You may recall a smiling photo of Senator Obama on the election trail in North Carolina, wrapping a cold brew around with your hand, which raised the question of whether it was also wine. people the magazine — and, by the way, CBS “60 Minutes” across the corner of his cell, who caught a passing glass of a kitchen wine rack on national television, set this record straight. He drinks wine, which for many enofilov is just as refreshing as the news from the Executive Mansion these days!
It turns out that the new residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will not soon become cellular aging wine - the underground storehouse, established by our third president for his collection of more than a thousand European bottles, has long been giving way to a less romantic, but rather labor-consuming. During the heyday, according to the books hidden in the Library of Congress, about 20,000 bottles (but not all at once), acquired by Thomas Jefferson for their two conditions, lived in the enclave of dusty mansion cells. When you consider that it was not the office that paid the tab - in those days the participants did not have budgeting budgets - even by today's standards, which were just a generous stream of executive cheers.
Jefferson was a social animal. Professor CUNY and author John P. Diggins discovered John Adams. reaction to the inclination of his successor: “I dined with a large company once or twice a week. Jefferson dined a dozen every day. ” The choice of the day was regularly loaded into dumbbells, which the ingenious executive director invented had designed - allowing the bottles to be hidden out of sight of visiting dignitaries, but enough to catch at an instant. Diving daily with wines taken out of the basement about 16 feet below the eastern colonnade, the White House employees had little reason to interfere in private functions — and a privileged executive conversation. Today, according to long-time vice-president of the White House, Daniel Shanks, the executive SOP mansion is to store wines in a temperature-controlled holding area near a well-equipped kitchen (not too far from the original staircase that connected the old basement to the dining area above) holding enough wine on hand for upcoming events. It still has dozens of cases, as well as a random bottle left over from other functions, every inventory is very similar to any wine restaurant in a restaurant, but under the shadow of something that looks like the watchful eye of a state auditor, if not in reality at least in the spirit - because everything in the White House is carefully checked.
All wines served in the executive mansion are purchased in bulk directly from the wine producers themselves or purchased from local distributors. No doses of wine are taken longer and, especially in the 9-11 era, bottles that appear without warning are completely destroyed, a moment of sad reality documented in a picture sent to a potential donor with a simple note “thank you, but ...”
SELECTIVE SERVICE
Getting a furnished invitation to the White House case promises both a flash and the essence of graceful hospitality and an unforgettable cuisine. But the task of ensuring this fact remains a triad of officials, part of whom is Shanks, who are the leaders of the permanent domestic staff of the executive mansion, a 100-member staff, which usually does not leave the old administration, often remaining uninterrupted in managing the internal work of the executive mansion. Shanks and his peers (along with several external consultants) select wines that are served at each diplomatic event. Their ultimate goal is to make an impression without causing political intoxication in the process.
Shanks balances winemaking experience and mating skills with diplomatic discipline, so the origin of the wine is combined with the guests. (for example, by pouring out a certain American wine, because the winemaker was raised in the visitor’s country or because a variety originated there.) Sometimes the White House first blames the guests, and secondly, with the ultimate goal of either offending dignitaries or the kitchen. Shanks believes that this is the reality of politics. Serving the kings along with the sultans and ambassadors keeps everyone on their feet as they consider customs, traditions and sensitivity.
This becomes an enigma of international proportions, in which the perfect recipe for cooking and wine can go against politics, creating a recipe for social error. Back in November, when financial infection continued to spread to all corners of the world, sending Asian, European and South American stock markets, President Bush received a summit in financial markets and in the global economy. At the top of the selection of wines, fingers reached up that indicated “a bottle worth $ 300 in 2003 on Shafer Hillside Select,” as if it was an excellent, but unfortunate shower.
For some of us, choosing wine for life is a very important decision - is it a decision with high social rates (will my boss-fan be disappointed if I serve this wine today? Is this wine important enough for a wedding?) For those in the White House, one slip can attract national Scandinavians or accelerate global shock.
On the other hand, the right decision can be extremely useful. International support was earned at the May banquet in May, welcoming Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip since the cabernet in 2003 by Peter Michael Le Pazos and 2004 Newton Vineyard unfiltered chardonnay was served with crunchy talent. The concept: both wineries in California were created by the English, who were the knights of the queen for their growth and achievements.
OLD NICE DAYS
Although it was Carter, whose administration established the official policy of serving only American wines, the tradition began with Lyndon Johnson. Prior to this, the president’s tastes ruled the route in some kind of “nothing” policy.
George Washington never had the opportunity to live in a structure that he created to be home to the first family. Nevertheless, he was a generous owner who found pleasure in serving wine (and spirits). A recently undisclosed calculation shows that in August 1776, the country's first president ordered cases of burgundy, nutmeg wine and hearts, as well as a keg of brandy, especially to entertain his officers and guests.
By all accounts, Jefferson was a wine guru among the founding fathers. In fact, Presidents Washington, Adams, Madison and Monroe all benefited from their close acquaintances of the world's best wines. Thomas Jefferson travels a lot in Europe in 1780, of course, he established his love course for the fruit of the vine and deep appreciation for the timeless classics. In Thomas Jefferson on Wine (University Press of Mississippi), notes Jefferson, scholar John Heilman writes:
“Much of what [Jefferson] wrote about the character ... [France and French] The wines he encountered could have been written last week, going into eccentricity. & # 39; & # 39; Chambertin, Woodjo and Beon are the strongest, he talks about the red wines of Burgundy Côte de Nuits; he announces "Diquem" the best Sauterns ... "
Jefferson seemed to have an obsessive need to write, as if he were the bridegroom in a hot love affair, the grapes of his bride. From time to time, he was a bit intrusive, while others were completely functional and systematic. For this multitasking leader, this was a link between business and pleasure, which ultimately became the most defining moment in the White House.
