Father's Day has been a real treat for me : I've enjoyed it thoroughly. It's been an absolutely gorgeous day here in Annandale, Virginia with my family. I have not gone anywhere just enjoyed being here at home with my family. My brother called to wish me happy Fathers Day. We had a nice conversation. I gardened and rearranged some of our plants so as to see others better. I weeded, too. I updated my qynohtna.blogspot.com and chatpoetry.blogspot.com so you may want to check those out. I received some nice presents, one being the totally unexpected game " Apple to Apple " which we have all already played. Fun and quirky, thanks. We've had a delicious dinner that we all helped prepare and with that we drank some of the sparkling Pierre Larouse Alsace French wine followed by some of Andrea Fossi's Italian 2006 chianti. I especially liked the chianti. I enjoyed the sparkling French wine, too ; but I knew how much I would like that. The Fossi I had not had for awhile and I was really pleasantly surprised at how fresh and bright and lovely it was to drink now even in this warmer/ hotter weather. It's on the light side and can be chilled down. We were drinking it at close to dusk and temperatures were cooler and so it could have been chilled for twenty minutes before. As it was once it was open for thirty minutes or so it really became charming and thoroughly appealing. So easy to drink, I could have polished it off if I wasn't thinking. And I'm sure that I would not have a headache from it either, even if I had finished it all by myself!
We will buy some of the 2006 for the store. Right now we have Andrea Fossi's 2003 under the D&N label. That sells for around $15 and I am confident that it is a much more developed and complex wine. I've been on a FOSSI kick for the last two weeks, ever since Andrea came to the store to see me. We're old friends. Andrea came to work in our old store the Mayflower Wines and Spirits years ago when Sydney Moore and her parents Aaron and Helen Millman owned it. They lived it Italy ( Florence to be exact ) and bought the Italian wines to fill the containers that would arrive in Mayo, Maryland and would come to the Mayflower Wines and Spirits to be sold. I worked there then. That's when I met Bob ( Robert ) Parker, Jr. and he would come to the store and ask each of us there what we recommended he buy. He spoke to me about California wines then. He's put them in his cart and take them up to the register and pay Iris our German institution and friend. She worked the register with Leon. They were both loved as was Andrea who was learning his English then. Andrea has a gentle broad smile that effortlessly spreads over his face as it washes over ours and the entire room and puts as all at ease. He's such a kind man, such a refreshing person to unwind around. It's easy to blossom and to feel one's self around him. He's not pretentious or difficult. To the contrary, he's a breath of really pleasant fresh Tuscan air. Now he's developed a crop of rangy, unbridled white-witch hair that makes him look a little like an old tree of sorts. He's like one of the animated old trees in the " Lord of the Rings " trilogy movies. He shines youth, however each time that he smiles. I'll have to find my older pictures of Andrea from a couple of years ago and include them soon here on the blog.
He came by to say " hi - ciao " the other day and that warmed my heart through and through. He was with Brennan Downey ( son of Michael Downey with whom I worked for several years in the early to mid 80's at the Mayflower Wines and Spirits. Michael was a partner with Sydney and her parents then ). I want to have his wines back on our shelves. We already have a number of them. Come and see us and check them out : from southern D&N Sangiovese ( $10 ) to 2001 Primitivo ( ON SALE for $6.99 ) to D&N 2003 chianti ( I think $15 a bottle ) and soon more. There's plenty up his sleeve and ours. Stay-tuned for more.
I took some pictures outside earlier of the 2006 FOSSI chianti and my glass filled, like I enjoy these days. I will include them either later tonight or first thing tomorrow. I think you will enjoy them, I think I got some artistic shots. The color of the 2006 is so bright and reflective. It's a lovely cherry color, clear and warm and appealing. You can see into it and through it if you try : it admits you entrance into it's domain even with the color before you drink a drop. Here's a cheer to you Andrea, to our enduring friendship and hopefully for more times spent and enjoyed together short or long, whatever. You're making some really pleasing wines and some that dip to the depths and also soar to the heavens. Keep it up and let's meet in between the two on earth from now and then and renew our friendship and pleasure in seeing the other.
I just included in my chatpoetry.blogspot.com now, Monday, February 23rd, 2009 ( 5:32 PM here at home in northern Virginia ) my four poems that I wrote at the time I wrote this blog back in June 2008. Go check it out and see what you think. It starts like this :
Drank Fos Win
I Joy Found
Ossi F- F- Ossi
Wine Did Down
Glass Up Lift
Held Hand Lean
Eaned Head Back
Oh Far So So Good
Down Gul Hat
Own - D - D - Atch
Went 20 Plus
'06 Chi Chi Hi Hi
Anti Cans Of Tusc
Liq So Iquid
So Cherry That
Scent That Toast
Land Grapes Roast To
Ripe Ipened Siph
Iphoned
Mouth To ...
#1 Le 24 Juin, 2008 Mardi matin en Virginie en voiture on a beautiful, clear baby-blue morn after yesterday's deluge of water-rain! Hope you liked this first of the four poems I wrote. Go to : chatpoetry.blogspot.com for the other three. Cheers, TONY
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