Wine and the White House

The White House, the home of the US President since John Adams moved in in 1800 prior to its completion, has quite a history with wine. That history started with Thomas Jefferson and since then, state dinners have routinely included fine wine. Today, we look at a bit of that.

The tradition of fine wine at the White House began with our 3rd President, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson had spent a number of years in France and spent considerable time visiting and enjoying some of the finest wineries in Burgundy and Bordeaux. During his Presidency, both became traditional wines at the White House. 

The next President, James Madison, was also a wine lover, but his taste actually ran more toward Champagne than the still, dry red wines of Burgundy and Bordeaux. But, it was under James Monroe that the first wine-related scandal of a sort occurred. Monroe had similar tastes in wine to Jefferson, but either did not have the funds or was not willing to spend them to purchase wine for the White House. 

But, Congress, in its appropriations, gave James Monroe a sizable furniture budget. Pfft! Monroe wondered why furniture should be a priority. He used that appropriation to by 1200 bottles of fine French red wine, most of which he is alleged to have consumed himself. Ah, the perquisites of the Presidency!

President #6, although likely not deservedly so, was John Quincy Adams. Sadly, JQA was likely more an expert on Madeira than on the ways of the Presidency. A true connoisseur, Quincy as he was known by his friends, liked to impress them with his ability to distinguish the finest Madeiras from each other. He was said to rarely have incorrectly identified one in blind tastings often correctly identifying more than 75% double blind.

As time passed, wine became a White House tradition. While not all Presidents were wine afficionados or even wine drinkers, it was considered to be the beverage of choice at most formal dinners, even during the presidencies of light drinkers and teetotalers such as Lincoln, Benjamin Harrison, Bush (43), and Trump (interestingly the inauguartion of Joe Biden will mark the first time that two consectuive US Presidents have been teetotalers).

And, as much was accumulated during those early presidencies, almost all the wine served in the White House and stored in the cellar was French and expensive. Until Ronald Reagan.

Ronald Reagan was a wine drinker, but recall that he was Governor of California during the period when California wine was making its way onto the map. During his presidency, he insisted that the White House deplete its supply of French wine while replacing it with domestic wine and that has actually been the tradition since, not to the exclusion of all foreign wine, but predominantly.

Today, American wineries relish the opportunity to be a wine of choice for state dinners. It's excellent PR and Marketing that a winery can use for years to follow and often does, this despite Bush (41) having been the last President who really enjoyed wine.