I walked in and was there at the end of the bar closest to the front door. The food was there and as I looked around for a glass I decided to take advantage of it while I continued to look for a glass and get my bearings. It was a long stretch down the bar, lots of people I spied like Janet Cam, Mike Potasnik, Stephane Defot and more.
Aaron Gordon was there by the food and we exchanged " hellos " and I finally asked him for a glass to taste with and what he would like to pour for me as there were so many choices?!? Too many, not enough time, an impossible task in my humble opinion. No way to really taste them all and really focus on them and give them the proper attention that they deserve, as many were quite old, like the bottle of 1969 MARQUES DE RISCAL red Rioja that Aaron Gordon poured for me himself.
There we were . Janet Cam, Aaron Gordon and myself tasting this extraordinary bright and lively and refreshing and bright and airy and gravity-defying 1969 MARQUES DE RISCAL! Wow, what an extraordinary wine and treat : not aged at all, still , charming, conversational, lively, engaging and a treat through-and-through! If I had only tasted this wine I would have been utterly charmed and thrilled!
Thanks Gordon! What!?! Gordon, you're here in the store now? Wow, please write a comment here for everyone.
" Gracias, Thank You, Merci. Wines were Fantastic. Grapes of Spain you're incredible.
See you all in DC soon! " wrote Gordon. Gordon's wife took some fine pictures there, too.
Thank you all, I will write more. In the meantime enjoy this and stay-tuned for more, along with my many pictures. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
I meant to add my experience with drinking the LOUIS MARTINI California Cabernet Sauvignon 1969. It impressed me as the 1969 MARQUES DE RISCAL 1969 did. I drank the LOUIS MARTINI in the mid nineties was it?! Somewhere in that period. It impressed me, too for it's charm and youth and bright cadmium-red, forward cherry-toasty berry flavors! I loved it. I had no idea that it could be that fresh and vibrant! Wow, well-made, well-structured wines are a revelation, a pleasure, an honor, a privilege and a thrill to drink!
Yesterday I was in a Cleveland Park State-Of-Mind. Today I am still in that state-of-mind , adding the year 1969, too : a 1969 State-Of-Mind prompted by this amazing MARQUIS De RISCAL Gran Reserva red Rioja from Spain, and followed by vivid memories of the LOUIS MARTINI California Cabernet Sauvignon : and wil very distant memories when I was young and just starting of drinking the 1069 BOLLINGER Brut NM 2 433 362 Champagne from Ay, France : the 1969 CHATEAU CHASSE-SPLEEN Moulis en Medoc, and the CHATEAU LARCIS DUCASSE Grand Cru Classe Saint-Emilion from Gratiot, proprietaire a Saint-Emilion, medaille d'or en 1867. Great states-of-mind that continue now into my evening finally at home in northern Virginia now at 9:02 PM and able to focus better. I will continue this later. Stay-tuned : are you all in a 1969 Rioja MARQUES DU RISCAL state-of-mind? You should be : it was a wonder to hold and to roll and to balance on my tongue and to have it rock me and swing me and permeate me and titillate and excite all my senses! Cheers, TONY
It's now first thing Thursday morning as lots of rain heads our way and promises to be wet and possibly quite dangerous,too? I hope not. It does worry me on this June 13th, 2013. Let's hope for the best.
I read the catalogue/brochure that came along with the event yesterday and looked for the wines that I sampled and enjoyed standing at the bar with Aaron, Javier, Janet, Mike, Stephane, Christien and more, " " taking it all in ", snapping away at my pictures, and wondering why I did not see more people in the trade, wondering who everyone was? You have to realize that I have been in the Washington D.C. wine business now for thirty years-plus! It was a lot to take in as I mentioned earlier and Mike Potasnik asked me why I had not come earlier? I said a bit annoyed that I had a job to do, that it was the day that sales people from the wholesale companies came to see and taste with us three store fronts down at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits where I have managed the wine department now for thirteen years. You know, customers to help, wines to stock on the shelves on on displays, wines to taste as possibly " new " ones to buy and sell in the store? I had just put on our shelves a " new " Spanish Garnacha that we will sell for $21.99 that both Michel and I really liked tasting recently.
