Scott Peterson came by Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) Friday, February 19th, 2009 just to say " hello " and to thank me for the blog that he had jsy been copied on by Tom Clare that sells his wines. Tom and our Winebow rep Jody Jackman had just come the day before to the store to taste me on Scott's three DRUMMER CA. wines as well as on the LONGBOARD CA. wines. It was a great " first " meeting for me and Tom. Jody had told me that I would either really like Tom or not but she thought that I would . She was correct and I have already blogged extensively on this and that wonderful encounter for the three of us the day before. You can see it here in this blog site of : chatwine.blogspot.com. Just search for LONGBOARD. That's what Tom had copied Scott on.
It's a small world, really it is. I love it. Here it's now finally the night of the Oscars and I have been upstairs in my living room since noon bathed in the warming rays of the sun on our living room couch up against our wall and large window that looks out upon our cul-de-sac and also permits the welcome entrance of so much light and wonderful sunshine in this case to warm one on a rather bright yet quite chilly day.
I have been reading about the Oscars and what makes an actor or actress great ( all in the Washington Post Sunday newspaper. As I said before I love having the " feel " of an actual paper or article or magazine/book in my hands to read and learn and glean things from! I will be crushed if I soon cannot as everything morphs onto a screen, whatever the size - don't! Be real , something that we can always hold in our hands and grasp with our fingers! ). It was all enlightening to me.
Earlier I had just spoken with my brother in Atlanta, Georgia and Dave McIntyre that writes the wine columns for the Washington Post. We were discussing the idea of corks in a bottle and those corks that are tainted with a microscopic fungus ( referred to as " corked " bottles when this happens - which you can smell but never see ) and what our Cleveland Park wine-store policy was for bottles returned by customers that were corked?
I explained that we almost always take the bottle right back. I did add that in the spirit of educating a customer we would also sniff the bottle( cork ) and even taste it if necessary. It is also an education for us to know what is the matter with the wine : if it is cork-related or a secondary fermentation or tartrates, whatever. It's all about " open conversation as far as I am concerned and about learning together. It was a good conversation , one that I often have with my customers.
Then I was reading about actors and actresses that never purchase their gowns, jewels, shoes and attire provided free by the designers that are now pretty much all in really big trouble as the economy is tanking. The reviewer suggested that the designers might do a lot better if the actors and actresses actually paid and bought some of these gowns. I think it's a grand idea if they actually have the money to do so. Pay up! You may be great actors and actresses but stop taking everything for free. I agree with the writer. I know, harsh words and who the hell am I anyway?!? Just someone with an opinion and willing to print and share it, that's all.
Then I read about the idea of only having best actor roles and lumping both females and males into the same pool and having them compete against each other and not making it gender awards anymore? Interesting but I want women to have a fair chance and as many as they can so I'd like to see it stay the same and have more roles written and given to women that are sure deserving of them as often as in my business of wine as in this business of movies they do and often have to work twice as hard if not more than their male counterparts And often they do a great job, a commendable effort, really..
I was also listening to the old Apple i-Pod that my son gave me three years ago ( I don't want a new , updated one, this one is fine, it was a special gift ) and which he has downloaded many of my favorite songs. I listened three times to the Mama And The Papa's song " No Salt On Her Tail " and was completely caught-up/wound tightly into the pith and nerve and emotion of the harmonizing and words sung( gleaning their amazing meanings ) between Mama Cass and is it John Phillips? Wow, what an amazing three-minute escape ( just like the best movies, best actors', actresses' performances ) for me that I had to escape all-over-again-into two more times?!? Go figure, some things simply are not quantifiable or easily measured and yet they touch you to your very core and stop you dead-in-your-tracks : all art including wine and food and the orchestration serendipitously ( my favorite method which is more like none at all - just let it happen, let it be, be open to being and living and experiencing the wealth of each and every one of your moments ) or with a more-planned hand. Bot provide wondrous results.