Eight administrations later, to a large extent, jealousy of wine weakened, but not a patient and did not practice the art of wine service. In 1845, the senator's wife recorded a diary, which describes in detail the 4-hour state affair at the White House of the Regiment (still considered an esoteric era). She described the glasses, filled with six shades of wine from pink champagne to a ruby port and soterov, which "formed a rainbow around each plate." Obviously, the elegant elegance of the wine assessment somehow survived.
Just a few years after Napoleon’s cousin, Prince Napoleon Jerome, was called to organize the 1855th exhibition Universelle de Paris, where Bordeaux’s historical classification was opened, President James Buchanan won a vote in America. He was supposed to be the era of a presumptuous drink: the tendency to “good caliber” spirits made him periodically insult liquor merchants who brought champagne to the White House, using it as an excuse to personally follow more “fit” bottles on Sundays, mostly brandy and some rye. The season of moderation is near. Around 1880, Rutherford B. Hayes (under the pressure of the First Lady, which was prepared in the warlike spirit of the Movement for the Moderation of Women) described the abundant wine and liquor in the mansion. And although Woodrow Wilson attempted to end the ban on the “noble experiment” with a veto, he quickly passed and immediately attacked the trade in liquors with historical revenge. Strange as it may seem, there is evidence that during the ban on Hoover’s watches, during the “depression” at the bottom of the pressure cooker, the White House liqueur service continued. Not too long after that, the ban began to unravel in early 1933, when the Federal Republic of Germany sent a pen on paper on new freedoms for the exhausted wine and spirits industry, which eventually ended the year with the ban, finally dead and buried.
In the early 60s and early 70s, John F. Kennedy and Nixon loved their French wine. As a result, taking into account the interim political susceptibility of pouring out only American wine on diplomatic functions, Richard Nixon took his francophilic tendencies into private rooms, or rather, sometimes bought the cultural anonymity of champagne, the flute served tables sparkling with fresh ribbons dancing bubbles, no labels in sight. ) Rather unexpectedly, over the past sixty years, even when political parties have moved, left and returned again, the official procedures of the executive mansion remain extremely non Significant, with the exception of the recent constant focus on the dazzling array of US-oriented menus at state dinners, social events, celebrations, receptions and official dinners. The culinary artist is in a compact kitchen, where up to five chefs and support staff are sometimes settled, under the direct supervision of the chef Christi Christi Komerford, appointed to her position in 2005 by First Lady Laura Bush after the chef of the White House Walter Scheib several months ago. (Comerford is also a member of the wine selection triad along with Dan Shanks and his boss, Stephen Rohon.)
Regarding the influence of wine on her life, according to the White House, chef Comerford shared "experiences with some of the country’s most progressive chefs in the California country of wine and San Francisco restaurants for producing original dishes with American flavor." Chef John Ash, who was one of those inspirers, highly appreciates this participant in the White House’s powerful wine triumvirate: “Chris is a master who works on extraordinarily simple ingredients and creates great taste. and her understanding of wine the ingredient in total food is also savvy. ”
EXECUTIVE POWDERS AND PRESS OPS
The world recognizes that the White House is the presidential palace of America and a powerful symbol. But not too often we see that the power was laid on behalf of the business sector. A random or deliberate association of brands with the White House can create consumer magnetism of mythical proportions. A literary example: in the Reagan era, First Lady Nancy Reagan received a package from David Berkeley, a supplier of Sacramento wine, who more than a few years later offered advice to the White House staff. It contained samples of Californian wine, which is largely unknown, Kendall-Jackson Winter Reserve. Mrs. Reagan liked it and, surprisingly, White House staff began to serve her, and Pulitzer’s late publication, San Francisco columnist Herb Kahn, took over the story, naming it “Nancy & Wine”. The rest is the story of what is now the leading china in America.
Twenty years later the story can be repeated. In the election profile of Barack Obama's People magazine, he was quoted as saying that the same wine is the main product in his address in Chicago. Founder Kendall-Jackson Jess Jackson responded by sending two congratulations with best wishes, expressing the hope that the wine could nullify the political division in order to become the favorite of yet another White House administration, this time democratic. Therefore, it is not surprising that the White House’s policy does not support specific wines, despite the previous example. A representative from the Obama administration, who admitted that he had spent some time responding to unpredictable media interest in non-allergenic dogs in the background of earthquakes, was very funny when we examined the responses to the wine service - a role managed right through the office of the First Lady. It is clear that the press secretary pointed out that "... with a long and famous history of the reception of dignitaries in the White House, [the new administration] will focus on the general purpose and message of the congregation, and not just on one component, such as a particular wine, that is poured. “But with a giggle, she admitted that she was open to suggestions. That was all we needed.
Taking her random offer literally, we turned to Chicago Master Sommelier Joe Spellman, who visited the University of Chicago and lived for a while near Obama before they moved: Joe renamed Charlie Trouters restaurant and beyond; young Barack Obama climbed the steps of the political ladder that led to the executive mansion. “As for the protocol on the White House’s wine,” Spellman muses, “I would plan to continue offering a wide range of wines and styles offered throughout America — not only in California or even on the West Coast: New York, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan , Missouri, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, etc. ”. He continues: "Nevertheless, we must give permission to participate in the wines of a visiting high-ranking country, as a show of respect and honor." Then, as follow: “Who knows, maybe they will need a Master Sommelier.
And begins a new chapter in the house of wine.
