Brennan Downey has worked really hard with his mother and sister ( Peggy and Shannon ) to maintain and add to this already stellar collection of wine that they all put together when Michael Downey was still alive. Here he is with me with a big smile.
This is a three-part blog on the Michael Downey 2009 portfolio tasting with winemakers and owners. By accident I posted the MIDDLE section on my chatart blogspot. To get to it scroll down this blog until you see on the right side of this page where it says : View Complete Profile, click that and scroll down until you see all my other blog sites including Chatart. Sorry for the confusion. It's worth a trip though. You will like the pictures. TONY
In the meantime enjoy these pictures on this opening blog. It sure was relaxed and energized and I believe people were discovering new wines as well as reuniting with old favorites.
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The added bonus with this Michael Downey tasting is that so many of the owners and winemakers were here in attendance as well as their family.
It's always great to put a face with a bottle of wine : the face that either made the wine or paid for it to be made : that's pretty amazing, really.
It was great to reconnect with my old friends Aleessandro Furlan and Max diLenardo, both featured in these photos.
I got also great to meet the son of Andrea Oberto ( Dolcetto D'Alba 2007, La Morra, Piemonte, $19.99. We have some now in the store. Alessandro Furlan represents these OBERTO wines in the U.S. through the Michael Downey Selectios' team and so he came in the day after this tasting and tasted it with our customers at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ).The Dolcetto is a very flavorful, medium-bodied dry red that is typical of the best classic Dolcettos made in Piemonte. It's always best with a meal : it was designed to enjoy with food.
It's always great to see Alessandro again! He came to learn both English and to learn the business years ago back in the 1980's and worked at the Mayflower Wines & Spirits with Michael Downey and me. We had a blast together : and the bond has strengthened and grown since. Cheers Alessandro. It was fun to have you here in the store at 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. ( Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits 202-363-4265 tasting your selection of wines including the excellent DEGANI 2007 ( $14.49 ) Valpolicella. It sure did taste good the day after this portfolio tasting with our D.C. customers.
It's also a treat to see you Max. You make such refreshing, balanced, value-oriented wines in Friuli like your TOH Tocai, $13.49 , 2008 from the Grave region. Cheers to you , too!
Here Max is pouring the bottle of dry white blend from Friuli called " Father's Eyes " that has some butter and oak and gravitas. He's a big Eric Clapton fan and named this bottle after Eric Clapton's song I believe of the same name. Max is a real family man.
I took so many wonderful pictures at this Michael Downey trade show with owners and winemakers that I have decided to divide it up into three blogs with a Beginning, a Middle and and End. This way I can devote lots of attention to all the people and the events of this beautiful Monday in late April with all these wonderful wines, winemakers and owners, reps, salespeople, etcetera. So many fine people gathered to make this the great event that it was. I tried around the tasting of the wines to show some of the excitement and thrill of the event.
We carry many of the these excellent wines like the " Sulin " 2007 ( 500ml bottle ), $15.49 CARORZO from Piemonte, Italy : a lovely fruity red wine to enjoy anytime or with chocolates and dark berry fruits and anything that both are a part of. We also have the LA SLINA Dolcetto Di Ovada 2007, $16.49 , again from Piemonte, Italy. Owner Giorgio says frequently that it is the greatest red wine made in the entire world! It's good... and we are happy to sell it here.
Visit all three blogs to get more of a feel for this event. Cheers, TONY
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