Funny how everything really does and can/may tie together. I've already posted this blog now three times and this is my fourth edit within thirty minutes! I'm thinking of Tom Clare that introduced me to the DRUMMER wines and his love of Chagall the painter and his stained-glass windows at Reims, champagne France. I never mentioned it at the time but his love and his conversation got me to thinking of the movie " Notting Hill " with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. I loved Julia Robert's mention of the flying goat and man playing the violin : the references to love, etcetera. I love the painting and it's imagery and vivid colors. I love the fact that she stands there before Hugh Grant not as an actress but just as a girl asking a boy to love her. Wow, powerful image and words. Julia Roberts may have received an Oscar for that but probably not. Those lines, that scene will stay with me for forever. I also loved the character Spike in the movie and believe he, too should receive an Oscar for his role and the delivery of his lines : powerful stuff. So Tom, let's hear it here for Chagall and that wonderful painting of his. What wine did Chagall like to drink? Do you know? You must tell me when you find out. What wine back home in New Jersey will you drink tonight watching the Oscars? Will it be one of the ones that Chagall drank while alive? Let's keep the lines of communication open here, all of us - okay?
But I am getting way-off my story about meeting Scott a couple of night's ago. He came while Olivia Bombart of VOILA Collections was pouring here fine selection of French country wines. She's pictured here in a photo with Scott. Anyway, Olivia was pouring a dry red Cabernet Sauvignon and some Merlot blend from the coteaux de Bergerac. It's a town about two hour's away from the town of Bordeaux. It got me thinking about Cyrano and his long nose that was from Bergerac. I started telling everyone that tasted it and it made Olivia smile and perk up, I think she liked this reference and began to use it , too. Then I started to add by reference Steve Martin in the movie " Roxanne " which I really like. He played a modern-day adaptation of Cyrano in the movie. I think Steve Martin's performance is Oscar-worthy and I don't know if he ever received one for this role? I think not.
Everything ties into / flows into-from everything. I was just reading about comedy actors and how often they never get nominated and yet how difficult ( if not more difficult than the roles of non-comedy are ) their roles are. The writer was talking about Amy Adams in the Disney movie " Enchanted ". The writer Ann Hornaday was saying in this article that Amy Adams should have been nominated for an Oscar. I wholeheartedly agree with her. I loved her role in this movie. It's the reason that I would watch it again, the only reason. She was soooo believable. Her charm, innocence, vulnerability so real , so " beating - alive! " , so palpable and so endearing. Wow, wonderful stuff and it caught my attention and got me completely wrapped-up in her performance and her experiences in New York City ( Central Park ) and even more so in the apartment as she conjured her imaginary friends and spun her own fantasy world of wonder and charm and life.
So, if people can be recognized after the fact I say that both Amy Adams ( for " Enchanted " ) and Steve Martin ( for " Roxanne " ) should be awarded OSCARS of some kind for their excellent comedy-drama roles in these two movies.
Wow, sorry Scott. This is the most un-wine blog that I have ever spun and I do it with a bit of reservation as well as full-throttle glee that this blog should involve so many artistic - artsy-fartsy moments all tied hopefully by me into one.
Scott, for your DRUMMER, Napa Oakville Disrtict Cabernet Sauvignon ( CA. ) I would also nominate it for an award - a wine one in this case. It too was very real and inspiring to me. I tried three of your wines and liked the two with the DRUMMER label and not so much the Syrah-based " Rumpus " CA. red. It just did not touch or move me in the same was as the other two. I know it is a lot less expensive than them and I listened as attentively to your comments as I could Scott in an explanation-rebuttal to my strong words. You thanked me for being honest. So did Tom Clare when I said the same thing to him a day earlier. I also said that I would retry the wine and be glad to change my opinion if I responded more positively to it later. I also said that it would do well with a lot of the public : that I thought that it would have a rather broad appeal to the general wine-drinking public. So , we will see with time.
