It was an totally impromptu tasting the other day when our rep Denise Parent of Legends Ltd. came to taste Mike Martin & me at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 , Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) on some of her company's wines. Normally Denise comes to taste Santos Rivera on her beers. It has been recently that she has been coming by with more wines to show us, too.
We had already discussed som AVIA inexpensive wines as well as a couple of more interesting BAGUERI Slovenian ( Primorska region, Vinska klet, Coriska Brda ) wines : some Merlot 2003 and some Ribolla Giala white. I took the Ribolla Gialla white home and my wife and daughter really liked it as well as the label and bottle. It's just like those from Friuli, northeastern Italy. It's one of those indigenous grapes that still very few people have heard of or ever tried. I love the aromatics and the brightness and crisp mineral qualities that are balanced by an original citrus component, too. We will se about getting these to the store soon.
On this day however Denise had some BALLENTINE 2007 California dry Chenin Blanc with her, as well as some drier, less-biting, smoother-tasting honey wine made at CHAUCERS ( NV = non-vintage ) ( also in California ) to taste with us. We had been buying this CHAUCERS mead honey wine from Dops distributors and I don't think that we had ever tasted it before. This was our chance : I always wanted to know how intense, sharp, or flavorful it was : how much honey taste there was? I was pleased to see when I tasted it that the overall impression I had was one of a mild, smooth, bright, soft-tasting honey wine where all the flavors were quite pleasing to me.
We will also be buying the Ethiopian mead wines from Legends : one of the three they have, either the herbal mead, the chilly mead or the dry mead. It will be great to have those back at the store. They will sell for around $24-$25 each : on the high side but then we want to have them for those of you out there that only want Ethiopian mead.
Then we tasted the KESTREL , Washington State late-harvest 2006 Chardonnay really like it , too because again it was quite polished and refined in flavors : like bright sunshine at either the beginning or the end of the day : to either the west or east horizons and not up above our heads and beating down hard on us. WE have already sold the KESTREL dry reds and the dry rose, too. We started with the Cabernet Sauvignon and also the Merlot, and then on our last order included the dry rose. The owner himself has been to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( perhaps two years or so ago ? ) and tasted with us. And long before that a gentleman named Brett brought it to us to taste and sell perhaps back in 2002 or so?!? My memory fades some with time for the exact details but it has been good to have the KESTREL wines at Cleveland Park.
For more technical information go to : LEGENDS Ltd, Denise Parent at : 6770 Moravia Park Dr., MD , 21237 (410) 325-6611 www.legendslimited.com.
Thanks Denise. Enjoy these pictures of the tasting and our customers coming over to our round table to taste with us. It's always great to get their opinion along with ours because it will be them coming to the store in search for these products, not Mike or me.
Cheers, TONY
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