It's always nice to get our CLOS DU VAL rep Jennifer Horsley ( southeast regional manager , jhorsley@closduval.com, +1 704 342-0035 , 5330 Silverado Trail PO Box 4350 Napa, CA. 94558 ) ) into our store at to actually have the owner John Goelet ( www.goeletwineestates.com www.closduval.com, www.taltarni.com.au, www.domainedenizas.com ) come, even for a brief bit of time is a real coup! I think John was with us for forty-five minutes or so : long enough for me to introduce myself ( Jennifer was meeting him also for the first time ), to get some photos, for him to sign a bottle or two of the customers he met - and then for him to disappear into thin air without even saying " good bye ".
Oh well, John it was nice to meet you even if only briefly. Little did I know that now almost three years later ( it's Monday, November 17th, 2008 ) as I type this at 6:58 PM chez nous that I would meet you and your wife, along with winemaker Bernard Portet of CLOS DU VAL at a private luncheon with Jim my old college roommate at Brasserie Beck. That luncheon was on September 28th, 2008 here in Washington D.C. Check that blog page of the luncheon ( Bernard Portet in his own words ) for more information about Bernard Portet and his excellent older Stags Leap ( Napa )Cabs and currentChardonnay.
These tastings that we do at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits are very much a collaborative effort. We cannot do them alone. We need the help of people Like Jennifer and our other resp to help bring us new ideas as well as their wonderful owners and winemakers when they come visit Washington D.C.
This is what we can offer you ( a more hands-on / personal wine-tasting ) our Cleveland Park neighborhood public as well as any of you willing to drive into town from Virginia or Maryland or hop on the metro to get to us.
I don't know how many wine-tastings that John Goelet attends but I have a strong feeling that they are numbered and few. I think we were extremely lucky to get him to our store. He seems quite nice and quite focused.
At the luncheon that I mentioned attending just recently at the Brasserie Beck he asked quite a few pointed and probing questions of Berard Portet. He got other guests of his enthusiastic, too and so soon they as well as other people at this small, intimate luncheon were asking questions also. He brought a certain energy then and at this brief visit of his to our store.
Because of Jennifer's keen interest in our store and keeping us in the loop I was made aware that John Goelet and his wife were taking an apartment close to our store. I got the number of his secretary and called her and told her about Jennifer's in-store wine-tasting and asked whether or not Mr. Goelet might want to come see our store and be a part of Jennifer's tasting of his various wines? She said that she would inform Mr. Goelet and so we just had to wait and see now if he would arrive. And he did and the rest is history. Thanks for coming John.
Here are some pictures of my first meeting with John. It was sometime in December 2005. I do not have an exact date at this point. I will ask Jennifer. Perhaps she remembers! It was definitely after December 6th, 2005 when we had winemaker Colby Ziogen of South Africa's SPIER winery come visit and taste with our customers that Tuesday night from 5-8 PM. I have pictures of that as well and will soon include them.
Funny, I don't even remember what Jennifer tasted that evening. Was it a combination of John's three vineyards? Was it mostly CLOS DU VAL or TALTARNI from Victoria , Australia? Or was it the DOMAINE NIZAS wines from southwest France? Memory fades. It was a success, however. Our customers at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits at 3423 Connecticut Avenue Wines & Spirits ( 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ask for Mike Martin or me ( Tony Quinn ) for help on Jennifer's many fine wines ) love to taste wines and Jennifer is quite persuasive, too. I'm sure that we made a winning-team that evening.
Thanks Jennifer for all the time and effort that you have spent on us over the years now in Cleveland Park.
So far we have had Bernard Portet and his son at our store as well as the winemaker of DOMAINE NIZAS and John Goelet, too. Now we need the new winemaker at TALTARI to visit us sometime from Victoria, Australia. Bernard's brother, Dominique is no longer the winemaker at TALTARNI. I still have not met him and look forward to that treat sometime in the future.
I hope you like them. Jennifer who stayed to finish the tasting is in these photos, too. Cheers, TONY
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