It was another confluence of forces in such a serendipitous way that brought both Giuseppe Mazzocolin, owner of FELSINA Berandenga ( Fattoria di FELSINA - Via del Chianti 101, 53019, Castelnuovo Berardenga Siena, Toscano, Italia info@felsina.it and www.felsina.it ) to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits here in Washington D.C. ( 202-363-4265 www.clevelandparkwines.com and sales@ clevelandparkwine.com ) one afternoon on September 20th, 2006. It was truly by chance that I got a chance to meet Giuseppe and his assistant Chiara Leonini ( tel: +39 0577 355 177 fax: +39 0577 355 651 ) . Let me explain.
I had been invited to one of Bacchus Importers monthly wine-tastings and recently they were being held a few stores down from ours at DINO Toscano and Veneto Italian restaurant. I almost did not go for some reason. Perhaps I was too busy or forgot. I do not remember. Someone came down from Bacchus to remind me I think and so I rushed off to see what was new and " tempting " and " an absolute must " on my radar screen! You never know, and it was right there! What did I have to lose against what I had to gain: I weighed both possibilities and told Mike I was going and was out the front door in a flash.
I can tell you for sure that no one told me that the owner of the famous FELSINA Toscana winery was going to be there because if I had known that I would not have hesitated and gone much early. Incredible, everyone in the business knows how much I enjoy meeting both winemakers and wine owners and no one told me. It just goes to show how busy everyone is and that it's really each one for themselves in this wonderfully crazy, magical, magical, wondrous, sometimes trouble/troubling world of ours.
I got to the tasting in the upstairs room of DINO and started to my right and started to scan the bottles. I saw some wines that I had never seen before so I stopped and waited to taste and chat with the young lady that reps these wines through Bacchus. Funny, I cannot remember her name or the wines or her company even though I enjoyed this moment ( have her card somewhere ! ) because it was all eclipsed when I realized what time it was and dashed over to the other room to check out what sales/values that Bacchus might be offering! There was a beautiful lady standing there by the table with several bottles of FELSINA wines and I asked her immediately if she was one of the owners of the winery? She smiled, said " no " and immediately showed me with a motion of her left hand that the owner himself was standing right behind me. My heart sank for that split millisecond but soared again with recognition as I quickly spun around and smiling introduced myself to Giuseppe! Wow, this was something special!
I don't think that Giuseppe spoke much English and I don't know how much he understood either. My Italian is non-existent and so we both smiled a lot and that worked quite nicely with Chiara's translating. We managed magnificently. Since it was time to leave Dino restaurant I invited Giuseppe, Chiara and Larry ( their American rep that used to work for Bacchus ) to come over to the store, see it and so that I could taste the wines and get Mike to taste them, too. They accepted and so I went back ahead of them.
I learned about the Pepestrino white when they arrived a few minutes later. I had never seen this bright, simple pastel drawing of a label that tells very little about what it is but is quite remarkable once that you try it! We ended up selling perhaps thirty or more cases of this complex, 2005 aromatic, multi-layered dry golden white blend from Tuscany. Cheers to you all for making such a delicious white food wine to add to your already amazing portfolio of incredible reds
For more technical information please go to their web page ( www.felsina.it ) that I have included already. I am more interested here in conveying a story of warmth and first-meetings and appreciation well-deserved for past and present efforts that raise the bar high on what really fine wines , reds and whites that Tuscany can and does produce. I'm thrilled to have finally met you both.
We don't have any more of the white Pepestrino 2005 in the store and I will have to ask my local rep Sal Furfari for a sample to check out the new vintage. We , however do have the 2006 FELSINA Chianti Classico on our shelf now ( Sunday, October 19th, 2008 ) at $25.49 a bottle I believe and are really happy it is there and that we can recommend it to our customers wanting some of the best Chianti Classico available now in the U.S. for a nice meal. It's more of a food wine than a casual sipping wine. After the first three or four sips you will be looking around for something to complement both it's intensity, crisp acidity and firmness of flavors.
Before leaving the store I asked you both to write something for me. This is what you wrote : first Giuseppe : " To Tony , Il tuo amore por il vino e por la vita e por la terre ... con amicizia " Giuseppe Mazzocolin.
Chiara wrote : " Thank You Tony , per il dua entusiasmo e la bella ospitalita. Salute ! " Chiara Leonini. I hope I spelled everything correctly her. Thank you both as well. The feelings are mutual.
We would love Giuseppe and Chiara if you would come someday ( perhaps on your next visit to Washington D.C. to do an in-store tasting coupled with a dinner, too if possible in our store and then immediately afterwards at a local Italian restaurant like DINO where we first met? Let me know what you think. Please keep in touch and let me know what is new and exciting at your vineyard? The more we/ I know the better we can properly promote your wines and vision/vineyard/phylosophy as they are intricately wound up into one! Cheers, and thanks again for stopping by more than two years ago on September 20th, 2006 so serendipitously. We have all benefitted from that visit. Let's not make the next too long from now. Congratulations on your fine efforts. TONY
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