New Monument Wines, ERRAZURIZ Chilean Wines & More W/ Jennifer Maximuck & Philippe Newlin Of Vintus Imports July 15th, 2010

This was another fun treat for me to meet again Philippe Newlin the rep for Vintus Selections that represents a series of wines here in the United Sates. Here on this visit with Jennifer Maximuck of Monument Imports he was tasting me on a series of wines from around the world : 1) ERRAZURIZ Chilean reds and whites, 2) MITOLO Australian reds whites and rose with the name " Jester " as one of them, 3) the TEMLO RODRIGUEZ " Basa " Spanish white, 4) the LZ Spanish red Rioja, 5) and the DELTA New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, I believe. This all happened on July 15th, 2010 the day after France's " Bastille Day " and so I am sure I was still all jazzed-up about that when both Jennifer and Philippe came marching in.

I was in rare form I know and very much playing the roll on this afternoon of the " devil's advocate " and trying to see what I could unearth and bring forth as pure and honest responses from Philippe. He played along well with me and never lost his composure and volleyed the balls right back into my court as if we were playing a heated game of tennis. That was good Philippe : bravo!




I have already started this blog earlier on in a separate one and that will be posted pretty much immediately after I post this one. I started from my last pictures in the " other " chatwine blog and worked my way up through the more recent pictures taken on this July 15th, 2010.




I stumbled upon these pictures of both Jennifer and of Philippe and especially liked the ones of Jennifer that I took through the glass wine bottles of ERRAZURIZ and LZ. I started to copy these to this draft form of the blog and it was only over this weekend that I realized that I had not posted either of these blogs yet.




I sure am behind the times at that was back in mid July and now it is Monday, September 13th, 2010 here at home on my day-off in northern Virginia before I head to bed at 11:01 PM. How time flies! Sorry Jennifer and Philippe. I will get both these blogs posted this week as they are both way overdue, really they are.




I love this picture of Jennifer Maximuck above seeming to be hiding behind bottle, Reidel glass and red wine of ERRAZURIZ Chilean wine. She's known me just enough by now to know to try and play along with me and she has done it pretty well here.

She was just at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) where I have now managed the wine department for more than ten years two afternoons agao ( Saturday, September 11th, 2010 from 3-7 PM ) tasting the " other " wines in her portfolio like CAMBRIA and FREEMARK ABBEY Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays ( as well as the California reds and whites of FARRIER ). It was a successful tasting really Philippe. I had thought it was going to be a tasting of ERRAZURIZ and I had even written that on our Facebook page at : clevelandparkwine.com : and so it will have to wait till one of Jennifer's next in-store wine-tastings coming up Philippe.




Being an artist I notice things like this : but notice in the picture above how both thumbs are almost touching?




I like including quick pictures like the one above : out-of-focus, a bit of a blur, and yet it does add to these other pictures that I have taken and posted here with my Canon Power Shot SD790 IS Digital Elph which I consider pretty much indispensable to me these days : almost as if it were an internal organ attached permanently to me. I love it : I love the roads that together we travel down. I like those pictures in focus and I like those out : together they tell a more complete story for me of any particular time and place, mood and setting.




Above both Jennifer and Philippe talk as they wait for me. I am probably helping a customer at the register and just returning to taste with them some more. I had just a quick milli-second to snap this without them being aware of it to capture both the place and the setting of this rendezvous of ours in Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits.




Look at the color above of this incredible LZ Spanish Rioja : it's lovely, so tranquil, so peaceful to me here after all this time. It's really amazing what a camera can and does capture with our help : team work at it's best. Like having an animal, working together and not having the camera talk back at me, just do what I point and click at : and then seeing where the chips did fall ...




Here's Jennifer again above in the picture with a broad smile on her face and looking simply grand! You really do look fabulous Jennifer, really you do. Here I have captured it and all but bottled it : at least I have saved it for later to enjoy on a rainy day or a day that I need to claim as a " rain-check " day ... thanks for the smile, thanks for the wine and the moment with Philippe.

We will have to see when you come next what we are out of and what we need. I know that we sold lots of your wines this past Saturday in the store and for that I/ we do thank you. I will also have posted your blog with Elyse of the time that you two two came together tasting a series of the FREEMARK ABBEY CA. wines as well as at least one or two from CAMBRIA. Cheers, TONY

P.S. : I liked many of the wines that I tasted with both Philippe and with Jennifer and I will include more info shortly once that I get to the store as I am now home here in northern Virginia. I really did like the wild-yeast fermented ERRAZURIZ Chilean Chardonnay. That impressed me a whole lot as it does every time that I try it. The MITOLO " Jester " wines from Australia are always impressive, too and the " Basa " dry Spanish white always makes me stop to see what I am tasting as it is always quite distinct and tasty.

I have blogged already here at chatwine on the Basa and the MITOLO wines as well as on the ERRAZURIZ wines I believe. The DELTA New Zealand wines as well as the LZ Rioja Spanish red are new to me. Cheers and stay-tuned for more updates.