I shed a tear myself now like the one above shed of this D'ARENBERG d'Arry's Shiraz/Grenache bottle above : finally free from it's confinement and now here for everyone to drink up and enjoy. Now that's cause for joy and for crying I'd say!
My tear that I shed is because I do not have a glass of it now to help me bring this day all the way back on April 6th or 7th back to me as I get ready to write this overdue blog on the excellent wines of The Old Bridge Cellars portfolio of Aussie wines.
Max, you talked a lot about the red stripe that runs through the D'ARENBERG Labels : would you care to comment on that in the comment section at the end of this blog? I can't remember now exactly what you said, but I found it interesting at the time.
I should have posted this months ago when the winemaker from D'ARENBERG was here doing his in-store wine-tasting for a brief twenty minutes or so after he did his afternoon wine-tasting in the courtyard/garden grape-trellised fountain area out back of the Firehook Bakery that used to be years ago the AROMA restaurant.
Now the Grateful Australian portfolio is no more ; disbanded or whatever term you want to use : but no longer in business for the last couple of months. How could this happen? How could Amo now be out of a job along with the others? Unbelievably sad, really. The Grateful Palate was such a strong force for so many years. We won't have The Bitch pink bubbly any more at $10.99 a bottle to sell at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. Not that I ever thought that that was a good idea : poor taste and value judgement for a name if you ask me. Oh well, it is a sad day or was in many respects. They sold very popular wines and so this has really caught me off guard. I know that at one point they had a lot of really expensive Aussie wines to sell : but it seemed that they balanced that along with others that were much less expensive. We did some tastings of these this past year with Arielle Monaco of the Country Vintners and they all sold quite well.
But this is about Jody and Max and their visit to taste with us at Cleveland Park Wines a & Spirits all the way back on April 6th or 7th, 2010. Wow, how could I have let this blog entry rest in a " draft " state for so long with only the pictures loaded? Unbelievable, not good.
I have always liked working with Old Bridge Cellars. They have worked well with us here in Cleveland Park and for at least three or four years in the past when business was more solid they would reward many of us retailers and restaurateurs with an incredible boat ride leaving from Annapolis and exploring the bay and waters there. The nice thing, too was that spouses were always invited, too ensuring that they would get some of us to show up as it was usually on Sundays. And as a true bonus to all this besides the excellent food and wines ( and COOPER'S beer available at the tail-end of each boat ride ) was the owners of the wineries themselves.
We got to meet them all : from GIANT STEPS / PENLEY ESTATES / D'ARENBERG / LEEUWIN ESTATES and more. The first time we showed up to one of these the owners/wine-makers all had painted onto their foreheads in colored inks the names of their estates. With Chester's wild white hair of D'ARENBERG he always reminded me of a grizzled and fiery and friendly smiling indian of sorts - where is your bow and arrow/your drums, your tommy hawk ax?!?
They all showed up and moved from table to table to sit with the various guests that were lucky enough to have been invited. They also had their wives or significant others with them on this first time that we attended. Everyone had a great time as a result and Jody Jackman was there, too from Winebow Imports and that made the event even more special for me. I got to see people in the business like Robert McFarlane that I have known and liked for years to Barbara Hurley that used to buy wines from me when I worked for Laurent Selections and she bought the wines for the Sea Catch seafood restaurant in Georgetown back in the late eighties I believe?
Thank you for all of that Jody and everyone at Old Bridge Cellars. This is way-overdue and so I thank you now for these wonderful trips that my wife and I enjoyed with you. I got all the owners to sign my own book and I have cards, comments, signatures and many pictures all in them, too. I will add those comments once back at work as I am now home on Monday, October 4th, 2010 at 8:52 AM on my day-off.
That was then and this is now - April 2010 and I liked the selections that Joday and Max brought us to sample on this day which included the wines of D'ARENBERG, LEEUWIN, PENLEY ESTATES and perhaps even more? It was plenty , it was fun. They were pounding the pavement both Jody and Max. They were doing their jobs. We conducted some really good business on this day and set-up plans to purchase some of all of the wines for the shelves as well as two tastings : one wine-tasting at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and one with the assistant wine-maker for D'ARENBERG in the back courtyard - grape - trellised with a fountain - at the Firehook Bakery just a few store fronts down from our store on Connecticut Avenue N.W.
Both OLD BRIDGE CELLARS wine-tastings went off without a hitch. We did well at both of them and had lovely weather for the one in the grape-trellised courtyard of the Firehook Bakery that we set up with Cheryl the manager and she provided cheeses, pates, cookies, breads, grapes, fruits, nuts, you name it : it was there and so everyone had beautiful weather and ripening grapes just above them on the old-vines growing there right in Washington D.C. on Connecticut Avenue. That's something right there all by itself, really : trust me when I say that. Too bad that they are not grape vines : someone should pick them and make a few bottles of wine anyway, just for the fun and the novelty of it all as there is no wine being made in the District Of Columbia at this point that I know of.
