A Full Day At Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits 11/12/08 : Stephane OGIER ( Rhone ), Claudio LoCascio(Sake), Ginny Murphy(TRINCHERO), 5 Local Winemakers!

It was crazy today starting with all our local reps coming by Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits for their orders as well as a number of other people. Ginny Murphy with TRINCHERO got the morning rolling for me with her " new " TRINCHERO ( gmurphy@tfewines.com ) California wines. We really enjoyed them as usual and have enjoyed selling these excellent value California wines.

Then Ronnie Miller our local Bobby Kacher rep calls and asks if he may bring Stephane OGIER of the great OGIER Rhone wines? I said " Bien sur - 0f course ! " They show up minutes later with really fine white Viognier, one blockbuster Condrieu ( his first, it was so lively and bright and refreshing, SO PURE - wonderful wined-sunshine! ) and three delicious red Rhones including a silky, elegant Cote Rotie. I loved really all five. Thanks Ronnie, thanks Stephane. I hope I did make you late to your next appointment.

Then Jody Jackman brought me Claudie Locascio ( father owns Winebow imports ) who wanted me to try the " new " top-flight sakes that he has spent the last four months in Japan learning about. They were all really smooth and probably across the board the best that I have ever had. I actually enjoyed all of the selection that Claudio poured for me. Usually I cannot get past the nose of sakes and this time I really enjoyed three of them out of the eight or so that I was offered. We will start by carrying two that need to be refrigerated because they are not pasteurized : one comes in a shiny silver can - something original for packaging that I have never seen before. I like it.

     I almost forgot to say that our new rep for Becky Wasserman Selections of Fine Burgundies called first and then came by with a red Chassagne Montrachet 100% Pinot Noir red burgundy that would sell for just over $30 a bottle and was really quite elegant, polished ( medium-to-light-bodied ) and showing really nicely now. We may add it soon to our Cleveland Park Wines inventory. But before we do that we'd like to try a couple more wines first. So stay-tuned for Becky Wasserman wines here at Cleveland Park.

Then all the local Virginia and Maryland local winemaker/owners started to show up for our American Holiday Big-Theme Tasting featuring these five local ( go green ) wine owners/makers. Brad McCarthy ( BRADFORD REED, VA. Charlottesville ), Chris Breiner ( owner and winemaker STONE MOUNTAIN VINEYARD Charlottesville , VA. ), DJ Leffin ( assistant winemaker at PEARMUND, Warrenton, VA. ), Paul Robert ( owner and winemaker DEEP CREEK Winery, MD. ), and Carol McGarry ( owner SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN VINEYARDS, MD ). There are a number of signed bottles here for you all still to buy if you would like. Just call Mike Martin or me ( Tony Quinn ) at Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits ( 3423 Conn. Ave. N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com, www.clevelandparkwine.com ) and we will be glad to assist you.

Then our local reps were here as well as some special people like Jennifer Horsely from CLOS DU VAL WINERY who drove here from North Carolina to be with us last night. Thanks Jennifer! We had Jody Jackman ( Winebow Imports pouring the WOLFFER New York State Long Island Merlots, Chardonnays and the " Big Apple " Apple wine ( some of the wines under the La Ferme label as seen in her hands ) , Doug Mohr ( Monument Fine Wines pouring the EDMEADES Zinfandel and the Robert PEPI Sangiovese red and white Pinot Grigio ), Lisa Giufre ( Elite Imports pouring Alex Sotero Moscato and the AUDESIRK Chardonnay ( both from California ), Marci Weistein ( Constantine Imports pouring the RABBIT RIDGE CA. wines ), Jeremy Sutton ( Kysela Imports and with DJ of PEARMUND ), David Enright ( Grappoli Imports with Chris of STONE MOUNTAIN VINEYARDS, VA. ), Lindsay Pike ( Washington Wholesale Distributors and with Jennifer of CLOS DU VAL ), Lisa Nyden ( with Carol of SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN ), Arielle Monaco ( of the Henry Wine Group pouring the CA. LAUREL GLEN wines as well as their " Chevere Chilean Cab and their Argentinean Malbec " Terra Rosa " ), and John Pollo ( pouring FIRELANDS Ohio wines ). You all did a great job, thank you for both your time, effort and contagious enthusiasm for your wines. We could not do these tastings without all your support. Kudos to you all!

Here are some of the myriad of pictures from yesterday's events here.

You can see the picture that I took with the red grape cluster hanging down over the bottle of SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN Cabernet Franc. Owner Carol asked me ( or was it Lisa ? ) if I wanted to use a new bottle in the photo ( one that had not been open and with spills down the side ) ? I said : " absolutely not" ! That would ruin the picture and not record the real event in all it's glory and grit. I want the grit as well as the beauty : that's then real to me.

What do you all think? Who's opinion do you share? Should I have taken the picture with a clean bottle as well as this open bottle ? I don't think so. That could have been anywhere. The way I did it marks it as our event, no one else's! After all, I'm proud it's our event. I'm proud that everyone participated and lent us their valuable time. That's what has made this event especially personal and special to those that attended I hope. Dare I hope?!? You betcha!

AND A BIG THANKS to all you invaluable customers of ours that come to taste and to learn and expand your horizons. Without you we are nothing. Thanks for your patronage and hope to see you again soon.

DON'T FORGET : we've got a six wine/four-course meal with hors d'ouevres and dessert, too and six wines at ETRUSCO restaurant here off of Dupont Circle in Washington D.C. N.W. ( 7 PM, Wednesday December 3rd, 2008 ) at $95 all inclusive. Call Mike Martin or me ( Tony Quinn ) at : 202-363-4265 to reserve seats.

ALSO DON'T FORGET : Our BUBBLY-THEME-TASTING Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 here at the store from 5:30-8:30 PM. No charge, bring friends and family. JOIN US.

It's 8:32 PM at home and I did not get a chance to download all the photos for this blog. I will finish that tomorrow at the store. In the meantime I will post this now on Thursday night, November 13th, 2008 to give you all an idea of the fun we had at the Big-Theme American-Holiday wine-tasting. More to follow soon. Enjoy this in the meantime.

Cheers, TONY