A Napa Valley sparkling wine with a special place in U.S.-China diplomatic history was poured Thursday night at the White House state dinner for President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Guests in the East Room toasted with Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs, from the Calistoga winery whose sparkling wine was served at President Richard Nixon’s 1972 dinner with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in Beijing.
The selection was part of a three-course menu that the White House described as combining American ingredients with a “subtle Chinese influence.”
The dinner came during Xi’s first visit to Washington in more than a decade, a high-profile encounter between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies at a time when their governments are still negotiating over tariffs, trade and critical minerals while competing over artificial intelligence and advanced technology.
Among those attending were Supreme Court justices, members of Trump’s administration and Bay Area tech bigwigs, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Apple executive chairman Tim Cook and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.
Schramsberg’s records identify the wine served during Nixon’s 1972 “Toast to Peace” as its 1969 Blanc de Blancs, made from Chardonnay. Thursday’s Blanc de Noirs is a different style, made from Pinot Noir, but comes from the same winery.
Schramsberg traces its roots to 1862, when German immigrant Jacob Schram established a winery on Diamond Mountain in what is now Calistoga. Jack and Jamie Davies bought the property in 1965 and revived it as a producer of California sparkling wine made in the traditional Champagne method.
The winery’s breakthrough came in 1972, when Nixon took Schramsberg’s 1969 Blanc de Blancs to China.
Jamie Davies recalled later that she did not know for certain where the wine was headed until a friend called and told her to turn on the television. There was journalist Barbara Walters, holding a bottle of Schramsberg during coverage of Nixon’s visit.
Schramsberg says its sparkling wines have since been served at more than 90 official White House and state functions.
Thursday’s dinner opened with the Napa sparkling wine, followed by a yellow squash velouté served with wild mushroom fricassee, crispy pancetta and scallion oil.
The second course was sesame-crusted sea bass with braised baby bok choy, roasted garden eggplant and sauce verte.
Dessert was vanilla crémeux with White House honey ice cream, walnut frangipane and sour cherry confit.
The room was decorated with red linens and red flowers, including dahlias and ranunculus, reflecting the color’s longstanding cultural significance in China. The tables were set with the Reagan State Service from the White House collection.
The evening’s entertainment was headlined by tenor Christopher Macchio, who performed at the 2025 presidential inauguration, along with musicians from the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army.
Dining and Cooking