Historical Jefferson dinner had wines to spare

I’m going to make an assumption that, by now, you’ve at least heard of the smash Broadway hit musical “Hamilton.” If you haven’t, this is your time to do a little Googling and familiarize yourself with one song in particular: “The Room Where It Happens.”

The song is about a mysterious dinner that happened on June 20, 1790, between Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison and resulted in a political compromise that allowed the establishment of Washington, as the national capital in exchange for supporting Hamilton’s federal financial system.

History is scant on the details of this discussion, and exactly what was said in this room is one of my favorite American mysteries. Thankfully, we do know what the parties were eating and drinking during one of the most consequential meals in our nation’s history.

The meal was prepared by Jefferson’s personal chef, James Hemmings, a slave who had trained under some of the best chefs in Paris. We know the guests were greeted upon arrival with a glass of Hermitage. Today, a glass of Hermitage would indicate either a red or white wine from the eponymous French village along the Rhone River, but in Jefferson’s day, this was actually a naturally sweet wine, more akin to what we would now call a vin doux naturel.

Jefferson loved gardening and ate a surprising number of vegetables for the 1700s, and their first course was a green salad served with wine jelly (alas, ranch dressing wouldn’t be invented for a few hundred years …). The jelly would likely have been made from Portuguese Madiera wine, gelatin and lemon juice. Paired with the course was a bottle of Bordeaux blanc from the famous Chateau Carbonnnieux. Made from a blend of sauvignon blanc and semillon, it’s a fantastic choice for salad, and a bottle of the current vintage will set you back around $60.

The second course was chicken stuffed with Virginia ham, chestnuts, artichokes and truffles. For such a rich dish, Jefferson chose to serve Montepulciano, a bold choice, with flavors of red plum, oregano, tar and blackberry.

The third course was beef braised in wine and brandy. Jefferson paired it with a bottle of red Burgundy — French pinot noir — from the Grand Cru vineyard of Chambertin. In the 18th century, this was considered one of the world’s best vineyard sites, and that’s still true today. Expect even the cheapest bottles to cost well into the triple digits.

Jefferson had a renowned sweet tooth, and for dessert, he served vanilla ice cream, a rare delicacy at the time. He paired it with a still wine called Champagne non-mousseux. At this point in history, many people considered bubbles to be a flaw in the wines of Champagne. We don’t know if this was a red or white wine (remember that pinot noir and chardonnay are the two most widely planted grapes in the region), but my gut points me toward white wine. If I’m being honest, pairing pinot noir and vanilla ice cream just sounds icky.

As the meal ended, the men turned to brandy for the rest of the political discussion, and — for what wouldn’t be the last time — the fate of America’s political future was decided by a bunch of drunks.