It was great to get husband and wife Philippe et Corinne Ehrhart ( Domaine Saint-Remy, 6, rue Saint-Remy , 68920 Wettolsheim Tel: +33(0)3 89 8060 57 Fax +33(0)3 89 79 74 00 vins@domainesaintremy.com www.domainesaintremy.com ) here the other day, Tues. May 19th, 2009 when they came for the first time with Maurice Barnouin the owner and winemaker of DOMAINE GOURNIER. Our Robert Kacher rep Ronnie Miller brought all three here before Wednesday's Robert Kacher portfolio tasting. It was great to meet both Philippe and Corinne for the first time even though we have sold their wines for years here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ).
Philippe and Corinne had their excellent 2005 Pinot Blanc ( Auxerrois white, best clone of Pinot Blanc ) with them for me to taste. We have some currently at Cleveland Park, $17.99 I believe for sale. Stop by and check it out. I love how it has developed so much more weight and complexity and all those once hidden nuances of flavor are unmistakable and make themselves known from the get-go on one's palate. It was a great way to start this tasting : the color alone was quite rich and deep and like collected sunshine through a magnifying glass. I could have used some food : it is definitely a very fine food wine. That's where all it's complexity and charm will really shine.
I liked very much all the rest, too from the Riesling, the Pinot Gris and the Gewurztraminer. I tried them all as we spoke quick-fire French the three of us : Philippe explaining his wines, me asking many questions of them both while composing my pictures. I found out that Corinne is a mother ( they have two children and this day was the actual birthday I believe of their daughter? ). I asked them what they were doing at the store and not back home? I knew of course that they were visiting us before the big Kacher portfolio tasting.
I missed the big portfolio tasting : it's hard for me to get away in the middle of the afternoon and taste wines like that. They have so many and so many of the winemakers/owners and one wants to try many and take full advantage of an opportunity like this. Have you ever tried to return to work and sell wines after a couple of hours of this : even if you spit out the wine and not swallow?!? It's hard, really hard, trust me.
I discovered that Corinne was an artist, too like myself : that she liked to work with dry pastels. This caught my attention of course. I think I was now trying the Pinot Gris when she told me this. I gave them xeroxed copies of some of my drawings to take home with them. I really liked them : all three of them. You have to know that I tried Maurice's two wines first before theirs. It gets to be a lot and I am also focused on learning everything that I can about them as well as their wines. I always want the stories ( at least some of them ) behind the wines and the people that make them or at least pay to have them made.
I really enjoyed Philippe's passion and commitment to his wines, land and home. He was speaking with such conviction and intensity, knowing his wines intimately having made and raised them much like one does their own children. These were also his children along with his two kids. You could tell they both loved them. I got them to talk about the foods that they liked to enjoy with them and smoked meats and game came into the conversation. I wish that I had had a recorder going to capture all of this as it all passed so quickly and my mind , eyes and other senses were " maxed-out " as it all happened.
It was a grand pleasure and I think we all connected and contributed to this lively exchange of ideas and stories, anecdotes as I tasted through the wines.
The wines were all excellent and we will bring an assortment of them into the store in June of these current releases. I will provide more info about them all as I can. In the meantime I want to share these photos with you all. Cheers, et revenez nous voir Philippe, Corinne et Maurice. A la prochaine, TONY
P.S. Thanks Ronnie, you always bring me these wonderful people that are winemakers and owners to meet and that's why we always have a selection of Bobby's wines in our store as these people all become like family to us. Kudos to you for this, TONY
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