I enjoyed this tasting very much when Chris Bartha of Cobblestone Imports came to see me with the national sales rep from the VINA ROBLES Vineyard in California and I should have posted this blog months ago after I mounted these photos here in draft form at chatwine. I just end up meeting so many people and so often all of my material to write them is not in one place and easily accessible. That's a big problem and goes more to my organizational skills and less to my abundant enthusiasm and overall pleasure and joy at meeting so many of those that come and visit me at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com also now on Facebook @ cleveleland park wine & spirits and also on Twitter @ : cpwinespirits ). This day was no exception : as a matter of fact I really enjoyed myself.
This is a bit of a sign I must say, just like Rosie O'Donnell in the movie " Sleepless In Seattle " says to her co-star Meg Ryan : " It's a sign ". In this case my sign was that yesterday afternoon Chris Bartha stopped by the store and said that he had left two bottles on our tasting table for Chris Barker and me to try. It was Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 around 5PM yesterday afternoon when Chris did this and I did not see what he had left as I was sitting in the office at the moment. Later when I got up I noticed that one was a bottle of MONTORO a Spanish red and one was a bottle of the VINA ROBLES 2009 " Jardine " Paso Robles Sauvignon Blanc and without thinking I went and put it into our cooler to keep fresh and try a bit later.
I never did try it and that is too bad as I got busy and there were customers to help with their shopping as they were all starting to show up after work. I knew that I would bring it home and enjoy it later anyway with my wife that loves a good white wine. In the back of my head the label looked familiar and made my thoughts stir. I was hoping that we would enjoy it and that the alcohol would not be an issue and rob us of both the fruit of the 2009 Sauvignon Blanc as well as of the pleasure of enjoying it?
I need not have worried on either account for I did remember to bring it home with me last night and I put it back into our refrigerator once that I got home to enjoy with her and it was unfortunately too late at this point in the evening - close to ten p.m. Oh well, I joined her with a light meal downstairs and we watched some t.v. together and relaxed and recounted our day to one another : testing with her students and tasting possible " new " wines for the store and working on future win-tastings with our various reps.
We tried six wines in all and as I recall I really liked what I tasted on this day. I will catch up with Chris Bartha later today and discuss this further with him. We were already selling really well the WHITE blend 2009 of VINA ROBLE. I was already enjoying recommending that to a number of our customers here in our Cleveland Park Northwest neighborhood of our nation's capitol. Once I saw that lined up on our tasting table I sensed that I was in for a good tasting.
WE also tried the same vintage of Sauvignon Blanc that I now have on this Wednesday morning her by my side as I type this here at home in northern Virginia - a glass of the 2009. I love it : how perfect is this? The color and the clarity are brilliant and there's a really nice, fresh, aromatic bouquet of fruit and citrus that rises from the rim of my INAO wine-tasting glass. I like that, too. The sip I just took is very bright and full and rich and creamy with some real weight and charm and just enough alcohol to be agreeable and not displeasing. It's actually perfect for the cold and the damp of this Thursday morning now. It really does bolster and warm me up on this brrr morning of gray and naked tree limbs, trunks and branches as I look up and outside to the huddled and cold trees and the white-gray clouds above as I am sure the sun on the other side is trying valiantly to poke it's head through and warm us all a wee little bit more? The 2009 VINA ROBLES Sauvignon Blanc from Huerhero Paso Robles does this quite nicely and I can still taste and feel the sip I took 5-10 minutes ago : that's not bad.
The light from our ceiling lights above are caught beautifully in the rim and bowl of my INAO wine-tasting glass and reflect back up at me and out and it's a charming color indeed - very inviting to the eye and then to the taste buds that begin to forget the first sip and long for another.
I will only have one more sip as it is after all only 8:37AM here and I have to get ready to exercise on my HEALTHRIDER treadmill before getting ready for work.
I like the wine, it draws me into it almost as if encircling me and my palate and my tongue and wrapping it's flavors ever so persuasively around us all in such a pleasing way. I would sip this wine and enjoy the whole taste from start to long finish. There's no need to push or to rush this experience - it's too nice and I don't think that I would drink a whole lot of it. The flavors are so rich and well-extracted that I also think it will shine with a meal. That's where the wine will complement many a flavor in a dish and the dish will make this 2009 Paso Robles dry and full-flavored white seem more elastic and even more stunning.
Thanks Chris, this was a grand set of coincidences as last night I was looking over my " draft " blog entries and stumbled upon this one before bed last night and smiled and said silently : " This is the one, the next one " to be completed. I will now proof this and send it " as is " and then add to it once I am back at the store and found my notes and spoken again with Chris Bartha of Cobblestone Imports.
Cheers and have a great day and sorry for the long delay. I think I got some fun photos. Being an artist I really like playing with angle and view and vantage point and trying to capture some of the visual excitement that a wine and it's color can provide and do provide if we only stop and take the time to notice it as well as those around us that we are enjoying it with. TONY
This was a great part for me of Thurs. Oct 14th, 2010. Wow, that seems like such a long time ago now ...
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