This was rather fortuitous tasting here recently both the 2001 BLAAUKLIPPEN Stellenbosch " Cabriolet " dry red Bordeaux blend as well as the KENNETH VOLK " Jaybird " 2008 Santa Maria Valley, CA. Chardonnay. I am sure that at the time I gravitated more towards the 2003 BLAAUWKLIPPEN Stellenbosch 2003 dry red as I tend to love that style. I'm not such a Chardonnay fan when it crossed over the borders of Burgundy, France and into " other " realms. That's not to say that I am not often pleasantly surprised when I taste a good Chardonnay made somewhere else in the world. It does happen and I am always more than willing to admit that I have a prejudice that shows it's ugly face more than I care to admit. That's life : c'est bien comme ca malheuresment mes cheres amis.
In the picture above I am continuing to explore the people behind the wines behind the bottles themselves. I am interested to see what the tint of the wine bottle - the glass - gives to the mood or the moment or the gravitas or levity, too. I never know quite what I will get? What the Canon camera sees is often a far sight from what I have seen. Of course, the camera's eye never really lies does it? And we as humans are often distracted quite a bit from what we wanted to be our focus and our concentration. Esta es la vida senor, senora!
I apologize to all the ladies and young women for these photos because often the glass and the glaring lights above are quite harsh on them : distorting, elongating, smashing and squashing and making art sometimes more reminiscent of Francis Bacon's gory paintings and Goya's black and white etching of " La Guerra ". This is not my intent at all. It's a collaborative work between me and my trusty Canon digital camera.
We have now for years at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008, sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com Tel:202-363-4265 ) sold the BLAAUKLIPPEN Stellenbosch, South African wines. I loved my trip there last year with Theresa's husband John Morrison. They pulled out all the plugs and gave us a fantastic tour, tasting from the barrel and stainless steel, from the bottle and late again at lunch right there in their own restaurant. That was something else with both the wine-maker Rolf and the two export managers : two lovely ladies.
I think that we might be out currently of the 2001 BLAAUKLIPPEN " Cabriolet " dry red, classic-style wine that really reveals more of what it has to offer ( which is quite a lot ) with it's meal. I usually want an aged properly-cured steak to enjoy with type of red : however, anything well-seasoned and marinated ( whether a meat dish or not ) will do really nicely here. That also includes some good cheeses.
Just recently on a Thursday evening we had the sales manager from KENNETH VOLK come and do an in-store/wine-tasting with our customers before heading over to DINO our Italian restaurant on the corner to meet with his good friends and owners of DINO : Kay and Dean.
I was very pleasantly surprise at this tasting because we tasted and excellent red wine made from the rare and very obscure French Rhone grape : Negrette. I sell a French wine from Fronton, France : DOMAINE BOISSEL that includes 50% f the Negrette in it ( $14.49 ). This was an excellent dry red California wine and I am very happy to have it in the store now.
We also tried and excellent dry white and I am scratching m head now to try and remember what grape it comes from : is it a white Malvasia? It's something unusual like that and when I am back in the store tomorrow ( I'm home now on my day-off and enjoying myself immensely now having cooked dinner and sitting here drinking some of the excellent Kiwi New Zealand 2002 ESCARPMENT Pinot Noir ).
We also tasted the Chardonnay on this Thursday evening and it did very well as it very well-balanced and focused with a lot f our customers that love a good Chardonnay.
Look at the beautiful shade of the 2001 BLAAUWKLIPPEN red reflected through my wine glass onto the white label behind and below it. I love that delicate shade of red : so refined and soft.
As you can tell from all the pictures of the BLAAUWKLIPPEN 2001 " Cabriolet " that I was feeling more in " my element " here. Oh well, I simply like drinking red wine more than I do white. So be it.
I leave you with this last image of Theresa Morriso as seen through the olive-green color of the glass/bottle of this 2001 BLAAUWKLIPPEN " Cabriolet ", Stellenbosch, South African dry red. I could just as easily be sitting here typing away and drinking some of this " Cabriolet " trying to catch up with all the photos and tastings that I have had recently at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. It's a monumental job as now I take pictures of everything that I do and taste and record who I meet whether wine owner/maker or local rep, distributor, national sales manager, regional sales manager, friend, whomever :you are all important to me.
And as you may have figured out by now : I am determined to try and share as much of all of this with all of you out there in cyberspace that are interested and willing to look at and read what I have written.
Cheers, a bientot, a presto, hasta luego , until we next meet. TONY
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