Decanter World Wine AwardsObama menu 'Champagne' blunder threatens entente cordiale
- Friday 11 January 2013
The right order: Korbel Natural label
In a menu that pairs lobster with Riesling and bison with Merlot, the accompaniment to the apple pie dessert is listed as Korbel Natural, Special Inaugural Cuvée Champagne, California.
This has sent the French ‘popping mad’, according to a report in Wednesday’s Los Angeles Times.
The row broke when the joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies hosting the lunch published the planned menu, immediately provoking an angry response from Sam Heitner, director of the Champagne Bureau's US office in Washington.
The issue for the French is the order in which the words appear on the menu. The label of the wine actually reads ‘Korbel Natural Russian River Valley Champagne’.
Had the congressional committee placed the word California before the word Champagne instead of after it, the row might have been averted.
The wine agreement signed in 2006 between the EU and the United States banned new US producers using the word ‘Champagne’ on their labels, but the agreement was not retrospective.
‘Producers [like Korbel] who used the word ‘Champagne’ on their labels before 2006 may continue to do so but they must say New York Champagne or Californian Champagne,’ Heitner said.
‘The production site must be adjacent to the term Champagne. The way the menu is written is not correct, nor legal in the United States.’
It is understood the mistake will be corrected when the official menu is printed.
Have your say!
Michael
January 17 07:24
Mr. Ellis,
As a sommelier myself I find your condesending and pointedly inacurate remarks abhorrent. Yours is not THE PALATE of record for anyone but yourself. Korbel may not be your choice or mine for that matter, but, their fruit is well managed, their vinting practices are capable and they present a decent product for the price point. Take heart my friend, the White House choice is saving the taxpayer some bucks!
Ca Suffit
January 15 20:30
Totally agree with Ben. It's just a draft of a menu. What a ridiculous reason for people to get self righteous.
Paul Ellis
January 15 19:45
As a sommelier, first of all, it's not the wording that bothers me, it's the STUPID pairing of a dry wine (sparkling or not) with dessert! Next, really? With so many good sparkling wines in the USA, this is the choice? Amateurs! Pay-off time.
Ben
January 14 19:54
Ugh, this is unbearably petty. It's an error on a rough draft of a menu for the PRESIDENT. Interpreting it in any other way is absurd.