It was fun to have such an energized tasting around our round wine-tasting table with Antoine Songy joining in a bit later this evening. Here are some wonderful pictures of this tasting which included our local rep Ronnie Miller, too.
We had both Herve Gantier owner of DOMAINE SAINTE-EUGENIE, Corbieres southwest, France as well as burgundy-producer/winemaker Xavier Monnot of XAVIER MONNOT vineyards here Saturday, March 8th, 2008 tasting their wines with our customers. What an evening : Burgundy Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs added to the Southwest of France's Rhone grape varietals of Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, and Carignan.
With Herve we enjoyed both his " new " 2005 dry red Corbieres ( $11.99 ) and his Reserve red Corbieres ( $16.49 ). They both showed well but with the extra layers of rich flavors the Reserve sold quickly for that and for the nice bottle and excellent, stylish-simple labeling. It's pretty much always been that way at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 2008 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) : the Reserve always sells out immediately and we sell the regular bottling, too - but never as quickly. It simply doesn't have those extra cushioning layers that so many people today find irresistible.
With Xavier we sold a red and a white burgundy. The white was really thick and rich and multi-layered and showed much better immediately. The 2005 Maranges 1er Cru " Clos de La Fussierre " Monopole ( $31.49 ) is much tighter, much more in need of further aging and with both sharper acids and rougher tannins still very much in evidence it simply did not appeal as much. We still have a couple of bottles of the Maranges 1er Cru 2005 in the store signed and waiting to age more gracefully in one of your cellars. Hint, hint.
I was meeting Xavier for the very first time. Herve I had met way back in 2002 was it? I already felt like Herve was family at our store and I was excited to meet Xavier. I have slowly, thanks to the hard work of Ronnie Miller gotten to know most of the winemakers/owners in Bobby Kacher's portfolio and that has been quite gratifying. Thanks Ronnie for your diligence and hard work where this is concerned.
The tasting was quite the tour du force like a two-ringed circus show with lots of fanfare and spectacle and pomp and circumstance. There were many smiles all-round and many bottles tasted, signed, personalized, business cards exchanged and bottles sold.
As usual things went smoothly and we all worked well as a team/equipe.
Some of our favorite customers that had moved to Arlington Virginia to live returned to enjoy a night out on the town with dinner and no baby for a few precious hours! It was great to see David and Emily once again.
There was also a young lady doing a Pilsner Urquel beer tasting at the same time as the wine-tasting and she has been drawn into these pictures as well. She caught all of us men's attention, especially that of Xavier if the photos do not lie?!? She was a good sport and tasted us on her beer and then came over and tasted Xavier and Herve's wines and posed in the pictures with us. She also took I believe the pictures of Herve, Xavier and me.
My favorite picture of the evening may be the one of Herve rushing to the back of the store to join Xavier, the beer-lady ( Pilsner Urquel ) and me. His smile is contagious in that picture as his steady stride is energizing! We look pretty happy, the three of us. I can't remember what beer we were tasting ( looking carefully at the pictures just now after writing this earlier I realize it was Pilsner Urquel ) but it tasted especially good then with both Herve and Xavier.
Of course the group shot with David and Emily is really fun, too : and Emily's smile may be the winning one of all of them.
Funny, now having downloaded these pictures I realize that I took them all after the wine-tasting when we were all relaxing a bit more. Nice.
It's 12:13 AM on Tuesday evening at home here in Virginia on December 2nd, 2008 as I type this. I have more to say and add but that will have to wait till later. Bonsoir mes chers amis! A plus tard Herve, Antoine et Xavier! Merci d'avoir deguste vos vins avec notre clientele ce soir-la.
I have more to say but will add that a bit later. In the meantime I want to post this now. Cheers.
Enjoy, TONY
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