It's great to see these old labels once again and I am thrilled that way back when in the 1970-s when I lived with my family in Paris, France that I was ambitious enough ( as well as dedicated because many of these labels were not easy to remove ) that I took them time to actually remove them from their bottles. As you can see in these first few labels in picture #1 that I actually enjoyed some good wines as I stated down the road of my almost thirty years in thr wine business here in Washington D.C. These are some of the wines that I actually drank in Paris France in the 70's as well as some that started to drink when I actually joined the ranks of those in the wine business when I went to work for Alan Sahm back at Rex Wines & Spirits back in 1981. Seems like a distant time ago indeed.
Back then it was certainly another wine world without the internet and so many wine critics with so much advice/critique and opinion to heed and check before you made any move ( God forbid! ) on your own. I liked those simpler times. Make your own bloody mistakes : scrape your own knees just as you did when you learned to ride a bike.
It's okay to do things on your own/ on your own terms/make your own decisions. Let both the highs of triumphs and the lows of seeming failures ( as you yourself judge them to be ) - yours, and yours alone be reason enough as also those serendipitous moments as well as epiphanies you can take full credit for/satisfaction in/ and ownership of with all the exaltation. glee and feeling of triumph and satisfaction in. You can see I have no opinion on this wee little matter. So be it : I do - and I am proud of that.
These labels above are from the NICOLAS stores that my father and I started to visit in the 16th arrondisement on and off the Avenue Paul Doumer where we had a wonderful apartment. The Hediard store was just a block away but by and large to me just too expensive for what I was willing to pay and and felt that I got for what I did pay. Pas une bonne marche pour moi a mon avi ...
I loved going to the cinema on the Avenue Champs Elysees and watching the advertisements back then in the early 70's for the Corbieres wines as well as those of Minervois. Seems like the French had not really discovered them as well as us Americans then living in France?
And that label above from Madiran in the real deep/low southwest of France using the Tannat grape : well, we all know today starting back in 2006 of the health benefits from the Tannat grape as it is supposedly the highest grape in the natural substance resveratrol that is supposed to be so good for us. So good in fact that today they are trying to make Resveratrol pills for us to take because of this. Since I like Madiran and Tannat ( as well as the Tannats from Uruguay - though I am told by the winemaker of Chrysalis Vineyards here in Virginia that it may not be the same grape? ) that I would rather continue to drink them as often as I can and not have to rely on the pills.
The label is from the 1973 vintage in France. I probably drank it in 1974 or 1975 I guess? I don't recollect. How much has the French wine business changed since then? Madiran was never that well known back then and today it certainly has enjoyed a rebirth of sorts for the excellence of the wines ( many made in a more friendly/fruit-forward fashion so that they be enjoyed relatively earlier and not have to be celared a minimum of ten years before you even touch them ) as well as all this health interest in red wines being good for us and especially Madirans as the Tannat grape from which they are made has the highest levels of any grape in Resveratrol.
MOre labels above of Chateau D'Yquem and Chateau Margaux when I had more disposable imcome to put towards them before starting our wonderful family. You can see the vintages on the labels from 1967 ,1971, 1976 and 1980. Those certainly were some fine wines indeed. Glad I had the chance to enjoy them with family and friends.
In the labels below they come from wines that I enjoyed in Paris as well as some enjoyed here in Washington D.C. My wife and I love bubbly and one of our favorite champagnes ever was that pictured up in the right corner of the LEGRAS N.V. Brut Integral that we bought on more than one occasion from the Caves De La Madeleine where I first discovered it in the early 1970's ( after my 21st birthday ) . I wish I could find some again. I have hope as I just discovered that a distributor is selling LEGRAS here in the Washington D.C. area. Do you all have any of the LEGRAS Brut Integral?!?
In this last picture and the label above there is a label of the Bernard Michel white burgundy from the Chalonais town of Montagny. I also bought this white burgundy from Steven Spurrier's Caves De La Madeleine in Paris France not far from the Place De La Concorde and just a couple of blocks away from the American Embassy where I had a summer job ( thanks to my father ) and was able to earm American dollars and turn them into French francs then and walk down to buy and pay for a bottle myself back then of this wonderful white Montagny. It cost 18 French francs back then and that represented a whole lot of money to me then. However, it was the first great white wine that I had ever tasted and I just loved it and had to buy it as often as I felt that could afford it. Thanks Steven and Patricia both the French as well as the Americans that worked there at the time ( as well as the Brit later that now owns Willy's Wine Bar ). You all helped to open my eyes to the wonders and the abundance of unique and indigenous French wines that I fell head-over-heels in love with and have made it my mission even now to keep them all in the public's vision and as alive and healthy as possible as they represent grand treasures of the France that I was loving more and more then each day and which I continue to still love and support today. Vive la France!
I have much more to add but because today is my birthday I must be off to enjoy a meal with some young friends that recently saved my ass as I went off to work at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) to sell wines. The night before from all the rain and the melting two-feet of snow from my roof, deck and backyard was starting to seep into our downstairs. I had worked till 4 AM to vac it up with our water vac and it was still entering in. Patrick, Brian and Tim took turns every two hours coming over here to contain the damage and the water still seeping inside. I owe a deep thanks to them and much gratitude. Thanks guys and to tonight's dinner really soon. Cheers...
Stay-tuned for more as I will write more about all these pictures and the labels and stories that they contain for me and that , given time, I would like to share with you all in this mysterious place we name cyberspace .... Bonne Annee a tous le monde .... TONY
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