DJ is the assistant winemaker at PEARMUND and we met twice before as he came with Jeremy Sutton once of Kysela Pere Et Fils Et Fille To taste us on their current vintages and then later again to be part of our Big Theme Holiday Wines in-store tasting. This was our third time seeing each other and it was a delight and I introduced DJ immediately to my wife and my son.
Pictured above here I believe is the lady that coordinates many of the activities at PEARMUND. I spoke to her on the phone the day before I recall - or was it this morning? - and we had a nice chat and she informed me that indeed DJ was working this day and that he would be happy to receive us and give us a tour and a tasting.
Besides pictures of the winery I have also included several of our drive to and from the winery as it was a beautiful day with blue skies and lush green vines and grassy meadows and it just felt right to record as much of this as possible as I had been wanting now for more than four years to make this visit to PEARMUND!
I was with my wife and son on this trip and it was as good as I had hoped for, really. DJ did a really nice tour with us as well as an excellent tasting. I really enjoyed trying so many wines that I liked and could say good things about. I want to promote Virginia and to sing the praises of Virginia wines. I want to do with all my heart and soul and I do not want to always give the business to California by default. That simply is not right.
With these wines I can be completely honest : for the most part I would clearly rather drink them to their California counterparts. I feel that I may be in a minority for saying this : but so be it. I mean it and I intend to stick to my guns here : simple as that.
My wife and I tasted across the board with DJ from whites to reds: maybe even a dry rose? I know we tasted from dry to sweet wines, too. PEARMUND has a great range of wines that easily complement many foods. My heart was clearly in the reds : I loved the blends as well as the Petit Verdot, the Cabernet Franc ; even the Merlot. And oh PEARMUND also makes a Malbec. I think I liked it. We were tasting some of these reds from the 2006 vintage and I liked them even though DJ kept referring to the release of the current vintages that he seemed to be more enthusiastic about.
I will have to get together now with Jeremy Sutton our Kysela Pere et Fils et Fille rep for PEARMUND to ask him what they have available from PERAMUND now. I am really behind in posting this blog and I do apologize for that. I just get lots to do and I am so enthusiastic and ready with my camera all the time. This is a good example.
Today it is Monday at 9:11 PM and I am now watching on NBC Channel 4 the Winter Olympics coverage of the Men's snowboard cross. It's also President's Day here, February 15th, 2010. There's lots going on here today as we got more snowfall today on the tail of the " snowfall of the century " here in Washington D.C.'s metropolitan area. Yikes! I don't think any more snow will come tonight but then again you never know. I could use a glass of the Petit Verdot from PEARMUND about now to enjoy as I continue to watch now the pair figure skaters ( Americans DENNEY & BARRETT - Katie and Jeremy were just wonderful from start to finish : hard to imagine a better long program if you want my opinion ) execute their long programs. That's pretty spectacular : imagine what a glass or two one one of the dry PEARMUND reds would do to make the moment just that much more perfect? Only tasting one or more now would give us the answer to that question...
Here' DJ with the wines that we would finish with this afternoon. I will write more about these shortly. The problem is that it has been awhile and here I did not take any notes so I will have ti dig down deep to try and recollect my thoughts and impressions. However, as I have already said as a whole I really grew to enjoy what I was tasting.
As I told Jeremy as I was tasting that my palate had to get acclimated each and every time to the different wines. I went back to some of them after the initial tasting. I wanted to examine my original impressions and see if they held up afterward after all the wines. May of them did : they actually grew and impressed me even more : all very good things.
Amanda and Mark just skated their four and a half minute " long program " for the figure skaters and the second half was really mesmerizing. I loved it and got completely caught-up into it as I rushed away from this keyboard over closer to the t.v. It's dueling monitor here and t.v. screen just feet away. I have to separate the two so that I can stay focused and yet one spills naturally into the other.
Just as I love wine I love the Olympics and watching the Olympians push themselves to their limits just as the wine owners ans wine-makers do the same in the vineyard and the winery and then lastly in the cellars ... there are definite parallels here to be drawn.
So I have lots more to add here and yet want to post this before midnight. It will be a race to the finish with the Olympics ...
Being an artist I like to take more artsy photos like the one above. I also like to take photos like the one below because without the best grapes to make wine into the wine-maker is simply at an disadvantage.
Look how lush and verdant and beautiful these vineyards are with their rows of vines ...
Look at the color of this red below : I love the garnet color at the lower lip of the glass as well as all the reflections of light in the glass including the tasting page below... it helps to have all the pieces come together like this to tell more of the complete story - never all of it but more of it.
To think that this bright garnet red color in the glass above comes from these vineyards below?!? Lush, green fields that wield such a lovely bright sunshine-infused garnet red ...
" Think Globally, drink locally " says the writing on the PEARMUND glasses. I agree and we have two of these glasses that we gave our daughter. The bottle of the white wine that we bought for her is also signed by DJ. We have not enjoyed it yet and earlier I thought of asking our daughter if tonight might be the night? She was simply too busy with her school work to be able to enjoy it and so we will wait for another moment: soon we hope.
I can't help myself : I love to take these artistic pictures like the one above. And then it's always good to be reminded of from where the wines actually come ...
As I said, I love to put the various elements together as I take my pictures like this one above.
Here DJ signs the bottle that we bought to give to our daughter as she graduated with her college class after four long, grueling years where she really applied herself to her studies. Interesting, once that a grape vine is planted it takes four years before the vineyard will make wine from the grapes that it produces. Again there's a parallel here of importance. The grapes that they get in the second and in the third year they will often sell off to other wineries.
You can see from this picture below that my son was relaxed as we left PEARMUND winery to head to his sister's graduation ...
Here we have in the picture above two of the key people at PEARMUND and their contributions are very important to the success of the vineyard and it's vines and wines, too.
And may I add to the : " Think Globally - Drink Locally " slogan : Drink Virginia, and lots of the time!
I'm thrilled to close with this sign announcing that one has arrived at PEARMUND Cellars and that the vineyards , the winery, the cellars and the wines all await them and soon they will be tasting some excellent wine.
Cheers and stay-tuned for more updates on PEARMUND Cellars and soon at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) we will have some new selections to offer all of you from PEARMUND! TONY
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