We will all miss Dan Callahan and his big smile and his warming yet booming blast of a voice that would greet each and every one of us as our various paths might cross. In my case with Dan Callahan that I have known now for the past five-six years he would make it a point to come and see me and Ravinder Sharma at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008, Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) because he wanted to sell Ravi the 42 Below New Zealand grain vodka ( that comes in flavors as well as in the neutral grain version ) and me the " Z " Sauvignon Blanc and the " Z " dry Merlot red ( also from New Zealand ). We have sold all of Dan's products in our store over the last five or so years. I am out of all the " Z " wines now and have been for quite some time.
We have worked together fairly well and I have always liked being around him as he projects the air of being a kind and caring person. According to his good friend Ty he would give everything away. He was too generous and I suppose I am to imply by this that he was less of a good business man? All I know is that he was so genuinely nice and positive when around me that I wanted to buy whatever I could from him.
I could only buy so much but I am glad that I did. I do not have any of either the " Z " New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or the " Z " New Zealand Merlot in the store now. They both sold for about $11 a bottle and had a fun and creative label. I liked the Sauvignon Blanc better than I did the Merlot : both were dry and more food-oriented than not. The Merlot especially needed to be paired with a meal.
I wonder if there is still available from our local distributor to buy? I will ask our local rep Jean Gagliolo to see if he has any left in his warehouse as I would like to do this and buy some more. It would give some closure for me to all of this as I did not even know that Dan was sick much less that he had passed away. If it were not for Ty coming to the store and sharing this information with me I would have never known.
Ty was at the funeral as he was very close to Dan and they had done many things together over the years. I know that Ty is really sad about all of this. I think that he said that he was a casket-bearer at the funeral? Did I hear you correctly Ty?
I must have some pictures of Dan and I will look for them and then post them here on this blog. I hope that I have some : that I had the foresight to take some at the times that Dan came to call on Ravi and me and make his sales pitches which were always really low-key and always very enjoyable with no real pressure on us to buy though he was quite adept at stating his point and making his case.
I got to have my first real impression of Dan and his wife the night of one of the Children's Hospital fund-raisers where we had both made substantial contributions to the event and to raising money to support their various causes. It's been several years since then. Mike of SAVANNAH CHANELLE winery ( the old ) was there, too with his wife. Mike had also donated a lot of wine to be poured at this auction dinner. We all sat at the same table together and that was quite a nice treat for me.
At this event Dan had donated several cases of French red and white Bordeaux dry wines to be poured at the meal as well. Both the food and the wine really paired well together. My only complaint ( and I walked over to ... and told her so : she said that she was working off of a script that was given to her to read ) was that so much fuss was made over the chef that was trotted out and lauded and none was given to either Dan or to Mike that were sitting right there in the room already. What gives?!?! We can afford to gush effusively over the chef and not over the wine-owner or the suppliers of wines that are being poured at these events? Not good, no, not at all.
I guess that I became persona non-Grata once that I publicly voiced my opinions. Anyway, it was loud and hard to hear and yet this is when I got my first real sense of the bigness of heart of Dan Callahan. His spirits crossed our large round table even with all the noise in this large hotel room. I do have an old brochure of the event and if I can find it I will include the name of the French red and white Bordeaux wines that were poured on this evening.
The Children's Hospital Gala/Wine Auction ( Live & Silent ) was a grand success and I was thrilled to be a part of it as it did raise money for children that need it desperately. This is the goal and for this goal having been achieved I am in complete satisfaction. However, having said this I had serious reservations about how it was handled. I believe from what I heard that both Dan and Mike also had concerns over this. Oh well, it did bring Dan and Mike and me all to the same table and I am happy to know both of them and to have done good business with the both of them. I think that this one single event cemented our business bond/friendship. That's how it often works and it is hard to break that chord afterward. It's like both Dan and Mike are now what I refer to as the larger Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits' family. As long as I run the wine department there I will always lend an attentive ear to either of them when they walk through our front door. That's a good thing, too. I like this personal approach and I assure you that I sleep well at night partly because of it.
Anyway, this is about Dan and all that he did for the liquor and wine business while alive. Ty tells me that Dan recently had some rum venture in the works, too and that it sounded like it was well along the way. What will happen to that now?
I will proof and post this shortly. I will probably add to it, too as things occur to me later. I do want to get it out really soon though so that there is something in print. Please add any comments to the comment section at the end of this blog as there may be many people wanting to know more about all of this. I know that many people knew Dan and I am sure that many of them have their own personal and fun stories to share about him and their times together? Go on : share, share and share some more! Cheers, TONY
It's now Thursday morning here at home in northern Virginia at 9:06 AM on July 8th, 2010 and I have proofed and added to this and probably still will. However, I will post it now as I think it is important to get out there for others to read and to discover this sad news that Dan Callahan is no longer physically here with us though for many his memory is strong and warming just like he was when there by us. Cheers Dan, I drink a glass to you. TONY
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1 comment:
I was shocked and saddened to learn of Dan's passing via this blog. I worked with Dan while importing 42 Below. Dan was a broker for us covering several states. He was always upbeat and determined to succeed in life.
His family was the most important thing in his life.
Dan somewhat reminded me of the character from the movie Big Fish. His stories (like his shark bite) were bigger than life and they were all true. He will be dearly missed.
Charlie Malek
VintageView Wine Storage Systems
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