This was quite one of the most fun and exciting/thrilling wine-tastings that Chris Barker and I have ever had at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits because it involved dry red wines from Arizona ( ARIZONA STRONGHOLD Vineyards " Mangus " 2008 ) using the Cabernet Sauvignon grape as well as the Sangiovese and the 2008 ARIZONA STRONGHOLD Vineyard's Syrah grapes ( pictured above, both from Cochise, Arizona ) as well as wines of OKANOGAN Bench Rock Washington State and sparkling Pinot Grigio and sparkling Chardonnay and Pinot Noir ( called " Wet " and " Sex " from Michigan I believe - all these wines are in the store now selling in the twenties ): a late arrival from our rep Richard Lay ( richardlay@aol.com ) of Siema Wines ( 703-455-1200 )Imports , and a mugging that he stopped to help catch the muggers before arriving for his appointment with us after he caught the guys and called the police and they arrived to apprehend them.
Wow, I was blown away by all of this. I loved that you stopped Richard to lend body, mind and hand and quick-thinking and quick-running all at once. Thank you for being a good Samaritan and helping the lone young man that this group targeted to steal his wallet. I'm proud to say I know you : that was a brave thing for you to have done and because it happened right here in Cleveland Park it is nice to know that you were there to help at the right time. For that alone I am glad that we bought your wines : but I must say that we bought them because they were and still are fun and exciting and offering up some more unusual experiences that we may now offer our customers here that are often looking for more interesting experiences that take them to some level out of their comfort zones.
Pictured here are many of my artsy photos that I took of Richard Lay and the wines he brought for Chris and me to taste Wednesday afternoon on April 14th, 2010. As I said he was two hours or so late and we knew all about the mugging because Nelson that works with us had witnessed it outside out back from our alley as he was sweeping and throwing away cardboard boxes, etcetera. He came back into the story all worked-up over this and kept talking about what he had seen and so we already knew when Richard arrived that there had been an attempted robbery with several people involved.
However, little did we know that Richard would arrive later telling us that he had been a key part in all of this!
I love the color of this Arizona Syrah that Richard is pouring for us above. I love the way that if I get the right angle from my Canon digital camera pointing up at the Reidel wine-tasting glass and the bottle that the ceiling lights will capture some of the beautiful colors of these wines. Being an artist I am very much interested in this and helping to get people stimulated and interested in trying something by the color and the clarity of a wine. I think that that's as compelling a reason to try a wine as any. Don't you agree?
Here above Richard is holding a bottle of the BOE Brooklyn Oenology 2007 Chardonnay above.
I will have to look at my notes on the BOA Brooklyn Oenology 2007 Chardonnay once I am back at work. I am at home now and rushing to get ready to finish this as it is way-overdue. I will see what I wrote about the BOA and include it shortly. We do not yet have it in our store.
I loved the 2008 " Mangus " Cab/Sangiovese dry red Arizona wine from ARIZONA STRONGHOLD Vineyards. This was my pick of the tasting with Richard. Chris felt really strongly about the OKANOGAN Bench Rock Washington State dry red.
I have much to add but will do that shortly. In the meantime enjoy these photos and my text and thanks again Richard for being such a good Samaritan and for bringing us this fun and exciting selection of wines to taste. Cheers to your fine efforts and to the excellent wines, too. TONY
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