Today we just received some of the 2007 " Rubio " San Polo Montalcino that Jody and Azzurra tasted with me that afternoon and we will taste it here with Jody tomorrow at our in-store/wine-tasting with our customers Friday, November 20th, 2009 from 5-8 PM. Join us, never any charge ... it's really quite impressive and sells for only $14.99. WHAT A DEAL!
This will get us ready for an in-store/wine-tasting of all the POGGIO AL TESORO wines really soon with Jody Jackman here at the store and make a big event of them along with at least one or two ALLEGRINI Veneto wines. Caio e a presto ...
This was a really fun and serendipitous tasting for me when Jody Jackman arrived this late Tuesday afternoon with Azzurra Berretti( public relations, arruzza,berretti@poggiotesoro.it ) in Bolgheri, southwest coast of Tuscany, November, 2009. Unbeknown to me they both had a wonderful Cabernet Franc for me to taste and I love the French Loire valley Cabernet Francs.
I had been trying to both write and send our store email this last Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 and having problems with my server I-Contact that my mind was completely on this when Jody both emailed me and called me about Azzurra's visit. Being interested in meeting everyone in the business as to stay on top of things I said " sure " to stopping on by later this afternoon when I hopefully would have already pushed the " send " button on my store email. Oh well, things happen and it was a delight to see Jody and Azzurra.
Funny, Franceen Khang of Palm Bay Imports had also called and scheduled a tasting of the Jean-Luc Colombo Rhone wines from France with me at the same time so I in fact had two great wine-tastings staring me in the face now.
I hate to make people wait but schedules get delayed and sometimes people show up at the same time so I had to make both Franceen and David the Jean-Luc Colombo export manager wait unfortunately. Sorry guys, Jody had contacted me first about meeting Azzurra. I explained this to David in French later when I saw him : " en plus elle est beaucoup plus belle que toi mon ami! " and he smiled broadly understanding I believe completely. Things happen and I enjoyed both tastings enormously. But more about that later.
The wines I tasted with Azzurra and Jody were : 1) Via Bolgheri ( a Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc blend ) , 2) the Le Grottinered blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, the 3) Le Sondraia dry red blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Vermentino( a white grape ) , and the 4) Valle di Cerbaia ( from Bibbona ) dry red blend of Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The first three are all from Bolgheri.
I liked everything that I tasted and we have already worked with at least one of them and I plan to work now with at least two of the four and perhaps maybe even all four. Two are so much more expensive and I'd like to have them all so perhaps I will simply buy some loose bottles of the two expensive wines.
I have my sheet with my notes here and will include much more later this afternoon or at least this delayed weekend for me. In the meantime I'd like to post the pictures now, Sunday, November 15th, 2009 as I believe that I have some fun, artsy pictures for you all to enjoy as you stay tuned for more to come shortly. It's a beautiful day outside just now ( after so much rain ) so I'm off to enjoy some time with her outside now and have my breakfast and rake many of the fallen Fall leaves later before I return to finish this blog. Cheers, TONY
I like to take pictures that capture the moment in time as purely as possible without a lot of self-conscious expressions on the various people's faces involved. So I cheat by taking them sometimes holding my camera below me facing up and because of the bright ceiling lights there is enough light and no flash to disturb the moment as it often unfolds quite quickly and there's hardly ever a chance of going back except with these photos later. Sometimes the pictures really do capture some interesting angles and effects.
I recommend often enlarging them on your screen to better see the composition, the colors, textures, shades, effects of light and dark and color and clarity and transparency of the wine for example. Being an artist all this fascinates me and so I am as interested in this process as I am in that of tasting the wines.
I hope with this approach to add something to this fabulous equation of time/ moment and time as well as people involved, wine. color of wine, label, juxtaposition of wine and bottle and glass. I love people's hands and find them very expressive as well as their facial expressions when unchecked and unedited by them natural expressions of the body - I love all of this.
I ask you to play along with me and indulge me in this and hopefully enjoy some of it. For more technical evaluations of these wines as well as others there are plenty that focus on that alone.
My biggest satisfaction is that of inspiring people to try a wine and using their own qualifications to judge it and not that of others. If I can accomplish these two things then I feel that I have triumphed mightily indeed.
