I met Alberto Panella back somewhere in late 2001 or early 2002. Funny, I can't remember anymore. Anyway it all started when he caught my curiosity with a letter that he sent me dated August 4th, 2001. Yes, I still have it and it is signed by both Alberto and his partner Mo ( Alberto ) Fileppo. They both have the same first name ; can you believe it ?!? So I guess one has to be called Mo as a result, or was this name of Mo's used way before?
Anyway the letter starts : Dear Tony Quin, " I am pleased to announce that Grappoli Imports, Ltd is officially up and running , and our wines have arrived safely in our warehouse. ... Our company specializes in high quality Italian wines , as well as a carefully selected representation of California wines.... My hope is that we can develop a long-lasting and profitable relationship, not only through our dedicated sales team , but also by offering you your favorite wines at more enticing and affordable pricing than our competitors... "
I don't include it all. I could have stopped reading when he left one " n " off my last name but I continued on. I called him after thinking about it and this letter. Who was he? Who was Mo ? What was Grappoli? I had no idea but if there was something to know here I wanted to be the first or one of the first in D.C. so I called Alberto.
I asked Alberto who he was and what his list of wines really meant? I said I could not rely on lists : that Mike Martin and I needed to taste some of these wines of his to make any decisions at all. I had now been at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits running the wine department for a little more than a year. Things were going fine and I wanted to be fully aware of whet was out there for us to purchase. We set an appointment and Alberto came and we tasted together and I bought some of his wines at some point.
It's been a long time as it is now Sunday afternoon at home as I type this blog ( 5:25 PM , November 30th, 2008 ) and I cannot remember everything. That's okay. Alberto was our sales person for quite some time and we started to buy an assortment mostly of Italian wines : SEGHESIO from the Piemonte for example as one. The list has changed over the years.
We have had a long-lasting and profitable relationship now and I'm thankful for that. I'm also thankful for Alberto and Mo's fine hand-picked selections of top-quality Italian wines. I have bought some American wines , too like Mikensie-Mueller( spelling ? ) for example as well as the excellent STONE MOUNTAIN Charlottesville, Virginia wines. We've had Chris the owner and winemaker of STONE MOUNTAIN now twice in the store tasting with our customers his excellent wines. We've also had an assortment of Alberto and Mo's other Italian producers tasting their wines in the store. I've blogged some about all of them over these last seven months and will continue to as time permits.
At some point I discovered that Alberto likes the music of the Cream and that of course has cemented our relationship even further! That's a great bond along with that of excellent, balanced, true-t-origins-and-weather-climate-soil wines! What more could we have besides beautiful women like Sylvia of Lomabardy and her excellent Sforzato " Canua " from SERTOLIS ( vALTELINA ) a Nebbiolo-based Amarone-look-alike red to enjoy in the company of such a fine Italian lady?!? Not much more I'd wager.
Anyway, the other day with Ugo Chiola of the UGO CHIOLA Piedmontese winery in Italy we found ourselves ( just the three of us ) lunching locally at the beginning of November in a wonderful Italian restaurant in Old Towne Alexandria. I took some special pictures of this luncheon with lots of the food, the wine and Alberto of course. We even had a couple of ladies walk up to us during our luncheon to see what all the excitement was about! They are in at least one of these very atmospheric pictures that I took with yellows, browns and oranges of the art work and walls behind them.
I will of course add more really soon because I do have more to include. However, for the moment luxuriate in the warmth of these three walls ( one glass window ) and the people, the wines, the food ...
By the way I now have a great Aussie wine sales rep from Grappoli that calls on us each Wednesday at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 2008, sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com Tel : 202-363-4265 ). His name id David Enright and he's from Perth , western Australia. Go figure?!? He's doing a great job, too. Thanks David.
Anyway the letter starts : Dear Tony Quin, " I am pleased to announce that Grappoli Imports, Ltd is officially up and running , and our wines have arrived safely in our warehouse. ... Our company specializes in high quality Italian wines , as well as a carefully selected representation of California wines.... My hope is that we can develop a long-lasting and profitable relationship, not only through our dedicated sales team , but also by offering you your favorite wines at more enticing and affordable pricing than our competitors... "
I don't include it all. I could have stopped reading when he left one " n " off my last name but I continued on. I called him after thinking about it and this letter. Who was he? Who was Mo ? What was Grappoli? I had no idea but if there was something to know here I wanted to be the first or one of the first in D.C. so I called Alberto.
I asked Alberto who he was and what his list of wines really meant? I said I could not rely on lists : that Mike Martin and I needed to taste some of these wines of his to make any decisions at all. I had now been at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits running the wine department for a little more than a year. Things were going fine and I wanted to be fully aware of whet was out there for us to purchase. We set an appointment and Alberto came and we tasted together and I bought some of his wines at some point.
It's been a long time as it is now Sunday afternoon at home as I type this blog ( 5:25 PM , November 30th, 2008 ) and I cannot remember everything. That's okay. Alberto was our sales person for quite some time and we started to buy an assortment mostly of Italian wines : SEGHESIO from the Piemonte for example as one. The list has changed over the years.
We have had a long-lasting and profitable relationship now and I'm thankful for that. I'm also thankful for Alberto and Mo's fine hand-picked selections of top-quality Italian wines. I have bought some American wines , too like Mikensie-Mueller( spelling ? ) for example as well as the excellent STONE MOUNTAIN Charlottesville, Virginia wines. We've had Chris the owner and winemaker of STONE MOUNTAIN now twice in the store tasting with our customers his excellent wines. We've also had an assortment of Alberto and Mo's other Italian producers tasting their wines in the store. I've blogged some about all of them over these last seven months and will continue to as time permits.
At some point I discovered that Alberto likes the music of the Cream and that of course has cemented our relationship even further! That's a great bond along with that of excellent, balanced, true-t-origins-and-weather-climate-soil wines! What more could we have besides beautiful women like Sylvia of Lomabardy and her excellent Sforzato " Canua " from SERTOLIS ( vALTELINA ) a Nebbiolo-based Amarone-look-alike red to enjoy in the company of such a fine Italian lady?!? Not much more I'd wager.
Anyway, the other day with Ugo Chiola of the UGO CHIOLA Piedmontese winery in Italy we found ourselves ( just the three of us ) lunching locally at the beginning of November in a wonderful Italian restaurant in Old Towne Alexandria. I took some special pictures of this luncheon with lots of the food, the wine and Alberto of course. We even had a couple of ladies walk up to us during our luncheon to see what all the excitement was about! They are in at least one of these very atmospheric pictures that I took with yellows, browns and oranges of the art work and walls behind them.
I will of course add more really soon because I do have more to include. However, for the moment luxuriate in the warmth of these three walls ( one glass window ) and the people, the wines, the food ...
By the way I now have a great Aussie wine sales rep from Grappoli that calls on us each Wednesday at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 2008, sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com Tel : 202-363-4265 ). His name id David Enright and he's from Perth , western Australia. Go figure?!? He's doing a great job, too. Thanks David.
Enjoy these photos of Alberto. For more technical info on Alberto and his great Italian-plus selection of wines go to : 455 Calvert Avenue, Alexandria, VA. 22301 Tel: 703-519-2155 Ext #2 alberto@grappoligroup.com ).
Cheers, enjoy and stay dry on this especially wet Sunday here in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area! Is it dry where you all are ? TONY
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