It was great to have Jean back with us once again. He came for the first time last year with rep Emilio Velez. I was happy to meet such an important person in the Alsace wine scene that has been instrumental over the last thirty years in giving Alsace such an exalted place here in the United States. By that I mean with those people like myself in the wine business that know just how great the wines of Alsace can be. Unfortunately these wines are hard-sells here and most Americans I feel in my humble opinion have no clue about what wine gems are hidden in Alsace and await discovery. This is a real shame as they have also often offered outstanding values considering the money you pay for them and the amazing layers of flavors and tastes they offer compared to what you pay for other wines at the same price. They are more complex, more daring wines that take more time to understand and in some cases you have to learn to love them and it sometimes takes a meal to fully bring out the flavors deep within the cores of these gems.
Saying all this it is nice to have Jean back here with us. I was unable to go to the lunch at Vidalia I think it was. I have to be here to serve all our wine-buying customers and so it was with a sense of sacrifice and knowing that I was missing a special event that I sadly passed this wine and culinary experience : and all for you our beloved customers. That's okay. Eric Platt brought Jean here after the lunch and we proceeded to taste slowly through the seven or so open bottles left over from lunch.
It's always busy here with customers at Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits browsing and surfing the shelves for unique,sometimes dusty bottles of wines to try. I stop everything for the customer and always try and involve them when a wine maker or owner is here tasting his wines with Mike and me. That's what happened when Mike and Penny and other customers passed us. Jean tasted his wines and described them with pride and such passion. He sells the wines that his brother makes. They have a really long family tradition and you can see his strong sense of place and history in his actions and words. I was tasting along as I could between helping customers. I like to joke and come up with descriptive scenes and events, people and fantasy images at times to describe the wines and how they sit/fit/look and feel on me. I do this in French and in English and I can be both serious and humorous all in one.
I was snapping pictures of Jean all the while he was waxing passionate and poetic and historical about his wines. He was gesticulating with his arms and his head was in constant movement as he acted through his scenes, different for each wine from dry Rieslings to more aromatic Pinot Gris, Thicker,denser,spicier Gewurztraminers and sweet, honeyed, nutty and mineral concoctions/magical spells and exotic flavorings. Sublime anyone? I captured Jean's mood and idiosyncrasies. He's tall and distinguished and always well-dressed. He's got a great smile and it rolls out a bit more when I make a comment in French. He's happy, too because I think he likes my sense of playfulness and not taking the wine too seriously. He says no one can understand us, conspirators us ( ? ), because we speak in French. Little does he know that a lot of our customers here both speak and understand French, Mike our customer does. He often talks to our wine personalities in French without batting an eyelash.
I took a lot of the pictures looking through a large, broad and tall-brimmed Reidel wine glass. I like to do this : the wine's in the bottom of the glass and the top is clear and I can/the camera's eye can see through it and record what's on the other side. In this case it was Jean in all his actor's/performer's intent and concentration and fine performance. I'm going to go down to Moto Photo shortly and speak with owner Laurent and make copies of these pictures. I'll put them up in the store soon and also later download them to this page so that you can make of them what you will.
Jean was pressed for time. Enough is enough. We tasted and we will buy his excellent wines. They are representative of some of the best of Alsace. I love the restraint and the elegance /finesse and true breed that these wines speak to. I am happy to have them here in the store and have ordered some for our next tasting here with Emilio which will be Saturday, June 14th from 2-6 PM. Join us. We will taste some of the same wines I tasted a week ago : something hopefully for everyone. Thank you Jean for such timeless liquid Alsace masterpieces. Sante et felicitacion a tpi et ton frere aussie .
We do have one of Jean's better wines here : signed just now by him - the 1999 Reserve Personnelle Pinot Gris, $35.49 which impressed me so much on Jean's last visit that I bought heavily of it. It's so thick and viscous and richly-textured that it leaves little room for the wanting of much else. It will send the palate soaring up and crashing down and rumbling/rushing everywhere else in between until you settle comfortably into a blissful state of reverie and appreciation wherever good chance and fortune has it. Cheers. TONY
No comments:
Post a Comment