I really enjoyed this tasting with Jean and Laure Baptiste Adam of ADAM vineyards in Alsace, France Tuesday, April 27th, 2010. I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to get to writing it. I had such a great time taking all these pictures that I took as I tried their various wines. Our rep Mark Congdon of JWSIEGWINES brought father and daughter by this Tuesday morning and as I said it was a pure delight for me, really. I loved them both as well as their wines. We had some of the ADAM cremant de Alsace already in the store with some bottles in our cold box. I do not know if they saw them or not but they were there.
Here we tasted the " organic " wines made by Jean-Baptiste et Laure Adam ( and their family ) and they call this line of wines by the name of Jean-Baptiste's grandfather Joseph Pfister : the JOSEPH PFISTER selection of Alsace wines ( sparkling and non-sparkling ) from Ammerschwihr. ( I just added all of this now on Thursday, August 12th, 2010 here at home in northern Virginia at 4:46 PM on my second week off from work ). It's about time, too! Sorry for the long delay ...
It was nice to also see Greg Schladenhauffen ( sales director ) for Wine Manager ( 404-291-7023, in France : 06-64-09-73-81 greg.schlag@winemanager-usa.com , reps for both Jean-Baptiste ADAM as well as KUENTZ-BAS, both Alsace vineyards ) that I had recently met with Jody Jackman when we tasted through the KUENTZ-BAS wines of Alsace. I have those pictures and that blog to post as well as this one. Funny, I also saw Greg again at the Downey Se;ections annual wine-portfolio tasting with wine-makers/ owners and reps like Greg. Greg is Frence and he recognized me immediately as I tasted with Enrico Valleferro ( export manager ) the Prosecco sparkling wines of ADAMI.
I'm an artist and I write both poetry and besides taking photos I also do multi-medium works like oil pastels and watercolors as well as collages. I also work with watercolor by itself along with ink sketches. My latest thing is to do quick portrait sketches of wine-makers and wine owners which I then take pictures of them with their sketches before I give the sketches to them.
Notice how the word " Adam " is inside the word " Adami "? Both make sparkling wines and here I am talking about both in this blog? Small world, really. I like that : there is always something to learn and to taste and to discover. I love this. This permits me to still feel completely alive and passionate about selling and educating people on the various wines and their many exciting indigenous grapes in the world-at-large.
I promise that I will bring this blog around to speaking about the Jean-Baptiste ADAM wines. I will say here as I have brought up the ADAM cremant d'Alsace sparkling wine earlier here. We had Jody Jackman of Winebow Selections taste it with our customers at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008, Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com , www.clevelandparkwine.com ). It tasted bone-dry and I loved it : really I did and still do. I love to recommend it when someone really wants a very bold and dry bubbly. It sells for around $20 a bottle and we are almost out.
I tasted on this Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 the Jean-Baptiste ADAM cremant d'Alsace and I thought it was softer and fruitier ( still really dry ) but not nearly as big or as bold or as crisp. I liked both and would be happy to sell both as they both are excellent and reasonably-priced.
I used to buy the ADAM wines from Tatiana Maria that worked for Billington Imports. Thinking way back I think that Bob Rice might have been the one to bring ADAM to the Washington D.C. metropolitan market years ago? Am I correct? I can't remember now. That's okay. It is fun to look back at the history of these wines.
Since then Tatiana Maria has left Billington Imports and and Billington Imports has been sold to Winebow Imports. So many changes : it's hard to keep up with it all and yet that also provides some changes and excitement that may be positive, too. It's never all just good : there's always some sadness and regret and perhaps remorse? I think so : it's all wrapped up in life as things inevitably change.
I have already downloaded two blogs about Jean and Laure Baptiste Adam at both : chatart.blogspot.com as well as chatpoetry.blogspot.com. If you are interested please check both out as well.
In the picture above Frenchman Greg Schladenhauffen is pouring some of the Jean-Baptise ADAM wines for us. I forgot to mention that Mark Congdon asked if the new wine-buyer/sommelier for the " new " restaurant/ wine-bar in the old Aroma location a couple of store fronts down from us could come and taste with us? I said : " sure " as I wanted to meet him and welcome him to our neighborhood. Everyone that knew him in the wine business was already saying good things about Brian Cook and so I wanted to finally put a face to a name that I had been hearing spoken for the last two-three weeks.
Brian's a nice guy and you will see many pictures of him hear as he tasted and wrote his notes on each and everyone of these wines that we tasted this Tuesday. I wish that I had been doing some note-taking as my impressions now are a bit sketchy but I think that I will be able to pull it all together as I continue writing here. The pictures that I have taken will help to bring a lot back to me.
As I said being an artist I take lots of artistic license as I snap away at my Canon digital camera taking many pictures with a whole lot of faith that some will be really good and others part of the experiment and the road or path that I have embarked upon as if sometimes with my eyes closed and working from memory and instinct ; and sometimes with my eyes wide open.
I love these minimalist and stark and shadow and few shapes and few color images that I get like the one above. I include it almost as much as to provide some ambiance and shading and texture and form for this special moment that we all spent together this Tuesday at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. I've captured a bit of our shared histories here and the photos all speak volumes, sometimes in low and almost inaudible tones as well as sometimes loud and startling/in-your-face, up-close tones.
It's now Tuesday evening here at home at 11:44 PM in northern Virginia and I am going to stop writing and get some sleep now. I will resume and complete this sometime this week and post it shortly as it is way-overdue and I still smart from not having already posted it. I got caught-up in posting some of the pictures and blogs on my evening two nights later at the Ronald Reagan International Center at the Wine Spectator's GRAND TOUR wine-tasting from 7-10 PM.
I have much more to say about these excellent organic wines of ADAM. I like what I taste. I like finding matches for them with what I eat as there are so many flavors and styles here with lots of whites from dry to quite fruity and still with mineral and citrus extractions and accents to elegant and rich-flavored, good-concentration sparkling wines to red Pinot Noirs that are becoming more full and with more ripe fruit to thicken them up and give them more pleasing mouth-feel even though at this stage they are certainly still best when paired with food.
I like these organic Alsace wines of Jean-Baptiste and Laure very much and will write more as time permits. I also have lots to comment still on all these artsy photos I have taken which I hope you enjoy and that they make you want to go in search of one of these excellent ADAM organic wines. Come see us in Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits.
Come see us soon and stay-tuned for more and enjoy this first installment here. Cheers. It's Friday morning here at home at 9:12 AM on May 22nd, 2010. It's a beautiful day so far and I plan on enjoying it. TONY
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