Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- ``A perfectly aged cabernet may be great in the glass,'' says Daniel Shanks, ``but it can't stand up to the intense atmosphere of a White House state dinner. You have to have something with youth and vigor.''

No matter which candidate wins in November, the one thing that probably won't change at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is the wine service. Shanks, 59, has been the White House wine Jeeves for the past 13 1/2 years. Hired by the Clintons, he now serves the Bushes and will welcome whoever arrives next.

Sitting next to Shanks at a lunch and tasting held at New York's Espace last week, I pump him for inside dope on the White House cellar and what gets poured when. Although he sports a shiny tan J. Garcia tie with a wavy pattern inspired by the Grateful Dead leader's paintings, the balding Shanks speaks softly, carefully, with discretion.

Yet he shares some surprising tidbits. Because the eating and drinking part of glittering state dinners for 130 guests lasts only about 55 minutes, the three wines served have little time to make an impact.

``Which is why they must have presence,'' Shanks says. To illustrate, he plucks a 2007 Etude pinot noir rose ($20) from the revolving lazy susan filled with bottles in the center of the table, pours a glass and sniffs. ``The aroma here goes beyond the glass, so the wine is bigger than just the taste. You need that for any wine to be noticed in the context of the White House experience.''

Buy American

Only U.S. wines are served at all events, a policy since the Carter administration. In fact, Shanks's aim is to showcase where American wines are going, not where they've been, which is why he took the train up from Washington to sample these 100 new California releases, many from lesser-known wineries. (His invite came from Robert P. ``Bobby'' Koch, president of the Wine Institute and President Bush's brother-in-law.)

Shanks seeks out wines from emerging areas, tasting examples from Long Island to New Mexico on his vacations -- at his own expense, he hastens to add. He picked a Biltmore Estate chardonnay from North Carolina for one of Mrs. Bush's recent private lunches.

Shanks was the longtime manager of the restaurant at Napa Valley's Domaine Chandon winery before being hired at the White House in January 1995, after an FBI check and three interviews.

His official title is Usher, responsible for food and beverage operations. Usher? That dates to the mid-19th century, when presidents were simply handed the keys to the executive residence and expected to find and pay a staff themselves. Doormen tended to stay, as they were the only people who knew how the White House worked. Eventually, the Ushers' office was created, ``the interface between the family and the outside world,'' as Shanks puts it.

No Cellar

So much has been written about Thomas Jefferson's passion for wine and his huge cellar that I'm surprised to learn the White House currently has only 500 to 600 bottles stored in a temperature-controlled room near the kitchen. ``We don't buy wine to lay down,'' Shanks admits.

It turns out that picking wines is fraught with complications. Since 9/11, a distributor or winery can no longer simply send new releases for Shanks to taste. (Unsolicited bottles are destroyed, and an explanatory note and Polaroid photo sent to the supplier.) The White House doesn't accept donated wines and pays wholesale.

In selecting the right wine, Shanks thinks politically.

``A state dinner isn't about food and wine, it's bonding time,'' he says. ``A country or issue is driving it, and the wine has to augment that.''

British Connection

So at the May 2007 dinner for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, two of the three California wines had a British connection: 2004 Newton Vineyard unfiltered chardonnay ($50) and 2003 Peter Michael Les Pavots Estate cabernet ($160). The English founders of both wineries had been knighted by the queen.

The same thoughtfulness goes into smaller ``social'' dinners. Last fall, all three wines served to French President Nicolas Sarkozy were from wineries partly or wholly owned by French interests: 2004 HdV Carneros chardonnay ($65), 2004 Dominus cabernet blend ($100) and NV Chandon Etoile rose ($30).

Cost is another factor. It would definitely not be politically correct to throw taxpayer money at trophy wines, though he's twice served Shafer Hillside Select cabernet ($275), most recently at a holiday dinner.

Later, during a follow-up phone conversation, Shanks is continually interrupted with questions as everyone gets ready for a state dinner for President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana. Wines being served are 2006 Shafer Red Shoulder Chardonnay, $40, 2005 Pride Mountain Merlot Vintner Select, $110, and 2004 Schramsberg Cremant, $28. Finally he has to break off.

``Hold on,'' he says. ``I have to take this. It's the Oval Office.''

(Elin McCoy writes on wine and spirits for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)

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Last Updated: October 10, 2008 15:01 EDT