White House Serves a $400 Bottle of Wine at the State Dinner (Drudge)

Drudge ^ | 1/20/11 | Drudge

[vrwc54]

From the State Dinner menu:

Main
Dry Aged Rib Eye with Buttermilk Crisp Onions
Double Stuffed Potatoes and Creamed Spinach

Wine: Quilceda Creek Cabernet "Columbia Valley" 2005 (Washington State)

$399.99 at Raeder's Wine store.

[vrwc54]

I don't know how many bottles they bought but it had to be a lot.

[Huck]

That sure is a high-fat, high cholesterol meal. Not saying I wouldn’t like it, but I thought lefties were against that sort of thing.

[maddog55]

Gone up since the last post.. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2660603/posts

[Vendome]

I’ve had Quilceda Creek and I guarantee you it ain’t worth no $400 bucks.

I might pay $100 for their stuff, maybe $150, but that’s all it’s worth.

It’s from frickin Washington.

[Nervous Tick]

>> That sure is a high-fat, high cholesterol meal. Not saying I wouldn’t like it, but I thought lefties were against that sort of thing.

They don’t actually *eat* the ribeye. When it’s passed, you just lick it a couple times and then pass it to the person on your left. Shelly gets the first lick.

[gorush]

Thomas Jefferson had a fine wine cellar...but he paid for it himself.

[tet68]

“Holy Crap Wookums, those bottles of wine we hid under
your skirt were worth $400 each,
that’s Eight hundred dollars!

Wrong my skinny lil man, that’s SIXTEEN hundred dollars!”

[Lazlo in PA]

I am surprised this wasn't the house wine at the event.

[Twinkie]

Only the finest for Barack & Michelle. I don’t know if this sort of expensive wine has been par for the course at the White House and we just haven’t known about it; but it seems sort of excessive considering the state of the economy at this time.

[ReverendJames]

Local state liquor store has it for $4.99

[Vendome]

I will say the menu is absolutely fabulous!

I would love to eat all of that, drink all of that and share a good time with friends.

[goodnesswins]

Typical government....they could have had it for less than $199....

http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/quilceda+creek+cabernet+sauvignon/2005

[JD91]

It’s from frickin Washington

My thoughts exactly - I would have figured them a Cisco or Almaden crowd! Who da thunk it!

[diverteach]

Well since the government purchases hammers and toilet seats for $400 each, and that was 20 years ago, I suspect that they paid $400 for Boones Farm.\

[Ramius]

Hey now... :-) Washington happens to have some really excellent wines.

I’m going to cut the White House a little slack on stuff like this. State dinners are expected to be full bore elegance, with care taken to prepare the very best the country has to offer. It just comes with the territory and it isn’t going to matter who the President is. I didn’t care how much the wine cost at Bush’s state dinners and I don’t care about this one either.

[sheana]

Love love love double stuffed potatoes but darn they are fattening. Don’t want a look like Moochelle so they are rare in this house.

[Liz]

The White House usually pays tribute to its state dinner guests w/ menus that pay homage to the visitors’ country. But the Chinese delegation wanted an American experience — which they are getting in spades on Monday Wednesday night.

The state dinner menu features Maine lobster, steak and potatoes and apple pie with vanilla ice cream, accompanied by an array of U.S. wines. And the entertainment is “An Evening of Jazz,” the uniquely American musical form.

Here is the menu:

* D’Anjou Pear salad with Farmstead Goat Cheese, fennel, black walnuts and white balsamic vinegar

* Poached Maine lobster with orange glaze carrots and black trumpet mushrooms, served with a Dumol Chardonnay “Russian River” 2008

* Lemon Sorbet

* Dry-aged rib eye with buttermilk crisp onions, double-stuffed potatoes and creamed spinach, accompanied by Quilceda Creek Cabernet “Columbia Valley” 2005

* Old-fashioned apple pie with vanilla ice cream, served with Poet’s Leap Riesling “Botrytis” 2008

The two previous state dinners hosted by the White House have taken place in tents erected on the building’s lawn, but Wednesday night’s was held entirely inside, with tables erected in the Blue Room, Red Room and State Dining Room for dinner, and the evening’s enertainment in the East Room.

The design theme also reflected the “Quintessentially American” theme. The dinner linens featured pheasants on patterned backgrounds in jewel tones, USA-CHINA/reminiscent of the work of the American naturalist artist John James Audobon. But the design was also a bow to China — the pheasant, the White House pointed out, is a native bird of China, revered for its beauty and seen as a symbol of nobility.

The floral arrangements incorporate feathers as well as flowers, berries and other greenery. And yellow – China’s national color — was present throughout the cocktail area. Red – the Chinese color for good luck, was also an element of the design scheme, and the color of first lady Michelle Obama’s state dinner dress, designed by Alexander McQueen.

The guest list included many well-known Chinese-Americans, and stars from the worlds of media, business and entertainment as well as the usual political luminaries.

=======================================

Several well-known politicians were notable for their absence. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat like Obama, sent his regrets, as did the two leading Republicans on Capitol Hill, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, and John Boehner, the Speaker of the House. Boehner has been invited to all three of Obama’s state dinners, and has turned down all of the invitations.

[Candor7]

What happened to Michelle’s low cal diet? Eh!

Hypocrits!!!!

And we are supposed to pay our taxes while these elitists dine like this?

Ooops ....I forgot....the recession is over./s

[vrwc54]

I emailed Jim of Gateway so he can update his post.

[American Constitutionalist]

But that $ 400 could have been used to help the poor, no, wait a minute, the liberals and Democrats could care less about the poor unless they can use them and exploit them some how to get the sympathy vote and votes in general.