I used to work with Brennan Downey's father Michael Downey back at the Mayflower Wines & Spirits back in the mid to early 80's when I got hired by Michael to come work there and sell the California wines. Funny, I had spent the 70's in France because my father was a career Foreign Service diplomat in Paris, France serving first as the Vice-Consul for Visas then Passports and then Passports again. Funny that I should spend ten years learning about how fabulous French wines were and still are today to return to the Unites States to be in charge of selling the up-and-coming wines of mostly California.
Remember, the Steven Spurrier blind wine-tasting of French wines against those of California had happened back in 1976 and that California the real boost that it needed to propel many of it's wines into the world's attention.
Anyway, I have recently gotten to know Brennan a bit better, He was just a child passionate about collecting comic books back when I worked with Michael Downey and I saw him infrequently when he would come to the Mayflower Wines & Spirits. I would also see his sister Shannon seldomly back then as she, too was very young. They would both come with their mother Peggy Downey.
I reunited with them at Michael's wake unfortunately. I was most curious to see Shannon as I knew that she had studied French and I wanted to speak some French with her and see what had become of her. Through Michael that used to call on me at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits where I still am the wine-buyer now after ten years I was able to keep up with the general news of Peggy ( his wife ) , Brennan and Shannon. I knew that all three of them were helping their father at what was then called the Michael Downey Imports ( it's since been changed to Downey Imports ).
And just like Michael would bring me samples to try so does his son Brennan now. I have gotten to know Brennan better in the last two years I would say. We have worked really well in this time period together and that pleases me as it has been more his doing than mine. Thanks Brennan for keeping up the faith and the efforts it takes to sell consistently to me 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). It takes work and persistence and keeping notes of what I like and working around what we need at any given time at the store as well as bringing me wine-makers and wine owners whenever possible as it is that that inspires me and not points and scores that the wines may or may not receive.
The difference between Michael's earlier visits and those of Brennan now are interesting to note here by the way. I do this as a way of preserving a bit of our local wine lore and history in Washington D.C. So much of what I will write now will already be well-known by many of those that knew and did business with Michael at one time or another. I know this. I also know that very little gets written down and that people's memories fade and that eventually stories, anecdotes and fun details like these get lost perhaps forever. So Brennan, this is for you to help bring a bit of your father back to you as you work very hard just like he did to sell these excellent small-batch/hand-selected Italian wines of his and now of yours and your family's.
I don't know what kind of car you drive Brennan? I don't know that I have ever seen it or you in it? I do know what your father drove : Checkers of all shapes/ages and colors. I remember the Mary Kay pink-colored one perhaps the best!
Michael made many visits and many deliveries in these various Checkers that he would drive in the District. They were hard not to notice : bright, flashy in an old-fashioned/classy way and aging just like the driver himself : both a bit bigger than life itself. Micheal did have one feature that he did not share with his Checkers : his big handlebar mustache!
So, unlike you Brennan your father drove a Checker and so now I will have to go see what it is that you drive won't I to complete this blog entry? You bet I will, too.
The second thing that was different about your presentation and that of your dad's was what you carried around to show me the many wines. Your father had a metal and wicker basket that held six bottles in it. It was not sealed or easy to keep cold as there was no place for ice packs, etcetera. Everything was exposed and out-in-the-open.
You carry a citadel of a shiny/bigger/on-wheels/covered in shiny fabric/big as a twelve-bottle-wine case contraption that is modern and efficient but that is however, devoid almost completely of any charm, history or distinction. It works beautifully and of course I sample so many more wines with you than I ever did with your father.
I like that : it gives me more choices than with your dad. It's always nice to sample as much as I am able to because I learn and experience more and record more. I wish that I had done some of all of this with your father : taking pictures of both him as well as of the bottles that he would bring me to taste. I would love to have them now to look at and remember a bit more as there were so many times that our paths crossed after we both left Mayflower Wines & Spirits where we worked side-by-side for three or so years.
Another difference is that I mostly sampled Italian wines with your father ( Max DiLenardo's " Ronco Nole ", GAMBA DI PERNICE indigenous Piemontese dry red, RUCHE indigenous dry Piemontese red, a Tuscan red that used to have Nebbiolo and Barbera in it and since Michael's time those vines have been uprooted from the Tuscan vineyard much to my horror and dismay! ) ; and on this visit you have the HAWLEY 2008 Zinfandel and what I believe is a French red pictured here as well?!? Help me out Brennan : the picture is fuzzy and I have to include it's name later.
Another difference that I love is that you always have a sheet of the wines that you are tasting with you. Besides having the sheet with the names it also includes a paragraph description of them and to that I say : Bravo! I will have to find the one from this tasting. I believe I have it here at home with me somewhere in a pile so I will check for it again soon just before placing/posting this blog as I would like to include the names of more of the wines that you sampled me here on this visit.
I will write more about this HAWLEY 2008 CA. Zinfandel once that I find my notes so stay-tuned for that.
Sometimes I am more diligent than others at taking and downloading the pictures of the wines that I have tasted. I may have more pictures waiting to be downloaded? I will check that, too. In the meantime I will post these as is and add later of I am able. I am crunched for time as I see so many interesting wines these days.
It's much more complicated and competitive than it was when Michael was bringing me wines to taste and possibly buy.
Another difference of course is that I knew Michael already really well when he would come and taste with me. You have had to get to that point and to your credit you have worked hard to do this Brennan and not get defeated knowing already that your father and I already had so much history together. You have risen to the challenge and as you represent really good wines starting with Italian wines it is hard for me to come up with reasons ( if not nearly impossible ) of why not to buy wines from you as I did from your father because we had so much history between the two of us.
We are forging together a business relationship just like the one I had with Michael your father and I like that. Just this past week ( it's now Sunday, July 26th, 2010 here at 10:09 PM as I get ready to finish and proof and post this blog here in northern Virginia where I live ) you mentioned how I had known you since you were a young child and that you felt a connection because of this. I am glad to carry on with you as I and so many others are so sorry for your loss and your father's untimely passing.
You are keeping the flame alive for me and I do appreciate that. I love history and that period that I shared with Michael was both colorful , animated and for the most part exciting and fresh and less-scripted ( more about the love of wine and not so much about units and boxes and having to move them and increase business always with each year ). You also mentioned Shannon's husband Guillaume as doing such a great job managing your warehouse and not having to worry about that part of the business.
You quickly added that when you did go to the warehouse and actually saw all the wines there that it inspired you all over again to get out there and sell them with passion and enthusiasm. I miss Guillaume's earlier visits when it was he that would deliver our orders here to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. We would speak in both French and English a mile-a-minute and boy way it fun and cathartic for me. I loved it. Thanks/merci Guillaume pour ca : ca m'a plu beaucoup - tes bvisites chez notre magasin du vin ici a Cleveland Park a Washington D.C. N.W.
Thanks Brennan, see you soon. Thanks for this past weekend's in-store/wine tasting of wines of Uruguay and of Italy. Cheers, caio e a presto. TONY
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