Dr. Erika Pedrini Of Azienda Agricola PRAVIS, Lasino ( TN ) Italy Visits Cleveland Park W/David )f Grappoli ,Tastes New Muller Thurgau, Rebo Rigotti

It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance Erika. I'm glad that David Enright brought you to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) today, Wednesday July 8th, 2009. It's been a glorious day of sunshine and clear blue skies and no humidity : our fourth in a row now. It was also good to revisit your wines and tell the story that I knew of your wines Erika. We will get some of the Pinot Grigio del Trentino 2007 ( $13.99 ) in another couple of weeks. The other wines that I tasted like the Chardonnay will come just a bit later and in September the rest will follow.




Owner of Grappoli Imports Alberto Panella brought me the wines originally, maybe five-six years ago? I don't remember now. It has been awhile. We started with some of the Pinot Grigio as well as some of both the Merlot and the Cabernet Sauvignon. They all sold, especially the Pinot Grigio. That is no surprise of course as Pinot Grigio was then becoming more and more popular. I think that Alberto came at least once or twice to the store and poured these wines for our Cleveland Park customers back then.




Now Grappoli does not have either the Cabernet Sauvignon or the Merlot. They have rather up till now been focusing on the ever-popular Pinot Grigio and the Syrah ( I tasted the 2004 today, about $28-$29 ). We have never sold the Syrah but I must say that I liked the style of it today : spicy and aromatic, medium-bodied and very smooth and approachable.




I immediately warmed to Erika's brilliant smile : it drew me in and I enjoyed taking all these pictures of her and her wine bottles and their labels ( sometimes through my wine glass filled with her family's wines, sometimes not ), of David, too. I hope you like them as I took lots of artistic license when I snapped them quickly, always searching for the best composition, the most unrehearsed smile and expression, the best distortion and clarity and color of each wine and it's label.




We started by tasting the 2007 PRAVIS Pinot Grigio ( $13.99 ) and I commented around helping customers in the store that it reminded me almost of unfermented ( or just-fermented juice ) wine as it was so pure and crisp. The way it tasted to me just then it was more lean and angular as well as bright and zesty fresh and it needed food to really flesh it out.




The next wine we tasted was the 2008 PRAVIS Chardonnay ( $13.99 ) and I warmed to it immediately. It was rounder, fuller, more fleshy and with both less bite and need of food. I could sip on it outside on Connecticut Avenue ( perhaps at Byblo's if wine was allowed there ) and watch life go by very contentedly. It would be so easy to enjoy it all by itself and watch the circus of people, young and old, male and female pass by me. I liked how bright and fresh and easy it was on my palate just as so much of the sights would be around me sitting outside.

I compared it immediately to the Pinot Grigio and said that it would be what I would enjoy like this without food. The Pinot Grigio I would have with a meal and invite one of the people passing by ( maybe more ) to take a seat by me and enjoy the wine and help me flesh it out with some food. I was speaking with many images that were meant to touch nerves and be expanded upon as the listener felt it should be. Since I was speaking in imagery and in English I asked Erika if she was understanding me and where I was going? She quickly said that she did.




I think I caught Erika completely off-guard with my talking, tasting, movements to-and-fro and quickly snapping pictures and showing them as time marched on. She smiled a lot more during all of this as I asked her what her favorite wine was here? Oh, I also at some point complemented her on her English which was very good and quite charming to listen to.




Erika responded immediately and told me that her favorite wine here was the PRAVIS Muller Thurgau ( 2008, $16.99 ) which we were about to try really soon. I asked her why this was her favorite and she answered me with many words, bright, animated smiles and her hands moving constantly as she spoke. I told her that she danced with her hands like Michael Jackson danced with his feet.

I finally tasted the Muller Thurgau 2008 and said that I understood why it was her favorite. I liked how rich and thick yet smooth and bright and layered it was on my palate. I told her that it was quite rich and that I could probably only enjoy a glass or two without food. It was bright and silky enough to not need a meal. I could sit outside after a meal on my deck here in northern Virginia on this cool dark night and enjoy a glass thoroughly now as it is so pleasant and refreshing outside. We have many, many lightning bugs that fly up and through the dense and tall canopy of our trees outside and in the dark they act like fireworks for our eyes as her Muller Thurgau would act likewise on the stretch of our contented palate.