I was a bit caught-off by your visit Scott. You did indeed catch me by surprise. First, you said that you had already been to visit the store earlier with the Henry Wine Group. I did not remember any of this. You also said that you had already signed my guest book and wine-poster for wine-makers and owners. Why was I not remembering any of this? Sorry.
Scott, you also spoke of your colorful wine career from replacing Paul Hobbs at CATENA winery ( mendoza, Argentina ) as the American-California wine-consultant, that you had worked on a contract for years involved with Argentina ( and Chile, too ? ) : that you had worked for KENDALL JACKSON making their wines, with Stimson Lane and their Washington State ( CHATEAU SAINT MICHELLE / COLUMBIA CREST wines ) and more. I immediately asked you if you knew Jed Steele and you responded " yes ". You also added quickly that you had learned a lot from working with Jed Steele. That pleases me as I really like Jed Steele both as a wine-maker/owner as well as an excellent businessman. He connects with the people he comes in contact with and stays in contact as much as he can, initiating it as opposed to just responding. Thanks for that Jed.
Anyway, it was great to see you again Scott and I look forward to getting your DRUMMER Napa Oakville district CA. Cabernet Sauvignon to our store soon. I'll even try and get Jody Jackman our Winebow rep to pour it during one of her monthly in-store wine-tastings.
Of course Scott, you are welcome anytime to come pour it yourself. Just let us know when you can come back to Washington D.C. and we will schedule a tasting of all three of your excellent DRUMMER Napa CA. reds. Do you make any whites? What else is in your bag-of-tricks that you have not yet mentioned to me?
Oh, perhaps after the Oscars tonight which I will be watching with my wife and son that some of the stars and people there will drink some DRUMMER or LONGBOARD or COTEAUX DU CAILLAVEL red 2003 Bergerac Cabernet-Merlot blend? That would be nice. What wine will they drink? I am thinking that I will be finishing off with my wife tonight some of both the excellent red and white ROSENBLOOM Chateau Paws Rhone-style dry wines that are left-over from yesterday's in-store, wine-tasting. I was really impressed with the white, not expecting it to be as good as it was : and it was a 2006 vintage, too : go figure?!? Ah , the wonders of wine. Then we will at some point pass over into the white Verdejo Spainish dry white from the CASTELLO DI MEDINA that we originally bought years ago from Tatiana Maria and her two other sisters. Everything ties together as I said - just a wonderful continuum of all our seven senses respinding to so much constant, enticing , intriguing, sometimes new and hopefully always welcome stimuli. Yes! Of course if I had been lucky enough to have a bottle of the DRUMMER Napa Oakville district Cabernet Sauvignon I could have enjoyed it tonight watching the Oscars. Next time perhaps?
Scott, you were headed back to California this Friday night that we reconnected. You had dined the previous evening at Ardeo restaurant at the end of our block and were raving about the experience and the new sommelier/wine-buyer that I have still not met or at least been formally introduced to. I guess I'll have to walk down there and meet him when I dine there. That will be okay with me as I, too have only heard excellent things about him.
Scott, I helped you pick out a bottle of rum to take back to California with you. I hope it made it and that you enjoyed it as much as I did at midnight at Marcels restaurant in the company of Corbieres wine owner Herve Gantier, Antoine Songy and Ronnie Miller ( of Robert Kacher Selections ). I have blogged about that evening as well if you care to read it. Anyway, the rum is from Venezuela and called SANTA TERESA and I drank it on-ice and still raved about it. What do you think Scott? And Scott will you be watching the Oscars tonight? If so what wine will you drink or will you driink the Venezuelan rum? What wines will you award prises to tonight along with these fine film performances as you watch?
I have more information to add here but it will have to wait until Tuesday next week when I am back at the store. Hope you enjoy this so far.
