It was fun to meet German Jan Kux for the very first time this past July 10th, 2010 with Cristina. She brought Jan by to taste the two organic Austrian dry white Gruner Veltliners of Austria's BIOHOF RATSCH estate. I had never seen them or tasted them before an I was thrilled to discover from the very start that I would be tasting these two organic dry Austrian whites made from the indigenous and now very famous Gruner Veltliner grape that has been popular now in Washington D.C. for at least ten to fifteen years now.
That makes e wonder exactly when the Gruner Veltliner first came to Washington D.C.? Which was the first to arrive and create a stir? There are many and in many styles as well as many price ranges. And now the liter phenomenon is sweeping through Austria as many producers wonder/question whether they should be bottling some for export? According to Daniel Hubbard this has created quite a bit of controversy among the growers and the producers as they evaluate what this will mean for both the quality and the Austrian wine business in general? Am I supposed to infer from this that they are worried about what the liter sales will d for the rest of the Gruners being produced and sold on the various markets that represent more the true distinct style that the Gruner Veltliner embodies and why it has stood out from the other indigenous grape varieties that are also sold in similar prices? This is what Daniel believes : that the liter bottling of the Gruner Veltliners will be just like any other dry white similarly riced and not distinct enough to accurately separate it from the others and showcase the true character and personality and charm ans style of the Gruner Veltliner?
I mentioned this all to Jan who has also made wine in the pas : I believe he said in Germany. He did not seem to have heard as much about this when we spoke here at Cleveland Park Wines Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@cleveladparkwine.cm www.clevelandparkwne.cm ) .
I liked both of these two organic BIOHOF PRATSCH Austrian dry white Gruner Veltliners very much and have already arranged for Cristina to come to the store to taste them soon. I think that we will taste both of them ( including the dry red Zweigelt indigenous wine of Austria ) in mid August if I am correct? I will check my calendar at the store when I am back there. It is now Sunday June 27th, 2010 here at home at 11:33 AM in northern Virginia on what promises to become a very hot and humid day. If you are interested in coming to the wine-tasting please call us at 202-3634265 and ask for more information or go to our web page at : www.clevelandparkwine.com.
The nice thing about this visit from Cristina with Jan Kux was that it was followed recently by her visit to us with Barbara Rendquist of DR. THANISCH Mosel wines including her delightful " Classic " Riesling. I tasted three with Barbara and Cristina and so we will combine these with those o Jan and do our in-store/wine-tasting featuring excellent quality from both Germany and Austria.
We hit it off quickly : Jan and me. He likes music from the 60's and early 70's ad we were bouncing comments and references back and forth that included Jimmy Hendrix, J.J Cale and Abba. Cristina added Abba and mentioned a song called something like : " A Man After Midnight? " I had never heard of it and mentioned that the only song I like of theirs is called " Thank You For The Music ". I also told Jan that I did not really know the music of J.J. Cale ...
Being an artist I like to take these artsy photos like the ones here and I hope you like them. I am looking to add some new perspectives and arrangements and visual references to what already exists out there. My blogs are more about " the moment " and the connections that tie all the wines together with their owners, winemakers and those hat both sell and that later consume/enjoy them with a meal and family, friends and others.
For more information on the BIOHOF PRATSCH go to : jan.kux@t-online.de and Jan will direct you to more technical reviews and descriptions.
In the meantime let these pictures help to entice you to come in search of these BIOHOF PRATSCH Gruners.
Jan speaks a lot with his hand and I enjoyed capturing this in these pictures. That, and his beaming, fills-the-frame-space-with -his-broad-smile-immediately - nice.
Here are some of the things that Jan wrote in our guest book :
" To the man after midnight " ABBA
" After midnight we're going to let it all hang out " J.J. Cale
" Burning of the midnight lamp " J. Hendrix
Gute Noelit , J. Kux
What about any comments of the wines Jan? You need to answer this blog and add comments about Austria, the region that they are made and more info about their organic nature. That would be nice Jan - don't forget to do this as it will add more to these pictures and our moment shared together , the three of us.
I can just imagine what you were here saying to yourself Cristina : " Oh oh, here it comes, Tony is going to start taking lots of pictures of us/ me again and ... " I don't want to finish this as I am not sure how it does finish.
How does it finish Cristina? You are probably composing yourself for this and the next thirty or so minutes that we three spend together in each other's company.
I like to play the " devil's advocate " and throw comments out there t see what responses the will encourage/elicit? Often the responses are immediate and raw and I love all of this. It was almost impossible to rattle Jan and he always had a smile and a come-back that reassured and settled and smoothed-over any feathers that I might have tried to ruffle?
Great thumb Jan : s expressive don't you think?!? Can't quite put my thumb on it, however ... it's up though and that right there is good ...
