Freedom fries may be old hat, but American lawmakers have found another way to badger the French.
While French fries are no longer called freedom fries and there are no longer calls for a boycott of French wine, Congress has now decided to rib France with an official recognition of the 30th anniversary of the ‘victory of United States winemakers at the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting.’
The eight-sentence resolution, sponsored by 150 members of the House of Representatives praises American wineries against the best France had to offer, ‘judged in a blind taste test by leading French wine experts.’
Under review in the US Senate since last week, the resolution, entitled ‘Recognizing the 30th Anniversary of the victory of United States winemakers at the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting’ mentions the 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars SLV Napa Valley Cabernet as the ‘winning red wine’ and the 1973 Chateau Montelena Napa Valley Chardonnay as the ‘winning white wine’ – bottles of which were recently placed at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC.
Last month’s anniversary tastings, held in the Napa Valley and in London, ‘yielded the same result,’ observed the official news organ of the US Congress, The Hill, in an article over the weekend.
‘So take that, Monsieur Chirac,’ it read.
The resolution’s sponsor, California Democrat Mike Thompson, is a grape grower and a lifelong resident of the Napa Valley.
Written by Panos Kakaviatos