Thanks again Scott for stopping by and opening a new line of dialogue with us at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits in our nation's capitol. The pictures I have included here ( I took all of them as usual except for the ones where I am included at a distance from us so that I could not possibly be holding the camera ) are from both the Wednesday tasting with Tom Clare and Jody Jackman as well as the Friday one with Scott and Olivia Bombart. Cheers, TONY
It's a small world, really it is. I love it. Here it's now finally the night of the Oscars and I have been upstairs in my living room since noon bathed in the warming rays of the sun on our living room couch up against our wall and large window that looks out upon our cul-de-sac and also permits the welcome entrance of so much light and wonderful sunshine in this case to warm one on a rather bright yet quite chilly day.
I have been reading about the Oscars and what makes an actor or actress great ( all in the Washington Post Sunday newspaper. As I said before I love having the " feel " of an actual paper or article or magazine/book in my hands to read and learn and glean things from! I will be crushed if I soon cannot as everything morphs onto a screen, whatever the size - don't! Be real , something that we can always hold in our hands and grasp with our fingers! ). It was all enlightening to me.
Earlier I had just spoken with my brother in Atlanta, Georgia and Dave McIntyre that writes the wine columns for the Washington Post. We were discussing the idea of corks in a bottle and those corks that are tainted with a microscopic fungus ( referred to as " corked " bottles when this happens - which you can smell but never see ) and what our Cleveland Park wine-store policy was for bottles returned by customers that were corked?
I explained that we almost always take the bottle right back. I did add that in the spirit of educating a customer we would also sniff the bottle( cork ) and even taste it if necessary. It is also an education for us to know what is the matter with the wine : if it is cork-related or a secondary fermentation or tartrates, whatever. It's all about " open conversation as far as I am concerned and about learning together. It was a good conversation , one that I often have with my customers.
Then I was reading about actors and actresses that never purchase their gowns, jewels, shoes and attire provided free by the designers that are now pretty much all in really big trouble as the economy is tanking. The reviewer suggested that the designers might do a lot better if the actors and actresses actually paid and bought some of these gowns. I think it's a grand idea if they actually have the money to do so. Pay up! You may be great actors and actresses but stop taking everything for free. I agree with the writer. I know, harsh words and who the hell am I anyway?!? Just someone with an opinion and willing to print and share it, that's all.
Then I read about the idea of only having best actor roles and lumping both females and males into the same pool and having them compete against each other and not making it gender awards anymore? Interesting but I want women to have a fair chance and as many as they can so I'd like to see it stay the same and have more roles written and given to women that are sure deserving of them as often as in my business of wine as in this business of movies they do and often have to work twice as hard if not more than their male counterparts And often they do a great job, a commendable effort, really..
I was also listening to the old Apple i-Pod that my son gave me three years ago ( I don't want a new , updated one, this one is fine, it was a special gift ) and which he has downloaded many of my favorite songs. I listened three times to the Mama And The Papa's song " No Salt On Her Tail " and was completely caught-up/wound tightly into the pith and nerve and emotion of the harmonizing and words sung( gleaning their amazing meanings ) between Mama Cass and is it John Phillips? Wow, what an amazing three-minute escape ( just like the best movies, best actors', actresses' performances ) for me that I had to escape all-over-again-into two more times?!? Go figure, some things simply are not quantifiable or easily measured and yet they touch you to your very core and stop you dead-in-your-tracks : all art including wine and food and the orchestration serendipitously ( my favorite method which is more like none at all - just let it happen, let it be, be open to being and living and experiencing the wealth of each and every one of your moments ) or with a more-planned hand. Bot provide wondrous results.