I forgot to mention that earlier Howard Friedman that imports and sells fine wines from Spain had been in the store. Even Aaron Gordon had stopped by briefly to tell us / remind us of this event. Ron Zilk I believe is his last name ( ? ) that used to cater private local functions also stopped by and said he was going to this event at Ripple restaurant. That usually bothers me because it always raises the BIG QUESTION / the " burning question ", why is someone like Ron that is not even in the official business of selling wine to customers going to these functions and not us retailers? Turns out from what Javier and Aaron both told me later that this was a function directed to the sommeliers and restaurants to encourage them to buy and sell more Spanish Rioja. The email invitation says " Trade / Media " and so I found that confusing. That did bother me somewhat, still does as I was impressed with the scope of this event and mentioned this to Janet, Aaron and Javier. As I already said : " it was a whole lot to take in " at once like this. I would have liked seeing an event like this broken into two or three parts to better taste and analyze and absorb the many wines presented here for both the trade and the media to evaluate, enjoy, promote, write and blog about and help to make more people aware of the history, the quality, the diversity, and the indigenous grape varieties like the Maturana Tinta that I tasted, thanks to Janet's prompting and interest ( telling me it was " something different and new " - there were two bottles of the same wine there by us, side-by-side : the 2008 Ad LIBITUM Maturana Tinta and the DINASTIA VIVANCO 2009 Maturana Tinta ) - I enjoyed both
While there I tasted wines from the vintages of 2009, 2008, 2004, 2001, 2000 and 1969 : maybe more. I would have liked to have tasted the 2004 DONA CARMEN Graciano, Tempranillo as I assume it was more Graciano than Tempranillo in the blend?
Of the wines I did taste , wines that I enjoyed quite a bit : all of them - classic and sometimes " new " - all exciting for me. Some labels that I had not seen in years, too! It was exciting. I kept saying to everyone : how the wine world has changed so completely over the years! I think I said this quite a bit to Mark Nichols that has been in the business like myself for many years! It does shock and surprise me. It does make me even more alive and excited, even more passionate and directed and focused to share both the " past " and the " now " to to relate them to one another with my/ our store customers at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits.
I tried the 2001 Reserva ONTANON Tempranillo/ Graciano dry red, the 2000 LA RIOJA ALTA 904 Tempranillo/ Graciano that I explained to Janet was a " classic - old world " style, the ARTADI Pagos Viejos Tempranillo, the 1981 BERONIA Tempranillo/ Graciano, the 2004 OGGA 95+ years old Tempranillo vines. Wow, as I said : this was a whole lot to digest and to take in at once.
I will write more, time to go off to work, weather the rain and the storm coming, and to promote and sell and tell this wonderful serendipitous tasting of these wines with our wonderful and curious-to-know-and-experienc-MORE customers at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits! Cheers, be safe, TONY 6/13/13 8:56AM now ...
Ficha Técnica com Adolfo Lona: Um olhar argentino num chão gaúcho! | Enoblogs www.enoblogs.com.br Difícil descrever muito, por isso, ``fotografia em cena`` sempre acaba por resumir estas noites marcantes de degustação. Agora imagine Adolfo Lona com toda sua graça, começando a palestra com um papo, que nós, presentes que éramos assim `` uns campeões``, por aquela noite chuvo...
- Nádia Jung likes this.
- Anthony Quinn I tasted two days ago the 1981 Tempranillo/ Graciano dry red blend of the BERONIA red Spanish Rioja that still tasted bright and fresh and with really nice, fragrant toasty berry-cherry flavors : medium-to-light-bodied, still very much alive and a very balanced and very pleasing wine to drink and enjoy as it was , or with food. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn chatwine.blogspot.com listen to my wine podcast with Malcolm Riddle at : chatwine.blogspot.com, and also read my blog on this BERONIA wine as we ll as the 1969 MARQUES DE RISSCAL : both were utterly wonderful and amazing! TONY 6/14/13
I copied this to include here because Nadia Jung had posted a blog on the site : Port Wine Lovers, it's a group that I joined recently. ANYWAY, I saw that she had posted something recently there and I clicked it on and found staring at me a picture of a BERONIA label! Loved that as I recently got a chance to try the 1981 vintage here at Ripple restaurant which I loved. Again, like the MARQUES DE RISCAL 1969 and the LOUIS MARTINI Cabernet Sauvignon 1969 from California : all three were very fruit-forward, balanced, bright, fresh and youthful. Amazing to find such youth and charm, charisma, personality and hope in all three with such age already. Full of experience perhaps but riddled with pleasure and joy and the full promise of things to come still as well as " of the moment ", too. 1981 also holds a special place in my heart as it my wife and my anniversary!
