Last Sunday at our local wine club meeting we learned that Thomas Jefferson, our third president, was the world's greatest wine connoisseur
of his time. And it was Benjamin Franklin whom Thomas Jefferson visited in France who introduced Jefferson to the famous French wines. Thomas Jefferson took several long tours of the European wine country. He stayed for over 4 months touring the vineyards of France and Italy. Through his travels in France Jefferson was able to identify the greatest wines of Bordeaux which are still today the greatest wines of Bordeaux. These wines would be Chateaux Haut-Brion, Margaux, Latour and Lafite. Our wine coach, John Brooks, told us Sunday that if we were drinking today's version of these Bordeaux wines and Italian wines that Thomas Jefferson drank at Monticello that the wine bill for 5 glasses of wine would be over $3000 per couple or $1500 per
person. Wow! Needless to say we did not drink those versions of Bordeaux and Italian wine. We did however get to sample five wonderful wines Sunday night with our meal. Here are their names:
of his time. And it was Benjamin Franklin whom Thomas Jefferson visited in France who introduced Jefferson to the famous French wines. Thomas Jefferson took several long tours of the European wine country. He stayed for over 4 months touring the vineyards of France and Italy. Through his travels in France Jefferson was able to identify the greatest wines of Bordeaux which are still today the greatest wines of Bordeaux. These wines would be Chateaux Haut-Brion, Margaux, Latour and Lafite. Our wine coach, John Brooks, told us Sunday that if we were drinking today's version of these Bordeaux wines and Italian wines that Thomas Jefferson drank at Monticello that the wine bill for 5 glasses of wine would be over $3000 per couple or $1500 perperson. Wow! Needless to say we did not drink those versions of Bordeaux and Italian wine. We did however get to sample five wonderful wines Sunday night with our meal. Here are their names:
2005 Chateau Carbonnieus RP 93 $43
2005 Louis Jadot Meursault WS90 $38
1995 Castello di Fonterutoli RP88 $29
Louis Latour Volnay En Chevret WS 92 $45
2004 Chateau Rauzan-Segla WS90 $65
John also gave us this Jefferson quote to think about:
"Good wine is a necessity of life."
Final thought: When Thomas Jefferson was president and in the White House entertaining his guests he went thru 20,000 bottles of wine in eight years. I bet President Bush's White House wine log will not equal that at the end of his presidency.
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