Funny how everything really does and can/may tie together. I've already posted this blog now three times and this is my fourth edit within thirty minutes! I'm thinking of Tom Clare that introduced me to the DRUMMER wines and his love of Chagall the painter and his stained-glass windows at Reims, champagne France. I never mentioned it at the time but his love and his conversation got me to thinking of the movie " Notting Hill " with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. I loved Julia Robert's mention of the flying goat and man playing the violin : the references to love, etcetera. I love the painting and it's imagery and vivid colors. I love the fact that she stands there before Hugh Grant not as an actress but just as a girl asking a boy to love her. Wow, powerful image and words. Julia Roberts may have received an Oscar for that but probably not. Those lines, that scene will stay with me for forever. I also loved the character Spike in the movie and believe he, too should receive an Oscar for his role and the delivery of his lines : powerful stuff. So Tom, let's hear it here for Chagall and that wonderful painting of his. What wine did Chagall like to drink? Do you know? You must tell me when you find out. What wine back home in New Jersey will you drink tonight watching the Oscars? Will it be one of the ones that Chagall drank while alive? Let's keep the lines of communication open here, all of us - okay?
But I am getting way-off my story about meeting Scott a couple of night's ago. He came while Olivia Bombart of VOILA Collections was pouring here fine selection of French country wines. She's pictured here in a photo with Scott. Anyway, Olivia was pouring a dry red Cabernet Sauvignon and some Merlot blend from the coteaux de Bergerac. It's a town about two hour's away from the town of Bordeaux. It got me thinking about Cyrano and his long nose that was from Bergerac. I started telling everyone that tasted it and it made Olivia smile and perk up, I think she liked this reference and began to use it , too. Then I started to add by reference Steve Martin in the movie " Roxanne " which I really like. He played a modern-day adaptation of Cyrano in the movie. I think Steve Martin's performance is Oscar-worthy and I don't know if he ever received one for this role? I think not.
Everything ties into / flows into-from everything. I was just reading about comedy actors and how often they never get nominated and yet how difficult ( if not more difficult than the roles of non-comedy are ) their roles are. The writer was talking about Amy Adams in the Disney movie " Enchanted ". The writer Ann Hornaday was saying in this article that Amy Adams should have been nominated for an Oscar. I wholeheartedly agree with her. I loved her role in this movie. It's the reason that I would watch it again, the only reason. She was soooo believable. Her charm, innocence, vulnerability so real , so " beating - alive! " , so palpable and so endearing. Wow, wonderful stuff and it caught my attention and got me completely wrapped-up in her performance and her experiences in New York City ( Central Park ) and even more so in the apartment as she conjured her imaginary friends and spun her own fantasy world of wonder and charm and life.
So, if people can be recognized after the fact I say that both Amy Adams ( for " Enchanted " ) and Steve Martin ( for " Roxanne " ) should be awarded OSCARS of some kind for their excellent comedy-drama roles in these two movies.
Wow, sorry Scott. This is the most un-wine blog that I have ever spun and I do it with a bit of reservation as well as full-throttle glee that this blog should involve so many artistic - artsy-fartsy moments all tied hopefully by me into one.
Scott, for your DRUMMER, Napa Oakville Disrtict Cabernet Sauvignon ( CA. ) I would also nominate it for an award - a wine one in this case. It too was very real and inspiring to me. I tried three of your wines and liked the two with the DRUMMER label and not so much the Syrah-based " Rumpus " CA. red. It just did not touch or move me in the same was as the other two. I know it is a lot less expensive than them and I listened as attentively to your comments as I could Scott in an explanation-rebuttal to my strong words. You thanked me for being honest. So did Tom Clare when I said the same thing to him a day earlier. I also said that I would retry the wine and be glad to change my opinion if I responded more positively to it later. I also said that it would do well with a lot of the public : that I thought that it would have a rather broad appeal to the general wine-drinking public. So , we will see with time.
I was a bit caught-off by your visit Scott. You did indeed catch me by surprise. First, you said that you had already been to visit the store earlier with the Henry Wine Group. I did not remember any of this. You also said that you had already signed my guest book and wine-poster for wine-makers and owners. Why was I not remembering any of this? Sorry.
