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END POST Cork and dagger at the White House hen David Cameron, the British prime minister, came to the White House for a formal dinner in March, the menu released to the press on the day of the event had a fascinating omission: Although each dish had details of the prepa- ration, no mention of specific wine pairings appeared. The wines didn't make the menus on the previous state dinner for President Lee of South Korea, nor the one before that for Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. Since Lyndon B. Johnson's presi- dency, which ended in January 1969, only American wines have been poured at White House functions. State dinners have typically listed the wines on the menu. For many vintners, it's a point of pride: Ulises Valdez told Bloomberg that he is "still celebrat- ing" having his 2008 Silver Eagle Russian River Valley Chardonnay served at the 2010 state dinner for President Felipe Calde- ron of Mexico. Kerry Murphy of DuMOL wines told Bloomberg that his sales in China quadrupled after one of his Sonoma wines was served at a state dinner for Presi- dent Hu in 2011. The new policy of not listing the individual wines should be reversed. It's not helping showcase the enormous strides the industry has taken since LBJ's time. And it's feeding a bizarre and unneces- sary cork-and-dagger intrigue at moments that should be used to honor visiting dignitaries. It's under- standable that at a time when the economy is not firing on all cylin- ders, there would be an inclination to be circumspect, not flashy. But this is the highest level of entertain- ing in the land, and state dinners only happen a few times a year. There has been backlash over the expense of some wines served at formal events. President George W. Bush caught some heat for pour- ing a Shafer Hillside Select Cab- ernet Sauvignon, reputedly worth $300 a bottle, at the G20 summit in November 2008, as the world slipped into the financial abyss. The last Obama dinner where the wines were disclosed, for Hu, had the 2005 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon on the menu, purchased by the White House for about $115 a bottle; some breathless reports valued it at $400. Yet at the Cam- eron dinner, there was nothing to hide with this par- ticular menu. And the policy of secrecy failed, because we wine geeks had a "deep throat" in attendance: Eric LeVine of CellarTracker.com was among the guests, and he posted the wine list, with tasting notes, to his website. There was nothing to hide in terms of price, as no wine was more than $100. What was somewhat shame- ful, and boring, was that the White House usher, Daniel Shanks, served a Peter Michael chardonnay from Sonoma County. Yes, Sir Peter is British, we get that. But isn't that the reason Shanks also selected a Peter Michael wine to serve to the 122 VINEYARD & WINERY MANAGEMENT JULY - AUG 2012 TYLER COLMAN Tyler Colman, author of the wine blog Dr. Vino, teaches wine classes at New York Uni- versity and the University of Chicago, and wrote the book "Wine Politics: How Gov- ernments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink." Queen of England when she visited in 2007? And while the selections are often staid, the wines are also forceful and young; at six years of age, the Quilceda Creek is the old- est wine poured in recent memory. By contrast, consider what Obama was served at Bucking- ham Palace last year: 2004 Grand Cru Chablis, 1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands Echezéaux, and a 1963 port. A wine geek can only dream that such mature U.S. wines would grace the tables at a state dinner, since the world's greatest super- power has a wine collection that numbers only in the hundreds of bottles. Yet Shanks could avoid an international conflagration and crank up the excitement by throwing in a few American wines from up-and- coming producers, especially wines with elegance and acidity to com- plement the food instead of shout- ing it down. There are quite a few examples from Sonoma to Santa Barbara to the Finger Lakes that would do America proud, and still bow to the budget-cutting zeitgeist. Michelle Obama has done a ter- rific job encouraging Americans to think about how we eat, where our food comes from and how it is grown: The White House garden is a model in this regard. Now, if only she can bring that same attention to the wine program; it will be a delight for the guests, and a triumph for the U.S. wine industry. (Opinions expressed in this col- umn do not necessarily reflect those of Vineyard & Winery Man- agement.) Comments? Please e-mail us at feedback@vwm-online.com. WWW.VWM-ONLINE.COM