Chat Wine: Dimitri Of Nice Legs Imports Tastes SPELL, Sonoma Pinot Noir & SHANE " Ma Fille " 2008 Dry Rose Of Sonoma, CA., 3/2010 @ Cleveland Park Wines& Spirits

I have now known Dimitri for three years or so? I can't remember exactly as I welcome everyone to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 2008 Tel: 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine,com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) that I run as if I was the owner. I'm not : my mind is not one of business alone : it's mostly about the art and people and relationships and strengthening all of the above - welcoming it into my heart and my bosom and embracing it for the life and the spirit and the enthusiasm and the core of it all and not simply the surface. Don't give me hype and advertising and try and sell me on something with scores and numbers and what I call the artificial that is created simply to sell a product. Give me the people and the stories behind the wines and that starts to speak volumes to me.

I like that Dimitri comes from Moldova and that his mother still lives there and that she is part of a wine-making team there and that we carry and sell these wines of his and his mothers that we sell ( a Sauvignon Blanc crisp dry white, a dusty-dry, ,ore intense and with more body dry Pinot Gris and a dry and spicy and edgy - needs food - medium-bodied red blend of the Bastardo and the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes - all sell for $9.99 and the name of all three is TALKING ROOT I believe ). It's warming to my heart to know that while he stands there at our office door selling me the California wines of Nice Legs Imports and that this opens yet another door for me.

I have never heard of these Sonoma, California wines of SPELL and SHANE and I am glad that I tasted them, really I am. It's my window to the outside wine world that is growing in so many leaps and bounds that I do not think that anyone today can possibly keep up with it all. But I try and the Dimitri's of the world help me by bringing these " new discoveries " for me to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits.

In this case I was very busy and perhaps finishing the store email or working on some other project like updating the store web page or returning emails to customers in search of one wine or another? There's so much to do daily.

So I tasted quickly with Dmitri and I offered my two customers that were shopping here a taste to see what their reaction would be? It was the SHANE " Ma Fille - My Daughter " dry Sonoma 2008 rose ( only 250 cases made here ) and they both liked it just as I did. Before that I had sampled the SPELL Sonoma Pinot Noir. I got to try two on this occasion I think. These pictures help me to remember as I do try many wines.

That's why I take all these pictures to help remember and I am thrilled that on the label above at the bottom the web page is clearly visible as I had quite forgotten by today ( Sunday, March 27th, 2010 here at home at 5:21 PM ) who had made this " Ma Fille " dry California rose? I must have tried it two weeks ago and downloaded the pictures a day or two later hoping to get to writing something before I forgot everything. It's hard to remember and I did not write anything down as I was preoccupied at the time as it was getting late and time to be on the floor selling to these two lovely young lady customers as well as anyone else stopping by.

Here they are framed in the glass with the SHANE dry Sonoma, California rose. It's a great artsy picture and I include it even though it distorts their features somewhat and they are both very attractive. Sorry ladies : I know that you are both beautiful!

I am glad that I looked up this web page at : www.shanewines.com as I knew nothing about Shane Finley until I did. Dimitri, I am sure you told me all about him and where he had worked before ( TORBRECK Australia, DOMAINE PIERRE GAILLARD, France, PAUL HOBBS, California ) before he started making his own wines. I loved that in the bio it said that he formalized/crystallized his wine-making philosophy at the table of Pierre Gaillard in France. These are things that for me go to the core of the wine that is made by the man or the woman. The fact that he has named this dry rose after his daughter I presume? What age is she? Is she just a very young girl now as I presume that you are not very old yourself?

I like all of this. I like that in describing this excellent dry rose that he uses so many wonderful and descriptive words like : " core of the pomegranate, papaya, watermelon, peach, melon, strawberries, citrus, tangerine - what has he left out? How could anyone not be curious after reading this?

What I did not like was that he never did mention anything here about what grapes he used? I guess it must have been somewhere else and that I will have to read more from his web page?

Of course the grape does not really matter as much as the final taste : how the wine feels and tastes on one's palate? That's the most important thing here.

I will have to ask you Dimitri once again about this SHANE " Ma Fille " 2008 Sonoma dry rose as I cannot remember anything about the price? What will it cost me - what will will it cost our customers?

I also really liked both the weight and the strong color of this dry rose. It attracted me to it with it's boldness of colors here in my glass ; made me want to put it to my lips again!

But I have gotten ahead of myself here and told the end of the story before the beginning. I do believe that I started first with the SPELL Pinot Noir 2008 dry Sonoma rose. Is this correct Dmitri : what order did you pour these wines in here this afternoon? Normally it would have been the rose first but perhaps the weight of it and the power of it were stronger and bolder? Help me out here Dimitri? I am struggling a bit after there having been this amount of time between my tasting of both these wines and the hour now at 11:00 PM as it's raining steadily outside my home in northern Virginia on this Sunday evening, March 28th, 2010.

I will have to speak to you Dmitri and perhaps google SPELL as well to be fair since I have already googled SHANEWINES. Fair is fair.

I just googled SPELL and got some more information about the 2008 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir here. It's made in small quantities and that is always a plus as long as the price is not astronomically high for the consumer. As it is already late now I will post this as it is but continue it tomorrow and add the rest so that it will then be complete.

In the meantime enjoy these artsy pictures that I have taken as I am an artist and very concerned with adding to the equation that is already available to many of us interested and in love with wine. I want to add the visual aspect and show the link between the wine, the bottle it's in, the Reidel wine-tasting glass, the owner or wine-maker or the person selling the wine : these are all concrete connections that mean a whole lot to me. They ground everything for me and give me some real perspective on the wines and where they come from. I also like to show both the color and the clarity of the wine and how light can show it in different color ranges. We use our words to describe the taste and perhaps seeing the wine and both it's clarity and shades of color can bring it all together in our minds as we consider whether or not to rush out and buy a bottle to enjoy later today or sometime in the near future?

Look at this picture above of Dimitri seen through the Reidel wine glass and how the shapes of the strong ceiling lights frame him and showcase certain aspects of him. I especially like the way he is clasping his hands together here. There's a quiet intensity to this picture above.

I also like this picture above that shows Dimitri steadying the bottle as he pours some wine for me as I aim my Canon digital camera up at this all happening with the strong ceiling lights of the store to capture the moment. I don't think that I had my flash on here and so the colors and the lighting is more like that of candlelight or less-strong lighting that includes shading and a softer glow and shadowing effect. Along with the red wine flowing out from the bottle neck, both partial vision of mine as well as Dimitri's face : there's an aura and a warmth here that speaks to a certain pause and intimacy of action almost as it it was in slow-motion or even paused for more effect? I like it. I'm drawn to it.

Don't forget to enlarge these photos on your monitor to get a better look at all that my Canon digital camera's eye saw that I did not at the time. I could only imagine what it might be seeing ( and how it might be registering it ? ) as I was not able to look through the screen as I snapped each of these pictures just hoping for the best and believing strongly that I would capture both something interesting and intriguing along the way. I'm a positive thinker and always try and focus on the positive and not the negative. It works for me really well by and large.

I like very much these serious pictures that I have taken : serious I mean by the expression on Dimitri's face and expression. Whatever can you be thinking in these pictures Dimitri? It's almost as if I see you bearing the weight of the world here on your shoulders. Yet I have no way of really knowing? Please tell me the next time that you see me. Also tell me once again about the pricing and availability of these two dry Sonoma wines.

Cheers and until tomorrow when I complete this blog. TONY