Not a Bad Flight at Buckingham Palace

It looks as if the Queen has descended into the Cellar and carried up the good stuff for Xi Jinping’s State Banquet this evening. Can you imagine the absolute fit if the White House announced that they were serving '89 H-B or '77 Warre’s!

Wines for the Night:

Ridgeview Grosvenor 2009 Brut
Meursault 1er Cru Santenots 2007
(Domaine Marquis d’Angerville)
Chateau Haut-Brion 1989, Graves
Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2008
Warre’s Vintage Port 1977

I heard the Meursault was premoxed.

that vin de constance is awesome stuff!

All three bottles I got from Last Bottle were.

God save the Queen!

The White House should serve only US wines, goodness knows that guests would not be put out!

There are a handful of US wines that sell for more than '89 H-B.

Are the English tea baggers upset that the Queen served French wine? Are they foaming at the mouth about no English wines being served?

But, how many of those wines are made in the quantity of a First Growth? Zero.

Ridgeview Grosvenor 2009 Brut <------------This wine is English

D’OH!

See what happens when I fancy myself a smart alec?

Me <--------

Remember with global warming in thirty years the perfect climate for champagne will be in England, the major houses have already bought large amounts of land in Kent

Given the historical English connection with claret and Port, they are pretty close to English wines.

Seriously???

Given that the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (aka Windsors) are German, you’d have thought they might have put some riesling on the menu.

Yep

Check it out, all the Champagne houses are doing it

I’ve got real money on the fact that she did no descending, and she did no carrying. Otherwise, well done, Queeny.

No, of course not, I kid. Decanter did an interesting article a year or two ago on the Royal Cellar, although they downplayed what was left I suspect (smack-dab in the middle of Austerity wasn’t a good time to highlight the Queen’s stockpile).

I think for “lesser” events they try to stick with commonwealth wines (UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand). That said, until Henry V went and died, and Joan of Arc came along, Bordeaux belonged to the English as well. And, if we’re being counter-factual, if Henry V hadn’t died, and the treaty with the Duke of Burgundy had held, the English might have controlled Burgundy too! So if the Crown was being rather expansive in their definition of English last night, perhaps they were going for a Commonwealth line-up after all (recognizing the obvious English origins of Warre’s).

When I was doing a tour of the palace state rooms in September, there was on display the menu card which showed what was offered in October 2014:
Nyetimber Classic cuve 2007
Jadot Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru Les Folatieres 2006
Chateau Pichon-Longeville Comtesse de Lalande 1990
Royal Tokaji Szt. Tamas, First Growth, 6 Puttonyos Aszu 2007
Taylor Vintage Port 1977

Once again the bubbles are English.

The tour is amazing, by the way, for the sheer opulence of the artwork and furnishings alone.

Yes the Wettin family (or ‘Windsor’ as these so adaptable people now style themselves) is Sehr Deutsch (or Very German as we say in English).

No, I don’t think the queen did any carrying and lifting. Hasn’t done a thing for 89 years, why start now?

'89 Haut Brion is indeed the good stuff, but they can’t come up with a Grand Cru white Burgundy for the folks they need to replace the Russians as the people they need to serve obsequiously in London?

I miss the ‘Groot’ in Groot Constantia.

Dan Kravitz