It's always nice to have William come and taste. One of the first times that he came we had three tasting going on all at the same time on Saturday afternoon here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. It was December 22nd, 2007 here and we had William pouring his Chilean/Argentinean wines and Melanie and her aunt Rose making Peruvian Pisco Sours with the Macchu Pisco and the La Diablada, and a young brunette pouring samples of the GUINNESS " Smithwick's " imported Iris ale ( imported by Diageo ).
That was almost a year ago and since then William has been to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. frequently to show Mike and me new things on a regular basis from his German to his California to his Spanish and of course Chilean and Argentinian portfolios.
We have done several in-store wine-tastings featuring areas of his portfolio that were most needed in our store at the time as well as most appropriate to the season.
We met one evening at Ardeo with reps Jody Jackman and Ivy to taste new releases which included I believe the " new " ALAMOS Selection Malbec and Pinot Noir ( both of which we picked up quickly ), and several others. That's when Leslie was the general manager there and we proceeded to have a wonderful time together.
I have pictures of that, too which I may be able to include here a bit later. I do believe that this is when our Winebow rep Jody Jackman wanted to introduce you to me William.
William is a bit like me. He takes interesting artsy pictures and shows them to me on his i-phone. He also brings me interesting poetry books to share with me. He's thoughtful and his eyebrows furrow and his face pauses as he reflects on what he will say or respond to in answer to my questions. He doesn't take them lightly.
He , like so many other reps of ours is finding his way with us ( and in the Washington D.C. metropolitan market at large I suspect ) and " paying his dues " and increasing his business, even in these most challenging economic times.
This last Saturday we had William come from 12-4 PM and that was followed by wine owners/ makers husband and wife team of Hugh and Pam Hamilton of the HUGH HAMILTON winery in McLaren Vale, South Australia ( that produces the ever-loved " Jim Jim " red and white that never lasts long in our store ). Their tastings overlapped as Hugh and Pam showed up around 3 PM. We all mingled and our customers got to taste both William's and the Hamilton's wines ( " The Mongrel " Sangiovese red blend, the Viognier and the " Jekyl and Hyde " Shiraz($29.99 ) ).
William, Jody and I decided that since Dave McKintyre ( new wine writer for the Washington Post ) had just written a piece on Chile's ambassador here in Washington D.C. ( who came to our Chilean " Big-Theme Tasting as our guest two years ago - and his love of wines ) that we would feature the Big Tattoo TWO BROTHERS Chilean wines of Alex and Eric Bartholomaus. This was timely and the wines are inexpensive and delicious, too. On top of that they were mentioned in the article of David's and from each bottle sold 50 cents is donated to the local hospices to help in the fight to defeat women's breast cancer.
The big surprise was discovering just how good the " new " California dry Riesling 2007 ( used to be made in Germany ) - a blend of 75% Riesling and 25% Gewurztraminer for just $10 was - WOW! I really liked it as well as the clean blue and white label on a light blue bottle! We should do really well with this, satisfy a lot of our customers, too and help in the fight with breast cancer.
The Big Tattoo Syrah ( ON SALE for $6.49 ) and the 2006 Big Tattoo 50% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah from Chile were also well-received as was the ALAMOS 2007 white Torrontes. It was a good tasting. We sold a fair amount for a quieter Saturday afternoon in the store. All the wines showed well and we still have some of all of them at our store.
This blog follows upon that of Alfredo Bartholomaus ( the founder of Billington Imports ) that I just posted. Check that one out, too. Alfredo, an old friend of mine who's path has paralleled mine and crossed from time-to-time was just at our store less than a month ago and it was great to catch-up briefly with him.
It's almost Thanksgiving and with that in mind I do want to mention that this " new " Big Tattoo dry Riesling/ Gewurztraminer blend will be an excellent wine to enjoy this next Thursday with family and friends. Give Mike Martin or me ( Tony ) a call at Cleveland Park Wines ( 202-363-4265 ) and we will be sure to put some aside for you.
