My Response To Dave McIntyre's Article In Wash Post : " Toasting A More Local List " , Wed.10/20/2010

My first comment is of course : Congrats to both Maureen McDonnell and to Dave McIntyre. This subject of getting local wines from both Virginia and Maryland onto the shelves of more retailers and onto the lists of more restaurants is key and should be addressed continuously until the situation drastically changes.

It's not easy, changing the public perception that is. I've worked at this for almost thirty years now ever since I started selling the wines of
: Piedmont Vineyards ( owner Bud came as well as Rein Dupont - where are you Rein? I miss your visits of so very long ago at Burka's Fine Wines - I even attended a special tasting and dinner at Piedmont Vineyards with my wife - thanks ),

: Meredith Vineyards ( I must have met the owner at least once, Charlie is it? He must have come by the Mayflower Wines and Spirits at least once? ),

: Oasis Vineyards ( Corinne Salahi came frequently to see me and taste and sell to me her wines at Burka's Fine Wines ) from Virginia,
: Boordy ( owner Rob Duford used to push hard to get his wines sold in Washington D.C. and I/we did our parts at both the Mayflower Wines & Spirits and Burka's Fine Wines - I miss you Rob, come by soon.

I also met Lucie Morton - viticulturalist ( works with the vines and root stocks and fungus and mold and all enemies-friends of the grape vines - read Dave McIntyre's excellent article on Lucie Morton in the Washington Post's last wine article in the Food Section of October 13th, 2010) back at the Mayflower Wines & Spirits back then in the mid eighties as she bought wine from us, and I read recently that she has convinced you to tear up all your old vines and start all over again- BRAVE! Can't wait to see and taste what you have done! We visited your winery once in Hyde and loved it You were there and gave my wife and me a grand tour, remember?!? ) Vineyards from Maryland and

: Allegro Vineyards from Pennsylvania ( Jim and John Crouch , owners sold them to us while I worked at the Mayflower Wines & Spirits back in the mid eighties. Had a great barbecue one weekend with Michael Downey and others at your vineyard out on the banks by the winery on a sunny, beautiful day ).

I should, of course to be fair also mention the Herman Weimer New York State wines that I bought as well as the wine manager back at Burka's Fine Wines. Todd Ruby brought me at one point I believe both Herman Weimer once himself and the wines often to taste and I bought and sold them all well , too.

I bought pretty much the whole portfolio of Crescent Cellars/Collection from Chris Smith back then as well which spread up and down the east coast of the United States and sell fruit wines as well as wines made from the French hybrids as well as the more popular and recognizable grapes. Chris Smith did more back then to help promote the local east coast wines than anyone else, period. I attended one of his tastings in a local hotel in one of their large conference rooms - I still have the poster that you had made Chris in whites, blacks and soft pinks I believe here at home. It was a good tasting and I enjoyed revisiting many of the wines that I already knew and sold at Burka's Fine Wines. You really put yourself out there Chris and for that I will always be eternally grateful because that is what it takes :

Being willing to put your neck out there and having it exposed and bare and with the very real possibility that someone will come along at any minute and chop it off and be done with it for once and for all - now that takes nerve!

Chris, I hope you are fine, I do miss you, I do miss those times of having you taste me on something " new and exciting " from the East Coast. As I said I bought pretty much something from every winery that you represented back then. We should all stop and give you thanks for having helped to create a bridge for all of us with the wines of the east coast, especially those closer to home here in both Virginia and Maryland. Of course who knows when the wines of Delaware, West Virginia and North Carolina will be available to us? Pretty soon I imagine. I have sampled the wines of both North Carolina ( when I go to the Outer Banks ) and of West Virginia when I visit family.

I still have never tried anything from Delaware. Those were the days : they were great, I'm glad that I have them to remember so fondly. However, it was a struggle back then as it still is today to sell local wines. Thanks again Chris and do stop by Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits the next time that you are in Washington D.C.

I apologize here for writing so much about the past but I think that it is both important and relevant to include some mention of it. We did not get here without it.

As I said it's not easy putting one's head out on the chopping block but that is what I feel I do each and every day : period. Go on, chop it off! I am willing to take that risk ; it's well-worth it, believe me.

In all my times selling wines from up and down the east coast ( I forgot to mention the famous apple wines of New Jersey that I bought years ago from Bacchus? Can't recall the name just now? ) there is one thing that I will say : I got very few complaints. Yes, I got some, but " yes " I also got many people to open their eyes and to be willing to try another and then another. No, they did not like every wine that I recommended. That's not possible if one takes chances and risks. It's just part of the game, part of the experiment, part of the thrill and the joy and the serendipitous/momentous -at-times feeling of discovery and adrenalin - the " rush " from having been caught-off-guard-completely. Wow, double, triple, quadruple wow!!! It's all worth it for the result(s). Try it sometime, you may be swept off you feet in a grand and marvelous way.

I read that Maureen McDonnell visited 28 restaurants and eight retailers?

