Matias Mayol of FAMILIA MAYOL, Argentina, Lujan de Cujo Pouring His Wines On Valentine's Day, Feb. 14th, 2009 ( 3-6 PM ) At Cleveland Park ,Wash. D.C.

It was great to get Matias Mayol ( of FAMILIA MAYOL ) to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com Tel : 202-363-4265 ) from 3-6 Pm with our local Elite rep Lisa Giufre. We had a grand tasting of Matias' four wines : the 2008 " Vista Flores " Menzoza, Argentina dry Sauvignon Blanc ( $12.49 ), the Bonarda red 2006 ( $16.49 ), the Malbec 2007 red ( $18.99 ) and the " Finca Montuiri " 2004 " old vines " Malbec ( $42.99 ).

All these wines are made by Matias with grapes that he purchases I believe from his family. They are all made in Mendoza's Lujan de Cuyo region.

It was hard for me to spent a lot of time tasting and evaluating this Saturday afternoon. I had too many people to pass either Matias' or Lisa's way to concentrate too hard on anything else at the time. However I did sample quickly each of these four wines. I liked them a lot.

I told Matias that I congratulated him on making excellent wines that one would enjoy with their meas : more traditional made to please those drinking them and actually enhance their meals. They did not seem to be made simply to sell more cases or with pretty labels to make them sell because of that. In other words I believe that they are hand-crafted and excellent representations of soil and climate ( weather, any conditions that year typical to the region ) and that I would enjoy all of them more with food than on their own. Kudos to you Matias.

I'm glad that I got a brief chance to tell him all of this. He quickly added that a family member ( his sister? ) had designed the labels : different colors of the same abstract-imaginative grape clusters envisioned. They were just enough color and texture on more traditional labels. They worked for me.

Matias was surprised to have me take so many pictures. He was also not used to signing so many bottles but he got into the whole mood of the tasting quickly and I believe that I got some excellent pictures to reflect much of this.

The 2008 FAMILIA MAYOL Sauvignon Blanc ( $12.49 ) I found really nice and dry and with good body and texture and cold as it was served to me had just enough edge to make me think of eating something with it. That's the idea : always was the idea - food with wine - enjoy them together and not all by themselves. Let them enhance one another and create a " magic " third taste that only exists when you combine them together.

The FAMILIA MAYOL Bonards 2006 ( $16.49 ) had nice earthy spice and darker fruits. I liked it but realize that my impression was fleeting and not complete.

The FAMILIA MAYOL Malbec 2007 ( $18.99 ) had a more dense, darker texture and feel on my palate : one that I thought briefly would take longer to play itself out on my palate. It would complement heartier foods whereas the Bonarda would be perhaps more versatile with a larger spectrum of food choices? Again, I was rushing, not concentrating here unfortunately. Oh well, esta es la vida !

The FAMILIA MAYOL " Finca Montuiri " old-vines 2004 ( $42.99 ) would not be ignored. It was immediate in it's flavor profile on my mouth and I simply could not fail to notice it immediately and react. And react I did as I tried to recognize exactly these bolder, more in-my-face ( ballsier ) flavors : thicker, more angular, more extroverted, more immediately impressionable on the contours of my tongue. I picked-up immediately the darker, lusher, riper spiced fruits, the accents of both weight and some alcohol, the more solid, contained, bolder body and textures. It was impressive in the few brief seconds I gave it to really reach out to me and speak to me. It did and usually I would have responded in kind. It again will have to wait until another time.

We did such a good job in three hours that we sold-out of everything except the 2007 Malbec. Now that's a really great tasting where people tried the wines , liked them and almost bought us out. We will now simply have to order more and give Lisa an order to sent them back next week so that we do not disappoint those returning for more or for the wines that we had sold-out of when they tried them.

It was a marvelous Valentine's Day 2009 wine-tasting in our store. It reminds me of the time that we had owner Andre Ostertag of Alsace's DOMAINE OSTERTAG winery a few years ago, also on Valentine's Day. These are the only two tastings that I remember falling on Saturdays where we had actual wine makers / owners in our store and they were both phenomenal successes.

Lisa bought everyone pizza that worked at the store. Matias had not had anything to eat all day and so we were able to enjoy the pizza with our excellent FAMILIA MAYOL wines. Thanks Lisa.

We had some great friends how up from California : Mike and Nadia that used to live in our neighborhood. That was nice. Also our photographer friend Karen came with another British photographer. Jim Stutsman showed up, too as well as Gaby and Lane. Malcolm dropped by to give us some news on Ramona. It was great to catch-up briefly with Mark and Gay, too.The place was humming as many people with flowers and bags filled came for their various liquid libations to celebrate Valentine's Day later.

I spoke to my old friend, Nora Favelukes on the phone twice. I called her while showing Matias my Argentine photos. He recognized Nora's picture when she took me to Argentina back in 1995 ( she gave 120% on this trip through Billington Imports. We went to CATENA and VALENTIN BIANCHI then with assistant wine maker Pedro ). He spoke a bit of Spanish with her and explained a bit more afterwards. Nice. All good stuff happening as he signed my poster and out guest book and wine bottles before leaving.

At the same time Santos Rivera had scheduled a tasting of Vermont's famous MAGIC HAT brewery and we had our favorite rep back pouring once again. I only got one picture this time. Refer back to previous blogs for more. Some " new " flavors were introduced which I never got a chance to try but I did enjoy the #9 , a favorite of mine.

I purchased my many " goodies " for Valentines's Day as well ( flowers from our wonderful corner weekend vendors ), brownies from Firehook, etcetera. I also could not resist the temptation of taking home Sylvia's excellent " Rustico " NV brut prosecco, $19.99 from her family's Valdobbiadene vineyard : NINO FRANCO.

Thanks / gracias ( Hast luego Matias! )for coming to our store Matias. You are welcome here anytime. Thanks Lisa. We all had a grand time.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day celebrations. It's now " Presidents' Day ", Monday here at home at 10:42 AM in northern Virginia, February 16th, 2009 as I type, proof and post this new blog entry with photos. Hope you like them. Cheers, TONY

Here are the pictures I took of Matias and Lisa Giufre. Enjoy, TONY