THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 4, 1996 TAG: 9608010041
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: THE HUMBLE STEWARD
SOURCE: JIM RAPER
LENGTH: 88 lines
THOMAS JEFFERSON'S passions for wine and travel might be no more than footnotes to a story of his life. That he was a connoisseur pales in significance beside his accomplishments as statesman, author, philosopher, architect, botanist and third president of the United States.
James M. Gabler, a Baltimore lawyer and wine collector, has left the ``big'' story about Jefferson to the academic historians and has produced a ``little'' story that is delightful to read, especially for a wine buff and most especially for a wine buff from Virginia.
``Passions: The Wines and Travels of Thomas Jefferson'' (Bacchus Press Ltd., Baltimore, (410) 828-9463, 318 pages, $29.95) was chosen the 1995 Wine Book of the Year in a contest sponsored by the Champagne house of Veuve Clicquot-Ponsardin, which proves that the book has gotten attention on both sides of the Atlantic.
Although Gabler scans Jefferson's life from his teenage years as a student at The College of William and Mary until his death on the 4th of July, 1826, much of the book focuses on the five years, 1784-89, that Jefferson spent as a diplomat assigned to Paris. During this period he traveled not only throughout France, but also in England, Holland, Germany and Italy. His itineraries took in most of the Continent's celebrated wine producing regions.
Gleaning from journals, sales receipts, letters, cellar records and other documents, Gabler discovered a Jefferson who was aristocratic in his tastes for wine, for food, for architecture, but, nevertheless, always a champion of the common man.
Just before the French Revolution, Jefferson wrote from Paris to George Washington: ``I was much an enemy of monarchies before I came to Europe. I am 10,000 times more so, since I have seen what they are. There is scarcely an evil known in these countries which may not be traced to their king....''
It was with egalitarian fervor that he formulated grand plans for vineyards in the New Country, particularly in Virginia., and declared, ``No nation is drunken where wine is cheap. . . .''
The author took eight years to research the book and had the opportunity to retrace Jefferson's pleasure trips in this country and abroad. He walked the same mountain paths that Jefferson walked, he enjoyed the same landscapes, he stared at the same buildings, such as the Maison Carree, the Roman temple in Nimes (southern France) that Jefferson had in mind when he designed the State Capital in Richmond.
But most important for this book, Gabler also tasted the wines that Jefferson tasted.
From anecdotes in the text and from a table at the back of the book, we find that many of Jefferson's favorite wines remain highly regarded today: Chambertin, Clos Vougeot, Vosne-Romanee and Pommard among red Burgundies; Montrachet and Meursault white Burgundies; Cote Rotie, a red, and Chateau Grillet, the viognier white, from the Rhone Valley; Frontignan, Muscat de Rivesaltes and Blanquete de Limoux, sweetish wines from the south of France; Chateau d'Yquem, the most famous of the sweet Sauternes; Chateaux Haut-Brion, Lafite, Latour and Margaux from Bordeaux; Schloss Johannisberg from the Rheingau; Nebiule, a nebbiolo-based wine from Italy's Piedmont; Montepulciano from Tuscany; Sherry from Spain, and Madeira from the Portuguese island of the same name.
It is testament to Jefferson's tenacity that he had such wide experience with wines. His personal papers are peppered with letters concerning his frustrating efforts to procure wine from one country or another. Sometimes when he did get the wine, it had spoiled during shipment.
Back in the New Country after his years in France, he served as something of a wine consultant to President George Washington and other friends. And when Jefferson was elected President, his wine dinners became legendary. He often supped with 20 or so in a small room of the White House to which food and drink could be sent by way of dumbwaiters. He thought human waiters might eavesdrop on the affairs of state, which could be construed as an aristocratic insecurity.
Jefferson was sometimes accused of being too French in his taste for food, but records show he never lost his appetite for dishes he had grown up eating in Virginia. Once while in Paris he pleaded with an acquaintance to smuggle in some Virginia country hams.
At the White House and at Monticello, he preferred to serve beers or ciders with meals. Only after the main courses were finished would he break out the wines, both dry and sweet, and serve them with nuts and confections. Jefferson was a moderate drinker, but seemed to have an almost scientific interest in conviviality among winedrinkers.
A senator who frequented Jefferson's table noted that the President ``is very temperate,'' although ``even two glasses of wine oft times renders a temperate man communicate.''
Another senator, miffed that his colleagues had not blocked an executive appointment, complained that ``the President's dinners have silenced them.''
This handsomely designed book - which includes pictures, drawings and maps - would make a nice gift for someone interested in food and wine, and/or American history. Gabler also has written two other books about wine, ``How to Be a Wine Expert'' and ``Wine Into Words.'' by CNB