official WhiteHouse

PresidentEmmanuelM

y