It was a great event for us and with our coverage on CNN at 1 PM during the tasting on " Your Money " on the topic of : " How Can A Small Store Compete In Today's Difficult Economic Times ? " featuring me and Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com on Facebook at : clevelandparkwines&spirits ) : well, things could have not been more lively and exciting. I received calls about the show and people walked in talking about having seen it, etcetera : and all the wine-makers/owners, their wines, as well as those of our sales reps - everything showed really well and I received so many positive comments about them and the fine selections tasted, etcetera. It was a bit overwhelming and very much appreciated. Thanks everyone for all of your support.
This was our HOLIDAY WINES & GIFTS Wine-Tasting and the idea was simple and clear I hope : try wines to serve for the upcoming holidays and buy gifts for family and friends and business associates ( as well as get signed bottles from the owners and the wine-makers, making the gifts that much more special and personal for those that care and like that sort of thing. I know, I know, not everyone does : they can buy the bottle unsigned and not have to worry when to drink it because it is signed.
But speaking of staying in business : I think that we must be one of the stores in the world that has sold more signed bottles than any other. That simple fact has helped us stay in business and compete with all the larger stores that have been chipping away at our business and our profits over the years : and most of them are not even wine stores in the true sense : they simply sell wine along with everything else and piggy-back off the hard efforts of all us stores that are wine stores and nothing else. Do we ever hear any thanks from them? Do they ever stop and acknowledge our contributions?!?
But hey, this is supposed to be up-beat and about this tasting , not about me airing my personal beefs about the current state of wine-affairs in Washington D.C. and the metropolitan area. We had a great event and win-tasting and many people showed up and many of them bought, too. Thanks to one and to all.
We had four owners and two wine-makers tasting their wines at yesterday's Saturday Wine-Tasting :
1) Doug Fabbioli, owner/wine-maker of FABBIOLI CELLARS, Leesburg, Virginia ( this was Doug's 3rd in-store wine-tasting for us, 5 wines tasted :
Chambourcin 2009 dry red, $19.99, Tre Sorelle dry red Bordeaux blend 2008, $26.99, Rosa Luna dry rose 2009 $13.99, Raspberry-Merlot sweet red non-vintage, $25.99 ) ;
2) Rebecca Cooper, owner of COOPER VINEYARDS, Louisa, outside of Richmond, Virginia, ; 4 wines tasted -
Chardonnay 2009, $16.99, Viognier 2009, $23.99, " Noche " non-vintage half bottles of chocolate-infused Norton grape red sweet wine, $18.99, and the 2008 Petit Verdot dry red, $23.99
3) Mark Fedor, owner/wine-maker of NORTH GATE, ( just outside of Leesburg, Virginia ; 4 wines were tasted -
Chardonnay 2008, $19.99, Viognier 2009, $20.99, Merlot 2008, $19.99 and the off-dry apple wine 2008, $14.99
and
4) Judy Fowler, owner ( also a native of Lynchburg, Virginia ) now living in Clevedon, New Zealand and making Bordeaux-style wines there - all reds. 4 wines were tasted by Judy -
Clevedon Bordeaux-style blend 2002, $21.99, Clevedon Bordeaux-style blend, 2003, $21.99, Clevedon Estate Bordeaux-style blend 2005, $32.99 and the Cleveldon Estate Reserve Bordeaux-style blend 2006 $43.99.
All these wines showed very well yesterday and we sold many of what we had in stock and will be placing orders for more on Monday.
As you can see from the photos so far we had many happy customers all with bottles of wines in their hands. Bottles and smiles : what more could anyone ask for?!?
We also had five other reps/vendors/wholesalers pouring their wines : Brennan Downey of the Michael Downey Selections portfolio ( pouring three Italian wines and one California Zinfandel, too ) ; Sam Gessner of the LVDH portfolio selections ( pouring five wines, three from California, one from France and one from Oregon ) ; Lisa Giufre from Elite Imports pouring two wines from France, one from Australia, one from Spain and one from Argentina ; Chris Bartha from Cobblestone Imports pouring three wines from California ; and Matt Dougherty of Washburn Imports pouring four wines from California.
Thanks to you five, too. I will list all of your wine shortly.
In the meantime I will post this blog now and finish it later today or tomorrow as time permits. It was grand, it was joyous, it included lots of cheer and talk and tasting and debate and sharing of opinions. Stay-tuned for more really soon, TONY P.S. It's sunny outside now and I will bundle up after my exercises now and brave the elements and enjoy soaking up some of the sunshine here in northern Virginia on Sunday, November 7th, 2010 at 1:22 PM.
By the way our feature on CNN again airs at 3 PM on the show : " Your Money " if you want to catch it. It's towards the end of the show our segment. Cheers, and have a happy weekend ...
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