Apparently there's some fuss in DC about who was invited and who was not invited to the State Dinner with the Prime Minister of India. Whatever...

In perusing the official menu for the State Dinner, however, I came away appalled. It offers a choice of two entrees:

Roasted Potato Dumplings with Tomato Chutney, Chick Peas and Okra

or

Green Curry Prawns, Caramelized Salsify, With Smoked Collard Greens

Okra? Collard greens? Not exactly haute cuisine. But that's not my concern. It's good American fare, so more power to them!

My problem is the wine they propose to serve: "2007 Granache, Beckmen Vineyards, Santa Ynez, California." In the first place, they misspelled the grape variety: It's grenache, not granache. (The same mistake appears to have been made on the menu cards on the table!) In the second place, grenache is a red wine. It is used primarily as a blending grape. It's fruity, fleshy, but generally doesn't produce great wines, although there are a few French, Aussie, and US exceptions to that rule. For example, Beckmen Vineyard is one of the Rhone Rangers who is making premium Grenache. Their Grenache wines tend to be high alcohol (15% +), with flavor associations including kirsh, licorice, spices, earth, and game. Robert Parker typically scores them in the high 80s or low 90s.

I suspect the Grenache will be a very nice match for the potato entrée. As long as the entree skews towards Fall flavor associations, the grenache should be okay.

As a match for Curried Prawns, however, it will be an unmitigated disaster!!! The tannins in the wine and the heat of the curry will bring out the worst in each other. The high alcohol won't help with the spice either. High alcohol wines tend to taste hot to begin with. Coupled with the spice heat, the match will not be at all refreshing.

And then we add prawns to the mix. Red wine is almost never a good match for shrimp or any other shellfish. True, a bunch of chefs in the nouveau cuisine tradition insist on trying it, but it almost never works out very well. A high alcohol, high tannin wine with earthy flavors is NOT what I would want to drink with a delicate food like prawns.

All in all, not a very impressive outing by the White House sommelier. Perhaps I should send Obama my number...