Saturday, April 28, 2012

Barry Sams In Hospital : Our Wishes Are With You Barry!

We are thinking of you Barry! We have your excellent two Italian whites now in the store. Come and buy a bottle and drink them to your health Barry! Cheers,  TONY

I am having growing pains with this " new " blogspot sysyem that has just gone into effect. It has never been this hard to use or complicated and I am wondering how I will find and easier way to post these blogs.

I want to get this out immediately as I am really troubled that Barry is so sick. On his last visit here to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008, Tel: 202-363-4265 , anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwine.com, also now on Twitter at : cpwinespirits, and on Facebook at : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ) Barry, you were looking a bit under the weather and as if you needed some time off from the job. We were concerned, really we were.

You have come at least four or five times since your initial visit with Shawn Tuttle in early 2011 was it? I don't remember exactly? Anyway you came to introduce your " new " specialty Italian import and then you started to come on your own with samples of your wines Barry.

I have enjoyed tasting with you Barry and " shooting the breeze " as we have both been in the business a long time and it is nice to trade stories. It's always fun to hear what the other has to say as we have shared parallel careers in the Washington D.C. wine business and share a mutual respect for one another.

We have two dry white wines as I have mentioned. I have not bought the one pictured above yet. The two white wines are : 1) the PAOLO SCAVINO Langhe Bianco 2010 ( $26.99 ) which is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and other dry white varietals from Italy's Piemontese region. It's flavorful and robust and a great medium-bodied, dry, good acids white to enjoy with food. It will hold it's own against many a meal. We also have the  2) REMO FARINA Bianco Di Custoza 2010 ( $15.99 ) dry white Veneto white from Italy that is rounder, softer, a bit mellower, softer, a touch more cream and warmth and with less sharp acids or delineations. I like it : nicer to sip by itself. It is also medium-bodied, a touch lighter than the PAOLO SCAVINO. I like them both and am happy to have them both here in the store in Cleveland Park in Washington D.C.

Thanks Barry and I hope to see you soon with more wines for us to sample here in Cleveland Park as we sell lots of Italian wines. Our customers love our Italian wine selection and you have many more to add to our collection. I jave tried several on your recent visits and we will have to put our heads together yet again and buy some to offer. Perhaps you can come and do an in-store wine-tasting here for our customers once that you feel better? That would be great. Looking forward to that.

Cheers Barry and heal quickly! WE are looking forward to seeing you and your twinkle in your eyes here again soon. You always have something nice to add and to say and share with us. I always come away from our visits feeling a bit better. Thanks Barry. Take care,  Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn


Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Anthony Quinn Brings Everyone Together Around The Wine-Tasting Table & Everyone Is Welcome To Taste & Join In! Taste 2009 Bordeaux W/ Mark Congdon of

J.W. Sieg Imports in early 20099 @ Cleveland Park Wines / Dave McIntyre writes about Austrian dry reds today, Wednesday 19th, 2012 ... this headline should finish.


In this case back in early 2012 was it ( ? ) there were lots of people that convened at CP Wines & Spirits to both taste wines with Chris and Tony and also some to buy wines from Chris & Tony. Everyone is always welcome. That's the way I like to run the store : include everyone, make it a grand and memorable experience for everyone.

In this case the wines displayed here are those from Mark Congdon our local rep for J.W. Sieg that was bringing around with him an assortment of good value wines from Bordeaux, France from the excellent 2009 vintage. These were, I believe the first that we were tasting. At least the first in a group like this. We have may have tasted the odd bottle or two, but this was the very first time a group had been shown to us like this and it was very informative. All the more reason to include everyone that happened to be lucky enough to have been in the store together at this particular point in time.




As I look at these pictures and think back on things I believe that these pictures are actually from the early months of 2011 when Chris was still working with us. That makes much more sense.