I like the way Azzurra spoke equally with her hands as she did with her facial expressions and her speech. I told her so and her immediate response was that Italians do that! I also liked her bright smile and so I took lots of pictures to capture the flow of her words as they were accented by the constant flow and motion of her hands and the expressions as they quickly appeared and just as quickly left her face. Hope you enjoy them. It sure made it nice for me as I tasted and observed and listened making many mental notes both of the flavors in these wines as well as the beauty all around me with both Azzurra and Jody.
You can imagine my joy when I realized that I would be tasting wines from Tuscany from where I had just returned from a wonderful week there with my daughter. We had not been able because of time to see all of Tuscany and so really only got into the areas around the towns of Montalcino and Montepulciano.
Azzurra's wines are in another area of Italy, that of Bolgheri. And they are also more what is often refered to as the " super Tuscan " style with the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Syrah grapes. For the whites the Vermentino ( I like what I have tasted so far using the Vermentino grape in this region ) from Sardina does quite well there as well.
It's a question of the soil and what does well in that soil with the climate conditions, too. That's what should be planted. I had to give up my notions of only using the Sangiovese, Mammolo ( spelling? ), Canaiolo traditional grapes of the old-world Tuscany as they do not seem suited for this coastal area on the western coastline.
These newer wines of Tuscany are growing on me slowly. I must say, however, that I still largely/vastly prefer the traditional ones that have always been made using the Sangiovese grape. Oh well, there's room for both and these wines of POGGIO AL TESORO are pretty impressive and we will be happy to have them back in the store soon.
I will include more pictures as tell more of this interesting story of Bolgheri and POGGIO AL TESORO. Azzurra was nice enough to leave me with one of her color brochures with wonderful pictures and an intriguing Italian language that I am trying to read and understand as I have been there. I hope that my lost Portuguese and now English, French and Spanish can help me in translating.
I still prefer the Cabernet Francs from the Loire valley in France but in thanks to Azzurra, Jody, David Pinzolo (where are you David when I need you to translate for me? Or even Gastone?!? ) of Winebow - as well as all those in Italy recently that took such great care of us - and in fairness of course - I include this Italian text from the brochure/pamphlet. Hope you enjoy it : it's about the Cabernet Franc grape that I love so much.
" Qui la nostra propensione il Cabernet Franc, abbracciata d'istinto, giustificata dalle condizioni microclimatiche, poi meticolosamente verificata, hatrovato il modo di esprimersi con convinzione. Infatti ci ha regalato un vino vinificato in purezza, dalle note speziate, elegante e profondo che abbiamo dedicato a Walter Allegrini, vignaiolo valpolicellese, ed entusiasta precursore del Progetto ". Wow, that's a moth-tongue-twister for me and I believe I understood at least three quarters of it ?
Maybe now someone can translate this for me in the section below titled : comment? That would be nice as a clarification for those of us that do not speak Italian. Perhaps Leonardo himself or Walter would do the honors?
I am a big fan of the elegant and polished/refined/fruit-driven-fruit-supreme/center-stage wines of Walter Allegrini. We always sell them at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 anthonyquinn@clevelandparkwine.com ). I love how Allegrini works the Corvina grape along with the others in the Veneto region.
Anyway I look forward to having Jody taste some of these POGGIO AL TESORO wines along with the ALLEGRINI wines at one of her next in-store/wine-tastings in the near future. This will be a grand tasting indeed and an opportunity to focus on these two excellent wineries that come to us through Winebow imports.
Enjoy these photos that I snapped away at as I enjoyed Azzurra's wines. Cheers, TONY
P.S. I mentioned this to David Pinzolo and he saw it and made me aware that Walter Allegrini passed away before he could see the results of all his strong beliefs in the Cabernet Franc grape being planted in this region of Bolgheri, Tuscany. The " W " red is named after him and this belief and conviction in planting the Cabernet Franc there. I am sorry that I missed all of this when I was tasting with Azzurra and Jody, They probably mentioned it and it just went over my head at the time as I was busy on many fronts which included at the time writing the store email. Oh well, I apologize for this omission and I raise a glass now and will all through the day in recognition of you Walter and your contributions. Bravo and may you be looking down on us now and smiling. I'll just have to get Azzurra and Jody back with David Pinzolo and we four will have to drink a bottle of the " W " and toast you. That will be fun and a treat when it happens .... until then ...
No comments:
Post a Comment