Truth be told, I responded immediately to this young brunette's dress with the large white circles on a dark background and so she and her dress that inspired the picture in the first place had to be the backdrop for Nicola himself. I never met the young brunette and do not know who she is even now. I think the pictures came out as well as could be expected with my artist's eyes reacting and my right hand fingers snapping quickly in a rapid succession of snaps less than a second apart. Cheers to the lady, her dress, the bottles of wine lined up nicely on the table, the wines themselves and of course Nicola himself. Being an artist I try and bring some of that to these blogs in visual as well as in written stories and vignettes and little snippets and snappets ( not really a word but I like the sound ig gives and the flow nonetheless ) of things remembered to my thinking sometimes miraculously as I start often with a clean slate with seemingly nothing there to draw from? And I have to write something?
What do you think Nicola?
In both pictures here I like how this brunette holds her wineglass and the tasting note sheets of paper, too : not to mention the way her hair drapes so nicely along the dress ( light shining through ), the various colored bracelets so graceful on her wrist and the black leather strap from her purse acting as an anchor of sorts: and her black phone nicely grasped in her right hand just firmly enough. Nice image for me, both of them. I also like how her fingers show through the wine glass with the bit of natural light from the window behind Nicola. A natural moment caught in the instant snap or two or three of my Canon camera though not staged ...
This frames and anchors the players : now to Nicola and his wines that must take their rightful center stage.
Many years ago I believe at the very first Michael Downey portfolio tasting of mainly Italian wines ( some from France, Uruguay and California, too ) I met Nicola the owner of DAL MASO Veneto wines. I believe that I bought a selection then of the more unusual wines to sell in the store along with what became the best-selling wine of his for us at least : the Gambellara Classico DOC dry white C'a Fischele. It took awhile for it to catch on as Mike Martin and I were having fun selling the CASARA ROVERI " Colli Berici " Cabernet ( 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Carmenere in this year's blend ), the Gambellara DOC Recioto Spumante ( made from the Garganega grapes ), a Tocai Rosso light and refreshing summer Beaujolais-style red, and maybe the Chardonnay or the Sauvignon dry whites. I can't remember exactly now except to say that they all sold and that we have reordered many times over since our first order years ago.
Nicola has never done an in-store/wine-tasting at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com, www.clevelandparkwine.com ) but we really hit it off this last Monday, April 26th, 2010 ( 11 AM- 3 PM ) at the Hendry House in North Arlington and perhaps the next time that Nicola visits Washington D.C. he can be persuaded to come to the store to taste an assortment of his wines with our customers? That would be really nice Brennan, as we have over the years sold a fair number of Nicola's wines. We could always sell more, I know : and having him in the store helps us all.
It was great to taste these DAL MASO Veneto wines that we sell so well from Veneto, Italy. Here we have at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits now the ever-popular dry white " Ca Fischele " 2009( $13.49), the " Tai Rosso " Colle Berici ( $13.49) 2009 and the " Montebelvedere " Cabernet Colli Berici ( $21.99).
I simply love this picture above. Look at the glorious red col or of this wine in my tasting glass above. What a brilliant deep red circle of color : like a planet : amazing! Being an artist I pick up on these types of things. Do you like it? Hope so ...
These are but just a very few of the pictures that I took of Nicola pouring and tasting his wines/describing them, too to the various guests on this Monday mid afternoon. I enjoyed tasting through everything that he had open for us all to taste and I probably spent about twenty minutes at Nicola's table. You really can't rush through these tastings : especially when the owners and wine-makers themselves make a point to come and taste their wines and explain them to all of us first-hand.
Nicola was in rare form on this Monday, April 26th, 2010 and from everything that I could see I think he was enjoying the experience and the reaction from his wines immensely. He had many gathered around his table the whole time that I was there and we each had to fight for our small fraction of time and attention of Nicola with all the others as we were all intent on getting the most from this experience with him as possible.
Here in the picture above I reach out to get my next taste from Nicola. Thanks Nicola.
Many restaurateurs were there like Vincenzo the owner of the original and excellent Vincenzo's restaurant just off of Dupont Circle in Washington D.C. N.W. I heard that he was looking for a new restaurant now?
I will be downloading more of these pictures that I took as I have time. In the meantime enjoy these and do call us at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 202-363-4265 ) if you would like to inquire or purchase any of these excellent wines of DAL MASO.
Caio e a presto Nicola, Grazie TONY
For more technical information on DAL MASO go to : Enot. Nicola Dal Maso Azienda Vinicola Dal Maso, Contrada Selva, 62 36054 Montebello (VI) Tel: +39 0444 649104 Fax: +39 0444 440099 Partita I.V.A. 00400380242 info@dalmasovini.com www.dalmasovini.com.
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