Scott, you also spoke of your colorful wine career from replacing Paul Hobbs at CATENA winery ( mendoza, Argentina ) as the American-California wine-consultant, that you had worked on a contract for years involved with Argentina ( and Chile, too ? ) : that you had worked for KENDALL JACKSON making their wines, with Stimson Lane and their Washington State ( CHATEAU SAINT MICHELLE / COLUMBIA CREST wines ) and more. I immediately asked you if you knew Jed Steele and you responded " yes ". You also added quickly that you had learned a lot from working with Jed Steele. That pleases me as I really like Jed Steele both as a wine-maker/owner as well as an excellent businessman. He connects with the people he comes in contact with and stays in contact as much as he can, initiating it as opposed to just responding. Thanks for that Jed.
Anyway, it was great to see you again Scott and I look forward to getting your DRUMMER Napa Oakville district CA. Cabernet Sauvignon to our store soon. I'll even try and get Jody Jackman our Winebow rep to pour it during one of her monthly in-store wine-tastings.
Of course Scott, you are welcome anytime to come pour it yourself. Just let us know when you can come back to Washington D.C. and we will schedule a tasting of all three of your excellent DRUMMER Napa CA. reds. Do you make any whites? What else is in your bag-of-tricks that you have not yet mentioned to me?
Oh, perhaps after the Oscars tonight which I will be watching with my wife and son that some of the stars and people there will drink some DRUMMER or LONGBOARD or COTEAUX DU CAILLAVEL red 2003 Bergerac Cabernet-Merlot blend? That would be nice. What wine will they drink? I am thinking that I will be finishing off with my wife tonight some of both the excellent red and white ROSENBLOOM Chateau Paws Rhone-style dry wines that are left-over from yesterday's in-store, wine-tasting. I was really impressed with the white, not expecting it to be as good as it was : and it was a 2006 vintage, too : go figure?!? Ah , the wonders of wine. Then we will at some point pass over into the white Verdejo Spainish dry white from the CASTELLO DI MEDINA that we originally bought years ago from Tatiana Maria and her two other sisters. Everything ties together as I said - just a wonderful continuum of all our seven senses respinding to so much constant, enticing , intriguing, sometimes new and hopefully always welcome stimuli. Yes! Of course if I had been lucky enough to have a bottle of the DRUMMER Napa Oakville district Cabernet Sauvignon I could have enjoyed it tonight watching the Oscars. Next time perhaps?
Scott, you were headed back to California this Friday night that we reconnected. You had dined the previous evening at Ardeo restaurant at the end of our block and were raving about the experience and the new sommelier/wine-buyer that I have still not met or at least been formally introduced to. I guess I'll have to walk down there and meet him when I dine there. That will be okay with me as I, too have only heard excellent things about him.
Scott, I helped you pick out a bottle of rum to take back to California with you. I hope it made it and that you enjoyed it as much as I did at midnight at Marcels restaurant in the company of Corbieres wine owner Herve Gantier, Antoine Songy and Ronnie Miller ( of Robert Kacher Selections ). I have blogged about that evening as well if you care to read it. Anyway, the rum is from Venezuela and called SANTA TERESA and I drank it on-ice and still raved about it. What do you think Scott? And Scott will you be watching the Oscars tonight? If so what wine will you drink or will you driink the Venezuelan rum? What wines will you award prises to tonight along with these fine film performances as you watch?
I have more information to add here but it will have to wait until Tuesday next week when I am back at the store. Hope you enjoy this so far.
Thanks again Scott for stopping by and opening a new line of dialogue with us at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits in our nation's capitol. The pictures I have included here ( I took all of them as usual except for the ones where I am included at a distance from us so that I could not possibly be holding the camera ) are from both the Wednesday tasting with Tom Clare and Jody Jackman as well as the Friday one with Scott and Olivia Bombart. Cheers, TONY
1 comment:
Any old photos of store when it was "Spund's" Market around 1940 thru 1950's. Owned by my father Sam and his brother, Max Grant. Sold to Fanaroff's and became Magruder's. Sadly we have no pictures from that era. J. Grossman/framework@verizon.net/
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