It was quite the experience for me to be invited by by Mike Postasnik to come to his home one Monday in August of 2006 to evaluate the third blind-flight of Malbecs that were being tasted by a panel of people like Jay Youmans ( Master of Wine ), Michael Flin ( Kinkade's restaurant, Wash. D.C. ) and Jim Arsenault of The Vineyard Wine Shop in Vienna, Virginia. There was another person as well helping set the tasting up and I was very pleased to be included to taste on my day-off. It was a beautiful summer morning and when I arrived everything was already bagged and numbered. This was all being done for the next issue of the INTERNATIONAL WINE REVIEW.
In the pictures I took you can see the dates ( September 2005 may have been the first issue, there was also one on January 2006 : issue #2 on RED TABLE WINES OF PORTUGAL ).
The wines would soon be poured by Mike and Jay and we would have a very short time to taste and evaluate and discuss briefly after the first flight because there would be several before we were finished. I was not used to scoring and to tasting so quickly. I was out of the habit of doing this and I felt it and I am sure it must have showed.
I am glad to have done it once. I am sure that my notes and my presence were duly noted by all but I am not sure that I was the kind of taster that they really wanted? I never asked and no one ever said and I was never invited again so this is all conjecture on my part. I was however really pleased to have done this at least once and I do thank you Mike for the opportunity.
This issue was perhaps the fourth or the fifth in a series of IN-DEPTH reviews of various grapes, regions and countries of wines. I was and still am impressed by the detail and the scope of what is covered in these at i-winereview.com. You may subscibe either on-line and receive it that way or get a paper copy. The rates have gone down in 2008 according to Mike Postasnik that I saw about a couple of month's ago on a Sunday at Etrusco restaurant celebrating the 10th-year anniversary of Michael Downey Selections. I will include Mike's information a little bit later so that you may contact him directly to find out more about current rates.
I-winereview.com started back in 2005. We have made people aware of them and their reviews from the get-go. We have had had issues on display in our store for the last two years. Inquire next time you are at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits if you are interested ( 202-363-4265 www.clevelandparkwine.com sales@clevelandparkwine.com ) and want to find out more. Mike Martin or I ( Tony Quinn ) will be more than happy to help you.
Here are a few pictures I took with my camera before my batteries went dead that Monday early morning over at Mike Potasnik's home. There are pictures of Mike, of Michael Flin, Mike's cat and the bottles set -up and ready, bagged , to be poured.
There are also pictures of the actual reviews in the store with our customer flipping through one of the issues. She loves wine and was happy to let me take some pictures of her. Thanks.
I like this publication for the almost inexhaustible information about the areas of production, wines and grapes, the history and the weather, the climate, the terroir, etcetera. This is invaluable to me and I appreciate it. Even what is said about each wine is quite valuable. I simply do not like or value the point system that is used. It becomes the only thing that people talk about or remember and it is too artificial and does not really have any relevance in my humble opinion to the taste buds/ the palates of those out there purchasing wines. It is often called a necessary but evil tool in the wine business. I pretty much just call it an evil tool. I'd like to see both more customers and retailers relying more on their own palates and less on those of professional tasters.
It's harder work and it really does put one's neck on the line each and every time that he or she recommends a particular wine but this in fact the way it used to be done once a long time ago and I'd like to see a return. The risks are great and the rewards when discovering something serendipitously with less written/scored baggage can be truly wonderful and something not easily forgotten for years to come. Let's use these reviews for information from time to time to add to our own discoveries but not to dictate them and control/limit them. Let's use our own words and experiences - create them all by ourselves. What a novel concept! Anyone in ?!? If you are come by Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits at 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. ( 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) and let's help to get you started! It's a fun, fascinating, immense wine-world out there and you can grasp bit by bit all by yourselves and have yourselves to thank for whatever you discover/comes your way. Nice. Then you can refer to these guides and read more about your discoveries, after you make them on your own.
Having said all this I do want to point out that Jay, Mike, Jim and others of the 1-winereview.com have worked really hard and done their homework really well. I'm impressed with all this work and exhaustive tasting of wines. It is not easily accomplished and they do deserve a round of applause. Just don't make their reviews the only source you use and certainly not the first. Rely first on your own palate and then later check what also has been said or written about the wines you have just tasted and hopefully enjoyed.
We later enjoyed a wonderful lunch prepared by Mike out on his patio with all the beautiful flowering plants and the pond and water fountain with some of these tasty malbecs removed from their conceiling brown bags and now fully enjoyed with the pasta, salad and other " goodies " that Mike shaed with us all. I have known Mike for many years. As a matter of fact Mike started coming to my home-wine-tastings years ago back in the early 1990's. We've shared some good wine together over the years.
My wife showed up at the end to collect me and drive me home as I had tasted by then so many wines and in no condition to drive home. I thank her for both dropping me off and picking me up. The carpooling for a mother and wife never ends. They are some of the greatest unsung treasures/gems of ours.
It's a beautiful fall afternoon at 1:54 PM as I finish typing this on my day-off, Monday October 20th, 2008 here in Annandale, Virginia. Time to go collect my son at school and go off on our errands together, father and son, another wonderful thing.
Cheers, TONY
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