Wine: Founding Father's love of Burgundy; Labor Day weekend in Sonoma
As published in the San Jose Mercury News
A pricey receipt: If you're intrigued by what our founding fathers housed in their wine cellars, perhaps you'd like to fork over $13,000 for an artifact revealing John Adams' penchant for pinot noir.
Last week, the Raab Collection, a leading dealer of historical documents, announced that it will offer for sale the original, newly discovered historical document in which Adams orders Burgundy for his residence at America's first embassy in England.
"There is an allure, a mystique about the founding fathers and the wine they drank," said Nathan Raab, vice president of The Raab Collection.
As the story goes, Adams left Paris in May 1785 to become the first ambassador to England from the United States, which had won its independence only two years earlier. Before he did so, he bought wine in Paris and had it shipped (with help from Paris-based Thomas Jefferson) to stock the cellars of his new embassy in London.
There. Now you can spend the $13,000 to stock your own cellar.
