It was great to have owner Christopher Donatiello of the Russian River Valley ( of the C. DONATIELLO Winery Tel: 707-431-4412 Fax: 640-304-7188 4035 Westside Road, Healdsburg, CA. 95448 ) come and taste with our rep. Jody Jackman of Winebow Imports his current releases available through Winebow now.
It was a complete eye-opener for me : a good one, too. I told Christopher immediately how much I was enjoying each and everyone of his wines. They were all balanced and had finesse and placed the grape and it's fruit always center stage. I love that! That's the wine should be : respect the grape always and always have it be the focus of the wine. Begin with the grape and finish with it. Don't have it disappear into some lab experiment where all of a sudden it is no longer center stage ( hell, in some cases it's not even on the stage anymore! ).
There's a nice elegance to these wines. They are not too much of anything : they live in harmony of their components and they do not attack my palate in any way, shape or form. The alcohol and the fruit are never amplified to the point where they or the tannins or the acids become the only players. I like this : I marvel at this : I salute and say " bravo ! " to Christopher. I said it more than once ; perhaps three times in all with a smile and a silent " thank you " implied with my words.
I liked the Chardonnay and could enjoy it though it was my least favorite of the wines served : perhaps because all the others were reds. I'm at home now on Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 9:54 AM and have to get ready for work now. I will finish this and include my notes that I have there as well as some more photos. But for the meantime enjoy this so far and stay-tuned for more.
The funny thing that really surprised, amused and pleased me was that a week ago I had just finished posting the earlier blog when Jody had come around with Christopher's national sales manager Howard so you may also use this search engine here to read that now as well. Cheers e a presto! I'm on an Italian fling just now having had owners Ema od BADIA A COLTIBUONO ( organic wines such as their fabulous Chianti Classico 2007 and 2005 Riserva ) and Riccardo Illy of MASTROJANNI ( Brunello 2004-5 e 2007-8 Rosso Di Montalcino ) visit Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) within the last month. You may scan down and see both of their blogs already entered here as well.
By the way Christopher : " what part of Italy does your family come from? "
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