The American Wine Dinner

Hemingway Loved WinesPhoto byDown South Today

Over the years I attended three events that qualified as genuine wine dinners. One was a celebration of Julia Child’s 90th birthday at the Arizona Biltmore. Another was dinner with Masters of Wine at Arnaud’s in New Orleans and the other was a Bordeaux dinner at The Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach.

None were advertised as wine dinners. They were private gatherings amid luxury and attended by celebrities and members of that informal group called the rich and famous. My attendance was predicated solely on credentials afforded to a struggling journalist who knew the difference between Old and New World wines and enjoyed both.

Beforehand, through trial and error, lessons were learned including the art of pairing wine with food, the advantages of serving aperitifs, the aesthetics of fine crystal both for beauty and taste improvement and how to enjoy the experience without hubris, that ego-driven bad habit of showing others what a fool with a glass of fine wine can do to ruin an evening.

The Traditional Champagne Toast.Photo byDown South Today

Along the way, I was blessed to be in the company of Mondavi family members and chat informally about moments in their life that were ancillary to their acclaim as wine pioneers in California. Soirees were at one time, I was told, held at the winery that included performances by singing legends like Frank Sinatra and attendance of Julia Child and her husband Paul.

Maxmillian Riedel demonstrated beyond all doubt the critical importance of serving wine in appropriate crystal.

Champagne would forever remain the preferred celebratory wine for New Year’s, the wedding reception, birthdays and awards ceremonies, but also take its rightful place as a sparkling wine that almost magically paired with any food no matter the flavor, spice or other daunting features. I was told that a Higher Power deemed regal bubbly to forever be a universally popular and utilitarian wine. Winston Churchill enjoyed it with breakfast.

I have imagined a wine dinner at The White House. Many are well-documented and not-surprisingly, described as elegant, formal affairs. Jefferson is credited as hosting the first and establishing the tradition, prompting John F. Kennedy to toast at White House dinner honoring Nobel Laureates that they were the “greatest assemblage of minds in [this] room since Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

Elegant Bordeaux stimulates the senses.Photo byDown South Today

During a private tour of Jefferson’s Monticello, I managed was allowed access into Jefferson’s wine cellar. A kind of peace surrounded me as if the old bottles, crates, barrels could talk. Nearby was Jefferson’s dumbwaiter, an invention to keep his bottles of wine from being shaken. Layers due to aging by cellaring were (and to some extent, still are) considered important to the overall experience.

Today’s wine dinners are vastly different. Inspired, as far as I can tell, by marketing efforts, they lack the pomp and circumstance of earlier versions. That in no way means they are unimportant or irrelevant. I was spoiled decades ago and enthusiastically encourage all to plunge in a wine experience whenever possible, informal or not. You can take it to the bank that Julia Child would approve of informality.

The best version of a wine dinner should be at home. The information is at our fingertips for planning. In fact, why not make at least one meal daily a wine dinner? The essentials begin with an open mind. Many overcome pairing uncertainty by having different wines served. The old time-tested formula is to start with light dishes and light wines like white or Rosé. Then progress into reds if meats or heavier dishes are served. Even better, pour what you prefer. No one really cares, anyway.

Wine is an ancient beverage. For thousands of years, it has graced dinner tables, occupying a prominence in history, literature and art. It’s quite Biblical as anyone immersed in scripture knows.

Legend has it that Thomas Jefferson consumed a fair share of Madeira while composing the Declaration of Independence. I was a highly popular fortified wine during the American Revolution. One of the elegant wine dinners I was blessed to attend served a superb chocolate cake for dessert. Accompanied by chilled Madeira in a Waterford crystal wine glass, the pairing was perfect.

I silently proposed a toast to the revolutionary genius of our Founding Fathers.