Ulises Valdez, 42, of the Valdez Family Winery and Tasting Room in Cloverdale, Calif., says he is "still celebrating" having his 2008 Silver Eagle Vineyard Chardonnay served at the White House for the Mexico state dinner on May 19, 2010.
Valdez snuck into the U.S., from Mexico, as a teenager and found work picking grapes. He got amnesty during the Reagan administration. Today he owns a vineyard management company and the winery. "This is the beauty of the U.S.-if you're a hard worker and good and honest you can do it," he says.
White House menus can be a point of pride and a business builder for individual vintners whose wines are chosen.
Kerry Murphy, proprietor of DuMOL Wines in Orinda, Calif., whose wines have been served at the White House since 2002, says he's become a collector. "God knows how many menus I have-I love 'em," he says.
"I've been blessed by the association," Murphy says. "It sets the wine to high standards," he says, because the White House "can buy whatever they want."
His Chardonnays sell for $50 to $60 per bottle.
After his 2008 Russian River Chardonnay was served at the Hu dinner, he says, "our sales in China quadrupled."
"I think that has a lot to do just with exposure from that one dinner," he says. "It makes me feel good because we've got some dollars coming back'' to the U.S. from China. "That's a patriotic thing in itself."