No need to read in too much to this one.

Great vintage for Tuscany…riper one but without a doubt great.

The wine should be fantastic.

Furthermore, if the wine was pulled from the cellar of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave then it was purchased long ago and would have been bought during the tenure of President Bush.

Pouring at a State Dinner, IMO, is a bit different. Giving a gift, no harm here.

To no surprise, Obama lacked the temerity in his first term to make the truly gutsy decisions that might have righted the calamitous course we were on; I hold out little hope for rectification in his second administration, either. But this gesture demonstrates once again that here in California, we should be focusing our strengths and resources on an agenda that benefits us as a state and eschew the overarching designs of a Federal system that drains our local tax base while diluting the progressive initiatives, like climate and pollution controls, that we have put into motion (with a statehouse and legislature devoid of bipartisan bickering and the prospect of a budget surplus on the horizon, we may finally have the means to ameliorate for ourselves the dire predicaments we have confronted here since 2001).

California produces tens of thousands of wines every year; Obama had choices ranging from Two Buck Chuck to $2,000 Screaming Eagle, as well as everything in between. But hey, maybe he thought the chewy tannins of the Brunello might well substitute for his evening dose of Nicorette, and we can always chip in a pack of filterless Gauloises (although I’m sure he smokes American) for Boehner complete his import bliss.

C’mon Mr. Obama, you promised helping out our domestic economy. (of which US winegrowers are a segment, last I checked….)