Here are some of the pictures from this event. I am sorry that they are a bit blurry and the presentation is rushed. I wanted to include them here anyway before this tasting at the store from 5-8 PM ( everyone is welcome ) on Wednesday,May 6th, 2009. You don't have to call : it's free - just come and enjoy. We will be tasting the 2007 vintage and there will be some of the wine on-hand to purchase immediately. You can get those bottles signed by Katharina while she is at the store as gifts to yourselves or your friends. She can sign them to whoever you wish as a special touch.
Some of the 2007 vintage that Katharina will taste will be available when it arrives from Germany in another two months or so : maybe sooner. We can get that settled at the tasting this Wednesday. Everything will be at special prices for the tasting. The wines I will have here in the store have just arrived from California. This will be some tasting!
I took these pictures I believe before the digital cameras were really in much use. I still believed in the old-style and used mt trusty old cameras that were not digital. I am happy with the pictures and only wish that I had taken many more. I took pictures of these last night to include here from my book : along with Katharina's note to me after the tasting. It's in German and so you may all read it. I don't know exactly what she said : it starts : " To Anthony Quinn ! ... Thanks a lot ! " and she forgot to sign it I notice. Oh well, that's okay. I also looked at her card and notice only a phone and a fax number, no email or web page addresses back then. Wow, how quickly things have evolved. It's hard to keep up anymore.
It's been awhile as I look back on this wonderful event ( almost six years exactly as she came on May 21st, 2003 and we are now May 3rd, 2009 as I type this ) and try and remember all that I can. I do remember , of course, the excellence and the awe and admiration that these wines inspired ( as well as the rush of excitement ) and of course the grace, the refinement, the gentleness and the elegance of Katharina herself. I believe she told me that she had been studying law like her father before here : and that she was in one of our universities in North Carolin a was it? I just can't recall exactly.
Like so many of our guests at Cleveland Park she warmed quickly to us and to her surroundings as she I hope began to feel both welcome and comfortable. We were all gushing over her wines and their intricate and divine flavors and not over abstract points and scores. We sold a whole lot that day and that was not surprising if you had been one of the lucky ones of us to be there and to taste these wines.
I remember asking Katharina what she recommended that I buy for the store? I asked her about older vintages available to buy? I asked her what she and her family drank daily then at home? She responded that they were still enjoying very much some of the Kabinett wines from the 1070's and that they were still drinking beautifully.
I didn't have much of a chance to talk to her though as there were so many of us clamoring for that opportunity. That's okay : my job is to bring her into contact with our customers as we / I promote the people behind the wines and not the scores they receive. I do look forward to talking to her a bit more this time. We'll see.
I was trying to remember exactly how Katharina came to us on this visit? We do sell lots of German wines at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. I love them, really I do : they are amazing on so many levels. My problem with German wines because of the high quality they represent across the board is : how many can I afford to buy/ afford not to buy?!?
I think the wines were available through Valkenburg and through Billington Selections at that point. I know that I had bought some from our local Billington rep Tatiana Maria at that point. I also once had an amazing Valkenburg rep : he was so appreciative of what we were doing at Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits. I cannot remember his name just now but I will also find the page he signed in our guest book and include it here. I think he soon retired after our last visit but I did appreciate him and his style very much. It's nice when you meet someone that's in the business because of the pure love of wine and not swayed over to the lure of the money and the extra boxes to be sold as if it was simply just about units. I could see that he still had very much the love of wine that he carried with him. What's your name sir?!? I hope your interest readers is stirred as much as mine now?
I received recently an email from Master Of Wine Jay Youmans asking about J.J. PRUM as well as saying that he recently started to represent them. He asked a number of questions : one being whether we would like to host a tasting in our store with Katharina? It's all a bit sketchy now as I type these words. I'll have to read it again later.
What I know for sure is that we are thrilled to have Katharina back at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. We have always sold her wines before and after her 3003 tasting in the store. We were almost out recently because one of our customers loves the wines so much and bought most of what we have now, leaving us with just a few bottles.
I read Jay's email and scrolled down and saw that Katharina had emailed him and mentioned our store to him as being a big supporter of them. I loved reading that, made me feel really good. That, of course was the link that I feel brought Jay's email to us. Again, I love that. I love that Katharina remembered us and our tasting at Cleveland Park. I'm so pleased that with even the passing of time ( here about six years ) that our name should be remembered.
We have known Jay for years and supported him as he has supported us. It's been a good relationship all around. We also know owner Gus of Constantine wines ( we've bought Jay's BOGLE CA. wines for years from Constantine ) very well and do a whole lot of business with his portfolio because of his excellent sales rep Marci Weinstein. She has taken good care of the store and supported us when we ask her to be at the store and help us.
So : NOW we have a whole " new " chapter to write with Katharina Prum and her fabulous wines of JOH. JOS. PRUM. I can't wait to see her and to taste these 2007 Rieslings. For the time-being enjoy these photos. I think they give some sense of the great event this was back in 2003.
For more information go to : Katharina Prum Weingut JOH. JOS. PRUM Uferallee 19, D-54470 Wehlen, Mosel ( Germany ) Tel : ( 0 ) 65 31/30 91 Fax : ( 0 ) 65 31 /60 71.
I'm sure that now there is an email address and a web page. I'll include those soon. I do like the simplicity here of just an address, a phone and a fax.
Cheers, TONY
PS : I just wrote a poem inspired by Katharina Prum and her family's wines. Go to " chat[poetry.blogspot.com. Hope you like it. TONY ( It's 8:22PM now on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 ).
No comments:
Post a Comment