Bicentennial : State’s Wine Uncorked for Constitution

Gary Topper has come up with the next best thing to a bottle of wine that can boast “George Washington Slept Here”--the official wines of the U.S. Constitution.

In a year that will see virtually every other kind of product playing on ties to the document’s 200th anniversary, Topper has applied his considerable savvy as a wine merchant to hooking up with a celebration mandated by Congress.

“Thomas Jefferson had one of the great Bordeaux cellars in America,” said Topper, a 20-year veteran of the wine business and president of a company called Vintage Wine Merchants. “Wine is very much a link to these famous people.”

A California Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc were chosen for bottling with specially commissioned commemorative labels bearing the seal, “We the People 200,” of the national celebration of the Constitution being held in Philadelphia.

Official Debut

The three wines, two of which are labeled with classic portraits of George Washington, were officially unveiled in Philadelphia last fall. They made their debut later on the West Coast.

According to Topper, distribution of his Constitution wines was held up a few months as restaurants and distributors expressed weariness with Statue of Liberty observances.

As that feeling passed, however, outlets in more than 40 states agreed to handle Topper’s trio.

“At least 120 other countries have patterned their constitutions after the one we have in the United States,” said the marketing executive, who expects to ship 500,000 cases of California wines this year.

“It’s a very important thing to be a part of.”

California’s Best

Topper said he chose Cabernet, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc because they are three quite different wines that California makes well. The names of specific wineries were played down, stressing instead the region growing the grapes.

Each of the labels features a reproduction of a painting accompanied by a brief description linking it to the Constitution’s bicentennial.

Rembrandt Peale’s famous 1825 portrait of Washington was used for the 1980 Napa Valley Cabernet. For the 1984 Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay, Topper selected the Howard Chandler Christy painting executed for the Constitution’s sesquicentennial and superimposed it over the document’s text.

Out on a Limb

Stressing a link to the present as well as the past, Topper went out on a limb just a bit by commissioning contemporary artist Raymond Saunders to execute a painting for the 1984 Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc.

Topper said he would donate $2 for every case sold now through the end of 1987 to the “We the People” celebration. All three wines will be distributed nationally via Vintage Wine Merchants’ seven regional offices, seeking their market in the $6- to $8-per-bottle range.

“This is not a schlocky group of wines,” said Topper, who began his career working in France with the legendary Alexis Lichine. “I hand-picked them myself.”