We heard plenty about the restaurants , what were the eight retailers? I'd like to hear more about that in possibly a second-part article from Dave McIntyre on this? Is one coming next week Dave?

I have to say from reading this article that I do not think that restaurant Eve comes across very well. The comments about the local wines and the local foods and their defense of their position on both leave more questions for me than they answer. I commented to my wife as I read certain quotes that I was disappointed overall reading this whole section. I find it really hard to believe for example that according to Thrasher that " In the more than six years since Eve opened its doors, he says, customers have requested Virginia wines " maybe three or four times ". I am located in Washington D.C. and I regularly get requests for our local wines. I have for years now. And I do get " the look " that Thrasher mentions in the article but I persevere and show and explain and mention more. I try and go beyond " the look ".

What were the three wines that they serve Dave at restaurant Eve? You mentioned the Claude Thibaut sparkling wine that we, too at Cleveland Park Wines have sold since it's first release three years ago. We love that along with the " new " Fizz that they make. But what are the other two wines on the list?

I remember to this day spending the night at the famous inn in Paris, Virginia ( what was it, the Ashby Inn? ) that my wife and I drove there and had dinner there and ordered some wine to go along with our excellent meal. I looked at the list ( this was ten years ago or so? ) and I did not see one bottle on the list from Virginia. I did not inquire with our hostess at the time because I figured that this meant that they did not offer any? I ordered a half bottle of Chablis from Fran Kysela imports and something else and it was all really nice. However, I would have ordered a Virginia wine if one had been on the list. I had intended on doing so : I mean, after all, here my wife and I were in the heart of Virginia : what a better thing to do than celebrate this marvelous Virginia moment with a bottle of Virginia wine? Why would I possibly want to celebrate this moment in Virginia with a wine from the west coast?!?

Anyway, our room, the meal and our service were all top-notch and as we left I saw a man that I presumed to be the owner and I stopped to thank him and give him my reactions to the experience out in the middle of nowhere , home of Willard Scott and perhaps sixty other residents? He was, in fact the owner and he smiled when I complemented him and his staff.

Then I inquired why he did not offer any local Virginia wines on his list and he said that in fact he did. I asked then why were they not mentioned on the list? Why was there not a note saying : inquire about our local Virginia wines? He said because they make so few wines, that they are hard to get and that are often out-of-stock. Well, all this is true and yet a simple : inquire what Virginia wines we have now on a wine list would have made my experience a better one, at least for me as it was something that I was interested in that previous evening.

He could get some driven over to him from Kysela Pere Et Fils Et Fille ( located in Winchester, Virginia ) pretty much any day that he wanted so that he could have always had something local on a daily basis if necessary. Remember, though we were in Paris, it was Paris, Virginia and not Paris, France and I would much rather of had a Linden Chardonnay or dry white Seyval or Sauvignon Blanc than a Chablis.

I'm not a mind-reader, I don't think that waiting for someone to ask is the best approach. That bit of our conversation put a really bad taste in my mouth. I did tell him who I was ,that I was in the wine business and I did give him one of my cards as I left. Oh well, this last bit was a disaster, a real tragedy and one that saddened and made me really mad all at the same time.

Anyway, I love seeing articles like these by Dave McIntyre. It always gets my blood moving/boiling and me all worked-up. I love supporting local and want my voice to be out there and heard.

DRINK LOCAL! Get your restaurants to buy and sell more, as well as your local retail stores. Keep asking them as you do us here in Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits where we have always sold them and recommended them. We have a constantly-turning group of them : Jefferson ( Go Chad! ), Veritas, Linden ( the parents of Jim have shopped with us over the years ), Bleinheim, Bradford Reed ( Brad McCarthy has done tow in-store / wine-tastings so far ), Thibaut-Janisson ) Claude Thibaut comes regularly to our store ),Rappahannock ( the winemaker has been to our store tasting with our customers ), Ingleside Winery ( husband and wife winemakers - she's from venezuela, they met there have also tasted in our store once ), Wineworks, Michael Shaps ( Michael was just in the store this past Saturday, Oct. 16th, 2010 as a special guest tasting his MICHAEL SHAPS Chardonnay and Petit Verdo as well as his Wineworks Viognier , thanks Michael ), Democracy ( owners Jim and Susan come and taste regularly these days in the store with our customers ),Fabbioli Cellars ( owner Doug Fabbioli as well as his manager Doug come and taste regularly with our customers as well ), Boxwood ( owner Rachel and Lucie Morton did a great in-store wine-tasting several months ago and many, many more. Call for a full list, call and come by for wines and for a map of the Virginia wineries and where they are located. Always say that we sent you, too. It never hurts.

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT - a famous quote from Dylan Thomas and one of my all-time favorite ones, too. Cheers and thanks Dave and Maureen, here's to both of your efforts and to the excellent quality of wines that is appearing now all up and down the east coast but especially in Virginia where there are 180 wineries, is that correct? I believe that it is.

Well, I have more to say but it's time to post this now. Take care, TONY