This was a great tasting last night here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008, sales@clevelandparkwine.com, www.clevelandparkwine.com, Tel:202-363-4265 ) where we gave Jody Jackman a wide berth to select some fun wines from her Winebow selections to conduct a Valentine's Day wine-tasting here in the store with our customers from 5-8 PM She came up with some excellent selections and did a great job as usual.
Jody picked five wines to taste this evening : 1) ESPIRITO " Lagoalva ", $10.99, 2007 dry red Alentejo Portuguese red blend of 50% Touriga Nacional and 50% Catelao that was pithy and earthy with dar, toast berry flavors of blue and blackberries ( best as a food wine, medium-to-lighter-bodied ) ; 2) " Sinner's Punch " 2006 dry red Columbia Valley, Washington State dry red blend of two grapes, $19.99, ; 3) CEDERBERG South African white from Cederburg's indigenous white grape variety Bukettraube, 2009, $17.49 that produces a floral and slightly off-dry wine that reminds me of the wines from Alsace like Pinot Gris with hints of Gewurztraminer and Sylvaner maybe? I loved this white : so did most of our customers. It will be ordered and sold again here at Cleveland Park. We also tasted the cremant d'Alsace from Jean-Baptiste ADAM Alsace sparkling wine, $21.99, non-vintage brut that was refreshingly dry and crisp and lively and bright and just perfect for this colder weather. Jody finished the tasting with the KEO " ST. JOHN COMMANDARIA sweet-dessert-style golden colored wine that looks a whole lot like sherry or a tawny port. It is sublime : a blend of two grapes, $20.99 with accents of honey and many nuts and burnt caramel and a very smooth' long, silky finish that absolutely makes you want to have another sip and then another followed by still another ...
We sold many bottles of each of all of these five wines depending on which suited the particular palate, mood or event. It's nice to have such a fun, eclectic batch to choose from.
We were originally going to taste a dry rose 100% Pinot Noir French sparkling rose from the Jura but switched when Jody brought the sales export manager to see us from ADAM. He came with a whole assortment of excellent wines to taste from Alsace. This cremant d'Alsace from Jean-Baptiste ADAM comes from Ammerschwihr Alsace and we have sold it here off-and-on over the last ten years.
I love selling these cremants from Alsace becasue they represent great values and are always smooth and dry and easier on our systems as they have fewer and bigger( gentler ) bubbles that attack our systems less. This one is surprisingly tight and well-knit and dry and I love it for that : so refreshing.
I will add more as I have time but enjoy these pictures for now and " Happy Valentine's Day " to one and to all. Cheers, TONY
P.S. It's now 8:36 PM on Saturday evening , February 13th, 2010 here in our nation's capitol of Washington D.C. a day before Valentine's Day and the forcast is for more snow ( 2+ inches ) on Monday I believe. Yikes! Let's all hope for the best.
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