Ronnie Miller Et Antoine Songy Here At Cleveland Park Wines Week Of 5/3/2006 With Owner/ Winemaker Christophe Blanc Of MONTPEZAT, Vin De Pays D'Oc

     This first visit/tasting of the MONTPEZAT ( CHATEAU DE MONTPEZAT 34120 Pezenas France, +334 67 98 10 84  contact@chateau-montpezat.com )wines ( Vin de Pays D'Oc )  with owner/winemaker Christophe Blanc was a nice treat for our Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits customers as you can clearly see in these photos. I think that owner Christophe Blanc of CHATEAU DE MONTPEZAT was pleasantly surprised also to see such a strong response to him and his wines. I don't think most of the winemaker / owners that come here for the first time expect to be received by such a receptive community. They came the week of May 3rd, 2006.

     Our customers are used to sampling wines all the time now with owners and winemakers. They know the drill of tasting and talking directly with them and then getting bottles signed as gifts if they like the wines enough to buy them. It never ceases to fail this combination of introducing our Cleveland Park ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008,  tel; 202-363-4265 , sales@clevelandparkwine.com   www.clevelandparkwine.com ) customers directly to the sources for these fabulous wines. The MONTPEZAT wines have some real depth, too. They are serious, flavorful wines that almost always show best when paired with food.

     Here it is now Friday morning at 10:33 AM here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits, January 2nd, 2009 and we have recently been selling a lot of both the MONTPEZAT Merlot 2006 ( ON SALE for $7.99 ) and the 2006 MONTPEZAT Sauvignon Blanc ( ON SALE for $9.99 ). We still have some of both but are getting really low. 

     Our rep Ronnie Miller for Robert Kacher selections will come by later today and we will see about ordering more, especially of the 2006 MONTPEZAT Merlot. The 2006 MONTPEZAT Sauvignon Blanc is getting a bit tired now with hints of sherry in the taste. It's time to move to the current vintage. We will have to get back also the more flavorful, complex Rhone-Bordeaux-style blends with Cabernet blended with Syrah. . He also makes a straight Cabernet Sauvignon. They will be on the shelf for more money ( around $15 ) but they also will hold their own better to more flavorful cold-weather meals like stews, pot roasts, crock pot dishes, chili, cassoulet, etcetera ... as well as more flavorful, older cheeses.

     This tasting was held around Bobby's annual portfolio tasting at the Bistro Francais restaurant in downtown Georgetown, Washington D.C. N.W. I have recently blogged on it and you might want to read that, too and look at the fun pictures I took afterwards over on Wisconsin Avenue with some of our customers as well as some of the winemakers / owners.

     It was great to see some of our customers like Sarah and Mark Haskell's wife and daughter. Mark is a chef by training and often takes small groups to France for wine-food-pairing excursions. He has a home in the Rhone and so often comes to the store with lots of interesting stories about this region. He knows it now quite well. Wish I could tag along with you Mark. I bet I'd love it, too!

     Antoine Songy came along with Ronnie Miller and owner/winemaker Christophe Blanc of MONTPEZAT and so we had lots of help and ready hands to pour and chat-up these real values from France's Pays D'Oc region of southwest France. Thanks Ronnie for always thinking of us and bringing us all these wonderful people and owners, winemakers in France. We've all benefited from these meetings/tastings.

     On a sad note I am sorry for your recent loss Ronnie of your mother that just passed away. That's always such a hard thing to deal with.

     Hope you like the pictures. I will add more when I find my notes from this tasting. In the meantime enjoy these pictures.

     Christophe, revenez nous voir bientot! Ca fait trop longue que vous n'avez pas repasser nous voir et deguster vos vins avec nos clientelle. A la prochaine bientot j'espere. Bonne annee 2009 a vous et a votre famille. Quoi de neuf? Est-ce-que vous avez des nouvelles de vos vins recents?

     Cheers on this 2nd day of our new year 2009 filled with hope and promise and many good things on espere ....   TONY