From The INDIAN WINE ACADEMY Newsletter, January 11, 2013
The Champagne producers will be restless once again when the Korbel ‘Special Inaugural Cuvée’ sparkling wine will be served with the dessert at the inaugural lunch on January 21, at Capitol Hill. The Champagne Bureau in Washington has urged the White House not to print just « Champagne » on the menu.
The menu published in advance mentioned a « Special Inaugural Cuvee Champagne », to be served with the dessert — Hudson apple pie, sour-cream ice cream, aged cheese and honey.
The way it was supposed to appear on the menu of the inaugural lunch, Korbel Russian River Valley Natural ‘Champagne’, « is not correct » protested the US Champagne Bureau chief in Washington Sam Heitner, explaining that « the geographical place of production has to appear next to the word Champagne.«
Following an agreement between the EU and the US in 2006, the American producers who used the generic term Champagne before that year were allowed to continue, with the obligation to specify the production origin such as « Champagne of California » or « Champagne of New York ». After that date, the use of the word Champagne has been banned as elsewhere in the world except in France.
Champagne follows a strict policing policy throughout the world to keep the geographic origin protected. In India for instance, Champagne Indage was forced to remove the word from its company name. Sula started its sparkling wine by calling it « Champagne » but quickly reverted to Brut. Similarly Zampa wanted to call its bubbly Zampagne but sense of wisdom prevailed and they called it Zampa Brut.
It is the eighth time that the Korbel Russian River Valley Natural sparkling is being served at a presidential inauguration, a tradition started in 1985 with Ronald Reagan.
Korbel Special Cuvée sparkling wine ($14 for a regular Brut) 
was served as the dessert at the inaugural lunch on January 21, 2009, attended by 237 guests including former US Presidents Bush Sr., Carter, Clinton and Bush Jr., as well as Supreme Court judges, members of the Congress, senior Cabinet officials and political and government honchos.
Korbel has been making sparkling wine for 120 years, using the « traditional method » of second fermentation in the bottle. It was the preferred bubbly during Kennedy’s years at the White House.
Once again, it will be served with dessert to over 200 guests in the Capitol Building at the lunch following the swearing-in ceremony of the reelected President Barack Obama on January 21, 2013.
The French Champagne Bureau chief said that « US law clearly states the full name of the wine lable must include where it comes from », adding « Under the law, it has to state ‘California Champagne’. Champagne only comes from Champagne, France”, he concluded.
Sam Heitner said that the idea is not to depreciate the American sparklings but to ensure that consumers are not misled.
To put an end to the fevered situation, the inaugural committee promised that the menu will duly mention ‘California Champagne’.
RÉSUMÉ EN FRANÇAIS du commentaire précédent
À New York, virer une prof qui a fait goûter (en France) du vin à des élèves de 18 ans est légal.
Un juge de Manhattan a considéré légitime la décision prise par l’école de NYC Calhoun School le licenciement de Danièle Benatouil, professeure de français qui avait laissé six élèves majeures déguster un verre de vin lors d’un voyage scolaire à Paris en 2010.
La prof avait préalablement demandé l’autorisation des parents d’initier ses élèves à la culture française du vin. Mais elle n’avait pas prévenu la direction de l’école, qui suit vis-à-vis de l’alcool une politique de « tolérance zéro ».
Danièle Benatouil a été licenciée sans indemnités, après 13 ans d’enseignement à la Calhoun School.
Lire l’article original.
Quelle horreur, ritzy school had the right to say au revoir to teacher who let seniors have wine in Paris.
Teacher Daniele Benatouil had gotten teens’ parents’ permission — but the vin violated school policy
By Douglas Feiden / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, January 8, 2013, 7:26 PM dfeiden@nydailynews.com
Teacher Daniele Benatouil worked at the Calhoun School until she was fired in 2010 for letting senior girls drink a glass of wine on a trip to France. A judge upheld the firing Tuesday. The Tony Calhoun School was within its rights to fire a French teacher who let six high school senior girls drink a glass of wine during a Paris trip, a judge ruled.
Teacher Daniele Benatouil got written permission from the girls’ parents for the alcoholic exploration of French culture but that didn’t matter because Benatouil never got her bosses’ permission to violate the school’s zero-tolerance policy, Manhattan State Supreme Court Judge Shlomo Hagler found.
The upper West Side high school has a “reasonable policy” prohibiting booze on supervised trips — and Benatouil was required to uphold it, Hagler ruled.
Benatouil was fired after her return from the 2010 trip. She had taught at the school for 13 years.
The veteran teacher had argued the trip for the 18-year-olds was designed to explore French art, culture and cuisine — and wine is a hallmark of the Gallic lifestyle.
“Having a glass of wine with a meal is absolutely a big part of the French cultural experience,” she said. “It’s very traditional — like having a hamburger in New York!”
But Calhoun brass were mortified when returning students presented a video to the rest of the school that portrayed them sipping wine with dinner.
“It was very difficult to witness the children having alcohol, given the expectations of our school,” one administrator told Benatouil, according to court papers.
Preston Leschins, Benatouil’s lawyer, who had sought $120,000 for his client — one year’s salary and benefits — in a wrongful-termination lawsuit is mulling an appeal.
He said a judge who handled an earlier part of the case had joked she’d consider it improper if a teacher took a group of 12th graders to France and didn’t proffer a glass of wine.
Benatouil is now teaching in the bilingual program at Public School 84 on W. 92nd St.
The public school system’s gain in Calhoun’s loss: “The best teacher ever,” wrote a former student on the Rate My Teacher website. “She teaches French in a fun way and is always ready to help.”
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