It was nice to meet owner / winemaker John Maltus after having sold already so many of his COLONIAL ESTATE Barossa reds, rose and white Semillon. We still have some of the excellent 2005 Barossa Semillon" Expatrie " white at $27.99 a bottle. I'll bet it's delicious now, smooth, full , rich, creamy land bright like a a wonderful souffle taste on the tongue : intense and yet seemingly almost weightless at the same time! Semillons can really take some bottle age I find.
John came to see us sometime late in 2005. He only had an hour or so before catching a plane and so our visit with him was brief. He came around noon one Saturday and we had a selection I think of two of his reds, one dry rose and the Semillon 2005 that I have already mentioned. He named his wines with names like " the Expatrie " , " Emigre ", " Etranger " Cabernet Sauvignon, " Exile ", " Envoy ", etcetera.
We had already sold a lot of the " Etranger " Cabernet Sauvignon. I discovered it at Corduroy restaurant by chance. I was invited by Morgan Hartman to taste the Country Vintner portfolio Aussie wines which included the CLARENDON HILLS wines. Those I knew fairly well as I had tasted them a couple of years earlier with the owner at the Sutton Place gourmet cafe/restaurant in Olde Towne Alexandria. Ed Cohn had invited me to that and I really enjoyed that, too. That was just as I had started at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits or shortly after.
I was completely caught off-guard at Corduroy restaurant by this one " Etranger " Cabernet Sauvignon. It floored me and worked really well with owner / chef Tom's special cut of beef. I have the menu signed by him and will have to find it to include it here.
I discovered two wines at this tasty and fun luncheon : the KOTNARI New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc as well as John Maltus' " The Etranger-Stranger " Cabernet Sauvignon. In my humble opinion they were balanced, focused wines that blew the overblown, alcoholic, monolithic CLARENDON HILLS wines of Old-Vines Grenache and Merlot and other red blends. I was hard-pressed to find one CLARENDON HILLS wines which I would like to buy. I knew that personally I would not want to drink any of them given their out-of-control alcohols and lack of any definition or charm : unfocused, clumsy clunkers. Wow, can't believe I've just put this in print. Well, there you go, after thirty years of drinking and tasting/selling/recommending wines that's my honest assessment of what I tasted that afternoon at Corduroy.
In the past I had once loved the Old-vines Grenache and was happy to sell it back then for the whopping price of around $50 which I found high but still worth it for a nice occasion. I had a customer Craig, an amateur hockey player that used to come to the store before moving to Massachusetts. He and I would look at the bottle of CLARENDON HILLS on the shelf and our eyes would brighten-up as we waxed poetic over it. That was nice, Cheers Craig, hope you and Lynn are doing well.
Anyway, I fell in love with the " Etranger " Cabernet Sauvignon and bought a case for the shelf then and there along with the KOTNARI. Those were my discoveries besides the excellent food at Corduroy that I had already heard so much about.
When John Maltus was here we spoke a bit about his wines in Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux , France as well as his history and how he had landed in Australia's Barossa valley. It was interesting that on my visit to the Barossa valley this past February I passed by his vineyards and discovered that he pretty much kept to himself on his visits there and did not seem to mingle much while there. That surprised me some. Why go all the way to Australia and not try and enjoy some of the people, local color and warmth of the Aussies?!? Oh well, chaqu'un son gout as they say in French. C'estce que vouz rependez a ca John?
We sold a small bit of wine while John was here but after he left and for the next year or so we sold a whole lot of all of John's wines and were really happy to do so. The response from our Cleveland Park customers was really strong. They most all seemed to be caught-up in the warmth, balance, focus and excellence of these exceptional Aussie Barossa wines.
John, Country Vintners no longer sells your wines. Whom may I purchase them from now and what are you up to these days, three years later? It's Friday, November 21st, 2008 - a week before our Thanksgiving that I type these final words of the blog. It's really cold and windy outside now , a bit gray and I could use a glass of any of your wines John just about now!
I will finish this as I find my menu from Corduroy and old notes. In the meantime enjoy these pictures of John here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 2008, sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com 202-363-4265 ).
Happy Thanksgiving To One and To ALL ! Cheers, TONY
John also makes excellent Grand Cru Saint-Emilion red wine in Bordeaux, France.
Here are some pictures from the tasting. Enjoy.
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