As I made bold and serendipitous and unexpected comments it was fun to see the different reactions that I got from both Jan and Cristina. With Jan it was like playing ping pong : he would just lob the ball back into my side of the table. With Cristina she had a lovely blush of the cheeks and a demurring : as if my comments would hit home just a dash more - a spoonful extra.
Anyway, it's all about for me " drawing-out the moment " a bit more and adding more flavor, color and accent ; more highs and lows to the moment where hopefully more is revealed about the wines and the players involved, present and not.
I view these precious moments shared as perhaps the only ones that I will have with those gathered together here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits around me now. I want to live them to their fullest and to maximize the spectacle and the personality and the connection between us at this time. It may be our only one just like this and why not have more to remember and recollect and muse/amuse over later? It's fun to smile and to beam and to grimace and to groan/roar and guffaw and cry/shout over alone or later if our paths ever cross again.
It's all meant in good clean/dirty-touch raunchy fun : never meant to truly offend or insult anyone. I just want to draw people closer any way that I can and I know that sometimes I succeed more than others. That comes from the territory and the style that I adopt each and every time and so I have to accept my consequences ...
As I said I really enjoyed meeting you Jan and I hope that you return and come to our store here in our nation's capitol to do an in-store/wine-tasting sometime in the near future? Spend an hour or two with our customers on your next visit at the end of the day after you have already visited other stores and restaurants? That would be really nice.
I like this smile of your Cristina. I think it always catches you off guard as it does many when I take so many pictures. These are but just a few of the ones that I took, too. I think it catches everyone off guard as I do not believe that many other wine-enablers and merchants do this? Too bad that they do not : more pictures should be taken and made available for all of us to see and to enjoy of the people and the colors, the clarity and the hues of the wines - their smiles, glints and glimmers of their eyes, the turn of their lips, all fun when tasting the wine itself to take note of all that is there right around you as you do both in the flavors in your mouth and also the visual flavors that your immediate environment offers up at this exact particular moment in time ...
I also love capturing the wine labels as seen through the wine in the Austrian Reidel glass stemware that I sample the wines in. It's the wine inside these dark bottles that the darkness of the glass shields and protects them. Here we can finally see the lovely tints and hues, the clarity or the darkness depending on the grape or the style that it was made in.
What were we speaking of just now to get these great smiles on both your faces Jan and Cristina in these two photos above?
I also love that I take pictures of the actual wine labels to later recall exactly what it was that I tasted and sampled as I often write these blogs weeks after the events. That's not good and I apologize for that as I cannot as easily recollect everything that transpired. That may be best as it's good that some of it really remains " entre nous et pas tous le monde, n'est ce pas vrai Cristina et Jan? " I would put this in German but I do not know that language. Sorry Jan ... maybe after midnight it will all miraculously come to me, any German that I may have gleaned over my life span? Maybe " apres minuit " we will the three of us drink some of these BIOHOF PRATSCH organic Austrian reds and whites and you will teach both Cristina and me some German and we will learn it easily then?
We are all actors so-t0-speak on the world's stage and this was our particular stage at this moment. I just was bold and brash enough to demand more of the actors here gathered around me. I expected and encouraged more from our performances as if this might be our very last performance here together.
I think people come preferring to be spectators/observers more and less active participants. That just won't do here at Cleveland Park Wines Spirits where we are expected always to give the performances f our lives. I want to have the " rush " and all the highs and lows of the moment!
We had them here today. It was grand, it was fun, it was constructive and in July we will have these wines from Jan at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits for you all to come and buy and taste in the comfort of your home later.
You will also be able to come and meet Cristina and taste these wines ( as well as those of DR. THANISCH Mosel Rieslings ) in mid August sometime on either a Friday or a Saturday afternoon.
We all have thus accomplished what we set off to do : have a grand, glorious moment together and within that plant the seeds to have something equally glorious and grand result from it. Wow, what a fun moment this afternoon, later sleeping on it after midnight and rising the next morning refreshed and filled with purpose and resolve and many good moments and ready to act upon them and build something more than just fleeting ...
Boys will be boys, girls will be girls .. We meet, we interact, we bring and take different things away from the table each and every time. It's still a man's world in business in many ways but thank goodness that there are women in it. I think that I would die otherwise as they bring their own beauty into my world each and every time and I live for that as much as I live for the wine. One without the other would be unimaginable for me
Being both an artist and a poet I have taken a whole lot of artistic liberties writing this blog and I hope you both forgive me for this an also appreciate some of it. It is a blog and do call it chatwine and so here I have chatted a whole lot in an informal way trying to draw together/piece together the various payers into a functioning whole at least for this particular moment in time.
It's not your regular blog on wine : it's mine : all mine - an Anthony Quinn spin on wine and life and art ( men and women ) and moments in time lived fully/freshly/finely/friendly,too.
Cheers Jan and Cristina and hope to see you both soon. TONY
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