For more technical information about the wines William sells through Billington Imports you can reach him at : william.d@billingtonwines.com amd www.billingtonwines.com .
Cheers, and a Happy Thanksgiving 2008 To One And To All ! - TONY
That was almost a year ago and since then William has been to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. frequently to show Mike and me new things on a regular basis from his German to his California to his Spanish and of course Chilean and Argentinian portfolios.
We have done several in-store wine-tastings featuring areas of his portfolio that were most needed in our store at the time as well as most appropriate to the season.
We met one evening at Ardeo with reps Jody Jackman and Ivy to taste new releases which included I believe the " new " ALAMOS Selection Malbec and Pinot Noir ( both of which we picked up quickly ), and several others. That's when Leslie was the general manager there and we proceeded to have a wonderful time together.
I have pictures of that, too which I may be able to include here a bit later. I do believe that this is when our Winebow rep Jody Jackman wanted to introduce you to me William.
William is a bit like me. He takes interesting artsy pictures and shows them to me on his i-phone. He also brings me interesting poetry books to share with me. He's thoughtful and his eyebrows furrow and his face pauses as he reflects on what he will say or respond to in answer to my questions. He doesn't take them lightly.
He , like so many other reps of ours is finding his way with us ( and in the Washington D.C. metropolitan market at large I suspect ) and " paying his dues " and increasing his business, even in these most challenging economic times.
This last Saturday we had William come from 12-4 PM and that was followed by wine owners/ makers husband and wife team of Hugh and Pam Hamilton of the HUGH HAMILTON winery in McLaren Vale, South Australia ( that produces the ever-loved " Jim Jim " red and white that never lasts long in our store ). Their tastings overlapped as Hugh and Pam showed up around 3 PM. We all mingled and our customers got to taste both William's and the Hamilton's wines ( " The Mongrel " Sangiovese red blend, the Viognier and the " Jekyl and Hyde " Shiraz($29.99 ) ).
William, Jody and I decided that since Dave McKintyre ( new wine writer for the Washington Post ) had just written a piece on Chile's ambassador here in Washington D.C. ( who came to our Chilean " Big-Theme Tasting as our guest two years ago - and his love of wines ) that we would feature the Big Tattoo TWO BROTHERS Chilean wines of Alex and Eric Bartholomaus. This was timely and the wines are inexpensive and delicious, too. On top of that they were mentioned in the article of David's and from each bottle sold 50 cents is donated to the local hospices to help in the fight to defeat women's breast cancer.
The big surprise was discovering just how good the " new " California dry Riesling 2007 ( used to be made in Germany ) - a blend of 75% Riesling and 25% Gewurztraminer for just $10 was - WOW! I really liked it as well as the clean blue and white label on a light blue bottle! We should do really well with this, satisfy a lot of our customers, too and help in the fight with breast cancer.
The Big Tattoo Syrah ( ON SALE for $6.49 ) and the 2006 Big Tattoo 50% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah from Chile were also well-received as was the ALAMOS 2007 white Torrontes. It was a good tasting. We sold a fair amount for a quieter Saturday afternoon in the store. All the wines showed well and we still have some of all of them at our store.
This blog follows upon that of Alfredo Bartholomaus ( the founder of Billington Imports ) that I just posted. Check that one out, too. Alfredo, an old friend of mine who's path has paralleled mine and crossed from time-to-time was just at our store less than a month ago and it was great to catch-up briefly with him.
It's almost Thanksgiving and with that in mind I do want to mention that this " new " Big Tattoo dry Riesling/ Gewurztraminer blend will be an excellent wine to enjoy this next Thursday with family and friends. Give Mike Martin or me ( Tony ) a call at Cleveland Park Wines ( 202-363-4265 ) and we will be sure to put some aside for you.
For more technical information about the wines William sells through Billington Imports you can reach him at : william.d@billingtonwines.com amd www.billingtonwines.com .
Cheers, and a Happy Thanksgiving 2008 To One And To All ! - TONY
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