I was helping customers all along and I have to admit I was enjoying the moment thoroughly and did not want it to end. I think you can see this in some of these pictures.

The wines were quite polished and elegant : classic expressions from Trentino and it's soil and climate.

Next David poured for me the Gewurztraminer 2008 ( $23.99 ) and I immediately liked it as it was full but not heavy on my tongue, rounded and soft with accents of spice but not too much. Medium-bodied and with a good finish this would be an excellent sipping wine as well as a food wine. Take-out from Nam Viet, Spices, Thai Salsa, Lavandou, Sabores and more from our neighborhood alone would be well-served with this 2008 PRAVIS Gewurztraminer.




Now it was time for some of the reds. David poured me the 2006 Rebo Rigotti ( a hybrid from the crossing of both the Merlot and the Teroldego grapes , $28-$29 ) which I had never heard of before. Neither had David.

At this point I had been doing some small clips of Erika speaking both in Italian and in English about her wines. I will try and include them here later.

I liked this medium-to-light-bodied PRAVIS Rebo Rigotti red wine. It had polish, brightness and finesse and no bite. It was quite light in color as you will see in some of these pictures. We will definitely buy it for the store as it is both an excellent wine to enjoy alone and with a meal as well as it has a great story that I believe most have never heard. I've got my work cut out for me here and I will rise to the occasion in September when it arrives.




David had been talking quite a bit about how well the PRAVIS Syrah had done here in Washington D.C. It has done so well that Grappoli is currently out of it. I will have to wait until September to buy some and sell it. But at first I will focus more on the Rebo Rigotti.




It was time for David and Erika to leave but I wanted Erika to first sign our guest book and poster. She wrote in Italian : " La vita e troppo breve per beve vino cattivo : The life is to shot for trink bad wine ... carpe diem ! Grotie mille ". She drew a heart behind the word " mille ". I agree , life is too short to drink bad wine, so I'll enjoy drinking some PRAVIS really soon again.

David will be sending us a floor-stack of five cases of the Pinot Grigio with his order coming on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009. Thanks David, can't wait.






I asked David how much time he had before leaving our store and he said he had seconds : he did not want to get a dreaded D.C. traffic ticket and they had many more stops to make. Erika's flight had been delayed and she had arrived in D.C. late around noon.




David rushed out to save his car from the ticket-writers and I would take Erika out back where he would be waiting for her. As usual between signing the poster and our book and me drawing quickly five sketches of Erika as she signed David was back and looking at us wondering why we were still in the same spot that he left us?!?

As I said this parting was a bit of sweet sorrow for me. Oh well, Erika offered me a black PRAVIS apron to wear as a gift and we had to take pictures together,etcetera and then she and David could be off.




With a smile and a quick hug they were off and Sofredo that works with us was reading Erika's words that she had written. He loves to speak Italian and spoke a few sentences with her as she arranged to leave.




I told Erika about my blog page ( this site ) here at blogspot and she wanted me to be sure and send her the pictures. I will email her soon after I post this in a few minutes.

For more info on AZIENDA AGRICOLA PRAVIS go to : Dr. Erika Pedrini ( enologo ) , Loc. Le Biolche, ! 38076 LASINO (TN) P.IVA 01009760222 Tel: 0461 564305 Fax : 0461 564565 info@pravis,it www.pravis.it.




THanks Erika and David for having spent so much of your valuable time with Mike Martin and me ( Anthony TONY Quinn ) at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. I think we all had a wonderful time together, tasting, smiling, laughing, telling stories about the wines and our experiences/observations.




As you can see I have taken and posted many pictures and I will comment some on them really soon but for now I want to post this now so that it is all fresh in my memory.

It is now Thursday morning just at 12:11 AM and it is time for me to get some sleep myself. Cheers and stay-tuned for more soon ...




P.S. Go to : chatpoetry.blogspot.com to see the four Morning Poems that I wrote today ( thurs. July 9th, 2009 ) inspired by both the wines and the visit of Erika from A.A. PRAVIS. Cheers, TONY













This was a great impromptu tasting with Mike Martin and me ( Anthony - Tony - Quinn ) at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits Wednesday afternoon, July 8th, 2009. Mike and I discovered some new wines like the Rebo Rigotti that we had never tasted before! That's always a real thrill and exciting. TONY