Life is full of wonderful, unexpected surprises. How would I have known I would find this picture of the BERONIA wine label like this? How would I have known that it would be from Brazil and written all in portuguese? They are making fine wine in Brazil now. How many people from Rioja have settled there? Any of you all have relatives there? Let me know, share that info in a comment here on this blog. Thanks, obregado!
I enjoyed talking with Janet Cam at the event. I used to sell her and her then husband Yannick Cam wines from the Mayflower Wines & Spirits in the mid eighties for their very famous restaurant then called Le Pavillon. How many of you remember this or dined there? I remember and dined there with my wife on one of our anniversaries. Janet herself recommended to me at the time two half bottles of wine for us to enjoy at our lunch. Both French : a half bottle of bubbly perhaps? Definitely a half bottle of red Burgundy. Oh well, so long ago : so marvelous, so wonderful.
I joked with Janet that she had really come to see me at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits, that she missed me and had come to say " hello ", and that if anyone doubts this that they can come and talk to me personally at the store, face-to-face! We also talked about how much the business has changed, about this tasting. It was nice and relaxed as we shared opinions on the wines and tasted slowly together as to get the full impact of them in all their splendor and glory. I told Janet that I still had some 1981 CHATEAU MARGAUX to celebrate my wedding anniversary. I did not tell her, but would be delighted to also have some of the 1981 BERONIA Rioja to celebrate with as well! Either offer incredible personalities and both are real treats, though quite different. I would start with the BERONIA 1981 and then go on to the CHATEAU MARGAUX 1981. That would be a treat. I would take them down the street to Lavandou restaurant where I know owner Florence Devilliers so well over these past twenty years and share both with her and the staff as we enjoyed our meal.
I did enjoy recently with my wife on our anniversary on Super Bowl night a California Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon bottle that sommelier Danny expertly opened and served to the two of us. THat helped make our evening special as did the fine service of the young redhead with the name of a star is it?!? She was very attentive, personable and professional and welcomed us and made us feel immediately at home. If I ever see her again I will thank her personally again. Cheers everyone, it's now the morning of Friday, June 14th, 2013 in northern Virginia at home on a much cooler day as the storm system has moved on and temporarily taken with it the heat and humidity : hurray! '
Now to the store again to sell more Spanish Rioja wines! Enjoy the weekend, TONY Listen to my podcast here on chatwine with Malcolm Riddle on art, culture, film , food, drinking local, the 60-80's, retailers and sommeliers, and WINE of course.
Spain does make some fabulous wine, these from the Rioja region still the best-known and very loved, and still at the front of the pack in quality, range and delight.
P.S. : My last comment and observation : WHEN TALKING WITH Janet Cam and tasting the 1969 MARQUES DE RISCAL Rioja she first asked me : what was the wine, it's name? I told her I thought iwt was the MARQUES DE RISCAL from the label I saw as Aaron opened it right there in front of us, specially for us? Thanks Aaron!! Janet also wanted to know the vintage and if it was a Reserva or a Gran Reserva. I mistakenly wrote here and told her that it was the Gran Reserva because, it being so old and still so fresh and a delight that it " must be " a Gran Reserva. But, in fact it was neither : it was the regular bottling. BRAVO, ... you can still learn new things at any age. I am delighted that this regular bottling, as with the 1981 regular bottling of the BERONIA showed so MAGNIFICENTLY!
I will think twice next time before I assume or speak. Cheers, TONY
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