But back to the tasting with Jody and Max : I liked the D'ARENBERG ( Jump Jump, Dead Arm and more ) selections as well as the PENLEY ESTATES' " The Condor " 2006 Coonawarra dry red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.
The PENLEY ESTATES are really my favorite wines I believe all around from the Grateful Palate's selections. I like their constant power, breadth, intensity, focus and balance and yet also when drunk at the right moment for the wine elegance and finesse - even breed, too. They have it all and so they get my vote pretty much each and every time that I drink them.
On this visit we tasted the D'ARENBERG red and white " Jump Jump " wines, a Chardonnay and a Shiraz, the Dead Arm 2006 ( sublimely smooth and elegant and regal ), the d'Arry Shiraz/Grenache 2006 dry red blend, the PENLEY ESTATES " The Condor " 2006 already mentioned, and the LEEUWIN 2008 dry Riesling from the Margaret River in western Australia I believe. There were more, I simply cannot recollect them all now.
As I said we made plans to buy some of them all and they have since come and gone from our shelves and stacks as Jody did a big D'ARENBERG tasting to alert people to our Firehook Bakery with the assistant wine-maker/ manager of D'ARENBERG along with owner Chester and his father.
I think that we still need to buy some LEEUWIN 2008 dry Riesling if I am not mistaken? Do you still have some Jody? We must sit down and compare notes soon about this. Or, Max if you see this blog please contact me and we will discuss this as well.
I looked at these pictures before starting to write this blog. I always do this as it gives me fresh inspiration and makes me recall things that I would otherwise forget to mention. These are all good things.
I was especially pleased with this group of pictures and the sequence in which I have mounted them here. I think the " flow " of them shows a nice movement and brings all the key elements together. I like the colors that I captured, too of the wines.
I also like that I captured the wines as they were being swirled in the glasses. That's good : that's action. I like it all - the smiles and the set-expressions on the faces of concentration , the labels and the tilts and the slants and the pieces and parts of things that I captured in un-traditional manner/ formats - all good, all stimulating.
Look at that deep color of red in the picture above that changes as the light from the ceiling lights above hit it : reflections, the green of the glass bottle on top and the reflection in both the wine's surface as well as off the wood of the tasting table's surface : it glows-radiates/emanates all positive forces, don't you agree?!?
Jody , you always take good notes for me , thanks.
Max as seen through his Aussie red wine above in this particular scene...
Now these are two pretty sights above and below. That's Chris Barker below to the right as he gets ready to taste some of the wines with both Jody and Max.
I saw Max again both at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and at the Firehook Bakery when we did the successful wine-tasting with the assistant wine-maker of D'ARENBERG. He didn't spare any expense to make this a success for us and our customers and for that I thank you again now Max. It was special.
I also ran into Max and tasted with him at the Wine Spectator's Grand-Tasting at the Ronald Reagan Educational Center later and stopped to taste with him. It was brief and a treat to see you again then Max. I have already posted a picture of you from that Wine Spectator event here on my blog Max. Did you see it yet?
I have also already posted the blog of the D'ARENBERG assistant wine-maker tasting at Firehook Bakery and I hope that you have already seen that post.
I love these last pictures here of the PENLEY ESTATES : The Condor " 2006 Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon/ Shiraz dry red blend. It's quite a bold and big taste that I think really needs food and I still find it a bit young. I would like to age most of the PENLEY ESTATES reds and drink them years later. I find that they are very much like really good European wines and made to age and to enjoy later after several years. No need to be in a rush with a good bottle of PENLEY ESTATES.
These are good pictures of you Max : I hope that you like them.
I really like this picture of you above, Max : it's a good one.
Sorry I cut you out of the picture above ( your face that is ) but I am glad to have a picture of the bottles lined up like this for reference. It helps me to remember some of what we tasted here.
We do manage to do business and still have a really good time here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com on Facebook at : clevelandparkwine ) where I have now managed the wine department for ten years and had a blast doing it, too : so many magnificent-grand memories!!
Look at the picture above : of the Dead Arm flowing slowly into the Reidel wine-tasting glass : nice. Why are there two pools in the center around the wine that touch but do not connect in the Reidel wine glass above? Being an artist I notice these kinds of things. Intriguing.
Ahhhh, here in the picture below the glass is filled with the 2006 D'ARENBERG " Dead Arm " : what a beautiful sight. I did enjoy this glass tremendously, sipping it gradually so as not to miss anything over a long period of time I believe ...
Thanks Jody and Max for such a wonderful tasting and such good company. Come again to Cleveland Park here in Washington D.C. anytime : you are both always welcome. Cheers, TONY
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