Chris and I bought some of the 2009 dry red Bordeaux wines from Mark Congdon. They sold well. They also got a nice plug from Dave McIntyre in the Washington Post news at the time( I think he wrote up two of them, including one above as well as a Lalande de Pomerol that sold for $20.99 I believe and which I found hard as a nail and needing a whole lot of time before drinking. I recommended to our customers to buy some and put the bottles away and allow for them to age gracefully over another 4-8 years to maximize their eventual enjoyment from a great year- no need to rush - that's what a great year is all about - patience and not falling prey to the temptation to open the bottles way before their time - remember Orson Wells in the old Paul Mason commercials : " We sell no wines before their time . " ? ) . We like to work together with Dave as he often shines light on areas, wines, grapes of the world that deserve attention.

Like today, Wednesday, September 19th, 2012 Dave wrote about the fine taste and value and complement of Austrian red wines with food : Blaufrnkisch, Saint Laurent and Zweigelt reds. We have some of them all Dave and applaud you for articles like these. Keep them coming! WE will continue to work with you to make them better-known/loved/appreciated by our local drinking public at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 , Tel : 202-363-4265 , anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwines.com , on Facebook at : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits, on Twitter at : cpwinespirits , ALSO : follow my other blogs here : go to : See Profile and click that on and scroll down to see my other blogs ).




Jennifer above with Monument Imports tastes Chris and I on some of her " new " releases, and tries Mark's red Bordeaux wines .




Customer and local chef comes to buy with his girlfriend and is invited to taste.




I like the free-flow feel of these labels with the lines - they speak to me being an artist myself.




I will have to catch up with Mark and see what is still available of these 2009 wines. he probably already has some of the excellent 2010 vintage, too?! Do you Mark? Let us Michel and me know. Thanks.




What a nice image, some for drinking immediately and some for holding onto a bit longer, another 1-3 years perhaps?




Look at the gorgeous clear and vibrant color of this red 2009 Bordeaux above. Gotta love it. That's Mark pouring some for me to sample.




I love seeing the color of the wine together with the bottle and the label from which it was poured. That's the one on the left.




Mark pictured above in the blue shirt talks with our local chef and wine-lover to his right and the chef's girlfriend that enjoyed talking and tasting with us. What a great treat for everyone : sharing, bonding and bringing everything together, maximizing the moment that is ours at any given point in time and not worrying or thinking about moments that are someone else's and not ours. We can only really do anything about our moments. I'm okay with that. I try and make mine all as great as possible and share them as best as I can with all those around me. That's both a gift to me as to everyone around me I hope. Cheers!




Lovely reflection of yours chef in the glass of 2009 red Bordeaux wine above!

Remember, this blog is called " chatwine " and I do love to chat. Chatting is relaxing, chatting can bring out some great revelations and make for special moments for us to have and treasure.




Look at the bottle necks and tops reflected in the red color of their wine : so visually beautiful.




What do you think of this 2009 dry red Laland-De-Pomerol above? I found it too tight and harsh and not at all pleasing to drink now. Buy and hide it away for a much later time.




Thanks Mark, this was an excellent treat and instructive wine-tasting of some of the just-released great 2009 Bordeaux reds.






Everyone gathered around, everyone was interested and curious to try the " new " 2009 dry red Bordeaux wines of J.W. Sieg Imports that our local rep Mark Congdon was tasting with Chris and me.




I love these next pictures of our chef friend and his lovely girlfriend/wife? I cannot remember just now. What a nice couple they make.




Here's above another rep visiting Washington D.C. to try us on her winery's wines.




That picture above sure is fun. I like it. Cheers.




Great smile above : cheers!




Lauren Jones above, our local rep with Washington Wholesalers comes to taste us on some of her new winery releases.






Jennifer pours some of her Monument Selection wines and I invite our good customer Michael to taste with us. Always great to see you Michael : you look marvelous! Love your hat, too!!




Smiles all around, even for Chris that does not like to have his picture taken. he was enjoying himself so much he did not realize that I was taking his picture. Sorry Chris, it was of Jennifer and our wine rep guest that I was taking a picture of - you just happen to be in the picture, too. Cheers ... and " pleasure " as you once said to me I believe, in parting was it? What does that even mean?

This was a great impromptu wine-tasting at CP Wines in early 2009? Glad we had so many people to bring together. I think we all really learned and enjoyed ourselves : and we sold some wine, too. Everyone benefitted and that's how it should always be. Cheers, with the pleasure shared equally by all. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn