Jerome D. Smith, CSW, CS / Partner/ Director of Sales visits Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com on Facebook at : clevelandparkwine& spirits ) in October of 2010. He had with him the BABICH wines of New Zealand to taste along with the Chilean wines of ARMADOR. He also represents the wines of BODEGA Del DESIERTO, MOLTOL , ODFJELL Vineyards and of BODEGAS DIEZ LLORENTE.
Jerome and I had quite the in-depth conversation with one thing leading into another. It was stimulating and fun. This is what he wrote in our guest book after our tasting and I will explain it after I write his comments :
" October 2010 Hey guys - Great to meet you two at Cleveland Park Liquors - new home of " Sex " from Suttons Bay, Michigan and Larry Mawby. Man ( and woman ) does not live on sex alone. Sometimes he ( and she ) needs some Sauvignon Blanc and Carmenere! " Cheers, signed Jerome Smith He finishes by saying that " Odfjen's winemaker is a great Bordelais guy named Arnaud Heneu ". I think that's what you wrote Jerome, but I am having trouble reading your beautiful hand-writing here.
Jerome, I should have finished this and posted this months ago! Sorry! Here it is now already Sunday, January 9th, 2011 here at home in northern Virginia at 5:14AM and it's really gray and cold and breezy outside now as the sun sets behind the thick blanket of clouds up above.
I have just got my chicken thighs all marinated and soaking and slathered and spiced and they are still a bit solid with the frost of our freezer just hours ago and that needs to go away before I fire-up our grill outside on our deck out back. It will unfortunately be in the dark when the dancing flames flame upwards and hit the under or oversides , depending , of the chicken thighs at that point and I may have to resort to a flashlight to see what I have cooked and where exactly as I go along with this basic, primitive grilling process that is so primal and which I relish so much as a guy getting out there in the elements in all their stark-bark-brrrrr-ness!!! I like it, what can I say ?!? And I think that some of these wines might taste quite nice with this meal - even the BABICH Pinot Noir from New Zealand would be nice even though it would be a bit light perhaps for the cold of outside it should match nicely the flavors of these chicken thighs and the warmth inside.
I learned something from you Jerome about the BABICH Kiwi Pinot Noir : I really did now know anything about it before I tasted it with you and Al that works for DOPS Imports and was smart and nice enough to bring you by to meet Chris Barker and me. That was a good move because Les Sunderland never does any of this and so for me in my humble opinion is not as good a salesperson as Al is even though Al might be so many years older. Thanks Al, that was nice of you to think of us and to bring Jerome by and introduce him to us.
I really did hit it off well with you Jerome. There was a whole lot of sparring back and forth between the two of us : mostly by me as I would often challenge you Jerome. I loved all of your European background and understanding of those wines and the market here in the United States to sell them . That really caught my attention and I was curious to know more of what you knew and have gleaned over the years and I wanted you to share it with me then and there!
I love these pictures I took of you with the Canon Power Shot camera pointed up at you and your gesturing hands Jerome : I think I got some revealing shots of both them and your face, Jerome.
Funny, I did not really like your series of ARMADOR wines and I told you as much and you really were taken back and put on the defensive and you had to try the wines to be sure that they were tasting as they should. I am sorry for having put you into this uncomfortable situation of having to defend these wines but for me they were not very interesting at all : as a matter of fact it's funny how well I remember and recollect all of this now so many months later : but they actually did nothing for me. As a matter of fact they were both for me bland and a bit too-overworked and manipulated by man and machine and for me as a result to my tastes they failed. However, having said this I am able now to see that these types of wines that my palate rejects are still quite well respected and appreciated by a large part of the modern palate that tastes, drinks and orders/wants more of them. It pains me , this : however, I find it as my job description to further educate the drinkers out there of their choices and that wines can also be so much more than that and may, with time, as they taste a wider range of wine styles appeal to them with time as well as this " new " style that I find too manipulated by both man, machine and chemical.
Can I defend myself exactly here? Am I a wine-maker? Have I spent time in a winery and a lab and a vineyard and a chais, cellar, underground grotto were wines are stored? No, but does that mean that I am completely wrong in my analysis? I don't think so : I do have almost thirty-five years of tasting experiences strapped under and over and around my tongue and palate.
I don't want to get into a wrestling match here. I don't want to have to be only negative about these wines from ARMADOR. They are only one now of many that I have tried in South America in both Argentina and in Chile where I have this same general reaction of thinking that I am drinking wines that taste more of wet cardboard and alcohol and astringency and columns of solid tastes that I can't penetrate with my tongue and palate and this bothers me enormously.
It sounds funny but being an artist I see things in images and words and it's like I want to get inside the wines that I try and get my whole body inside them and move around and stretch my tongue out, hold my breath, move my tongue between my lips and my teeth and shake my head and swallow in steps always keeping some in my mouth for the reaction that I will want to revisit as as I swallow I experience some more highs and some lows and not just the safe middles. It's all so organic and visceral for me and I revel in this ultimate experience when the wine allows it and does not cut me off or sell me short.
So much wine today is selling the many of us short.
Funny, the wines of BABICH were tasted to us as a second-thought I think I recollect by you and Al , Jerome and yet I think that they impressed me more than the ARMADOR wines. Oh well, so be it : maybe next time I will amend this opinion and like them better. I don't think so but I always allow for that possibility and eventuality. I am not closed-minded about wines : in fact I love them and very inspired by them all of the time. I am still inspired by them even now after thirty-five years or more of being so wonderfully exposed to so many of them - mostly here in Washington D.C. and northern Virginia as well as in France, Austria, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Mexico and Australia where I have vacationed and also visited many of the vineyards themselves over all these years.
Anyway Jerome I look forward to trying these wines again with you on your next visit. Come again anytime. It was great to meet you and I feel that I really did connect with you.
I loved all of your conversation about your home state of Michigan and the sparkling wines " Sex " . " Wet " and the " Lawrence " one, too that we sold and still sell at Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits. I love those three sparkling wines and it was great to hear you speak about Larry the owner that makes them. I have a case of each now on the floor by where we tasted open and priced and ready for sale right there were we tasted your wines Jerome. Thanks for sharing all that info with us Jerome.
There's Al pictured above that does such an excellent job for DOPS distributors. Again in my humble opinion they should reward and promote him as he really is on the ball and knows how to take care of all those wine-makers and wine owners that visit Washington D.C.
Al, you always bring us all the wine-makers and wine owners when they visit even though this is not his store Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com, also on Twitter and Facebook now at : cleveland park wines & spirits, too ) and he does not get any commission for doing this when we order the wines. He knows that we will take good care of his guests and treat them with the time and the respect that they deserve having traveled so far to be here with us in our own capitol Washington D.C.
It's also a great complement to me Al that you bring us all these visiting wine-makers and wine owners : it makes me think that you think that I/ we are doing something right at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. Thanks for your trust and your faith in me/us Al : I notice and appreciate that and am happy to finally have a chance to repay this kindness of yours. You started so long ago doing this even way back when Mike Martin worked with us : you believed in the both of us.
I liked the BABICH Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc this time better than most as I found it has less of that " gooseberry " flavor that I often find too strong and overpowering so that I get less of the natural Sauvignon Blanc character itself. In this case it was more in balance to my palate. I also realize that with age this " gooseberry " component gets stronger and more pervasive in a wine so the lesson may be to drink it younger when there is less of it if , in fact like me and my wife and daughter you do not like it.
So Jerome, it's time to put this blog to rest and to post it as I go outside to face the raw elements and cook my chicken thighs for my wife and my son with a small bite of course for our mixed Terrier breed dog that will undoubtedly be the only one assisting me while I grill in a few minutes.
Cheers to you Jerome and your impressive spirit ...
and to you Al, too and your persistence and steady hand and pace selling and well-representing both the wines as well as their owners and wine-makers, too.
Look at that hand! Impressive Jerome! What were you going on about in this picture above?!?
Look at the color of the red wine above : like a lagoon, steady and quiet on the surface and yet very colorful and flavorful below the surface.
As I said I am an artist and I like to take lots of artsy pictures as I listen and taste and absorb as much as I possibly, humanly can balancing so much and doing it all so willingly and eagerly and with fire and zest and wanting to jump into the fire and the fray all at once without reservation ...
I love the blur above - like light shining through, like light being diffused/infused and flooding and reaching out all around ... with the Reidel wine glass serving as something that contains and holds and also off of which to bounce, dance, stream and alight - ignite ...
Love this picture above Jerome. You were saying ?!? ...
I like to take lots of pictures through my Reidel wine glasses : you never quite know what you will get as you trust / as I trust to Canon Power Shot digital camer and my hand, my brain, my soul and impulses measured and spontaneous - sometimes where I can actually see and other times when I must simply trust to my " aiming and shooting-clicking " each and every image in many thousands of splits of seconds ...
Okay, time to leave you Jerome and Al!
This BABICH Pinot Noir from BABICH sure was a revelation of sorts to me. Bring me some more to taste again. We need to order it again Al.
Look at the color of the Pinot Noir BABICH Kiwi Marlborough dry red caught in the lower stem-bowl of the Reidel glass above : it almost glows with bright cherry-strawberry-cranberry reflected sun-fused lights!
You do have a great way with your hands Jermome. What are you counting : what are you emphasizing above?!?
We were all thrilled when the 33 Chilean miners were rescued and that's when you came to visit Jerome : just around that marvelous date if not in fact on that excat date? I cannot remember just now but I do remember talking about it and the Chilean Ambassador selling the VALDIVIESO brut N.V. Chilean bubbly that was one of the very first ever to get to us here in the Unites States back in the mid eighties so long ago. We sold it then and had it available for purchase during that impressive rescue effort.
We are out now and will order more soon.
Look at the deep color of the red wine above, the reflections on the surface and also the deep shiny green of the wine bottle reflected, too in this picture above.
Thanks again and come again soon. Cheers, TONY
For more info on Jerome Smith and his portfolio go to : 1200 W. Eleventh St. Suite @12 Traverse City, MI 49684 Office : 231-932-9057 , Fax : 231-346-5936 Jerome@selectionfinewine.com and www.selectionfinewine.com. Cheers ... TONY
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