These are a few of the wines that our rep Tomm from Five Grapes Imports brought Chris Barker and me recently : last Wednesday, Feb. 3rd, 2010 I believe to try later that afternoon. We sampled the wines in the office as I was still trying to finish the store email and send it for the week.
I was a bit frantic with Super Bowl this weekend as well as the very real threat of one of our biggest snow-falling ever here in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Turns out it was true, too as it is now Saturday, February 6th, 2010 at 1:24 PM at home in northern Virginia and the store is closed because of already the 23+ inches of snow down already with the snow continuing to fall and perhaps another 6 or so inches between now and 10 PM when it is supposed to be finished. Then. of course the third time is the charm with more snow falling on Tuesday! When will ever dig out?!?
I'm home with three day's off in a row and this is big : REALLY BIG for me and I am thrilled as I will be able to finish many of these blog entries that I have started over this past month and not had time to finish and enter here.
I was also frantic with getting the store email typed and sent because Valentine's Day is also coming and there was lots of wine to receive and get on the shelves as well before everyone started to come see us early with fear and anxiety in their eyes and facial expressions over the worry of so much snow and the Super Bowl to enjoy on Sunday!
As a store it is a big weekend for us and of course we sell lots of everything from beer, liqueur, liquor and wine for those of you that will gather in groups of family and friends and collect yourselves close to a t.v. and to both a food and a alcohol source to best enjoy the game. My family and I will enjoy the " half-time " as we are not big football fans preferring to watch the Winter Olympics over a football game pretty much anytime. We are a rare breed indeed.
Anyway, one of the things I wanted to mention in the store email was the fabulous 1945 Rivesaltes dessert wine that we had just purchased and which we would sell for $150 a bottle. It is now in the store and worth every penny of the $150. As a matter of fact this is a ridiculously great value for so much elegance, polish and finesse in a mature and properly aged bottle from southwest France with so much history, too.
Chris and I tasted the THOMAS GEORGE Estates, CA. Russian River Valley Chardonnay which I believe I quite-liked for it's balance if not so much for it's price which I would have liked to be lower. That's California and Chardonnays from the Russian River Valley : usually quite expensive. Oh well, the wine was good and well-made. I give it that. I will include the price later once back at the store on Tuesday, snow and weather-permitting.
Chris and I also sampled a bone-dry ( steely, mineral and crisp-tart, cutting ) sec Vouvray called something like Perdriana? It's already at the store along with the 1945 Rivesaltes and I believe this 2007 Loire Valley 100% Chenin Blanc is priced at either $20.99 or $21.99 a bottle. I highly recommend it if you need a refreshing dry and crisp-edgy white to cut through various food flavors and textures. I recommended and already sold some to a person this last Thursday making a dish which included asparagus and was it pork? I can't remember the second part but I know it should hold it's own and really complement the asparagus.
Chris and I also sampled this 2006 Francois Requin Bourgogne rouge 100% Pinot Noir from DOMAINE SAINT- ______ . I can't read the rest of my label here in one of these pictures. Sorry. I like taking these artsy photos to show off the wine against the label and bottle from which it came and sometimes I forget to take the more straight-forward pictures of the labels so that I may read them later as both memory and some details often fade or are hard to remember without some aid later.
This 2006 red burgundy would sell for around $21 dollars or so and I found it too sharp and hard and earthy and dusty dry. On it's own like this , medium-to-light-bodied I did not fins the middle to have enough flesh or fruit and perhaps a bit too old? I am not sure about that : I am sure, however, for the way it tasted then in the glass that it definitely would need food to help flesh it out some. We did not buy it and will look to our rep from Five Grapes to bring us some more exciting wines like the red Bordeaux ( what was it's name? ) that CHATEAU BEYCHEVELLE has a hand in making I believe. It was quite good and that wine we will probably purchase and have for sale in the first week of March.
WE are just starting to work with FIVE GRAPE Imports and from what we have already seen and tasted I believe that we will have some exciting new things to bring to your attention in 2010.
Cheers and stay-tuned for more updates from us here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 , Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) about selections we will carry and recommend from Five Grapes.
With a name like this for a company inspired by the five grapes ( Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec ) that are blended together in many Bordeaux wines to tasting more of the Bordeaux selections. TONY
Being an active-practicing artist ( go to : chatart.blogspot.com and chatpoetry.blogspot.com ) I like taking lots of these more artsy photos where I capture the color and vibrancy of the wine sometimes in the glass and sometimes being poured and in motion. I also like to capture the people, the hands, the bottle and the Reidel glass I use as well as the people's faces and the contrasts of light and dark and composition of forms and elements from textures and masses and spacial alignments - all those things that are a part of both the story and the moment. Hope you like them and that they may even inspire you to go out and find these bottles to taste and see if they taste as good as they photograph? ...
I have already blogged here on an earlier entry on this remarkable bottle of 1945 French Rivesaltes sweet golden-sun-drenched-absorbed wine that is like a liquid amber and every bit as special as the amber that my mother and many lovely females all over the world that wear ...
No comments:
Post a Comment