Friday, December 10, 2010

Just In From Hugh Hamilton Of HUGH HAMILTON Wines, McLaren Vale, South Australia: Beloved Jim Jim Dog-Friend Of Theirs Passes Away

I got the email from Hugh Hamilton of his own Aussie winery in McLaren Vale, South Australia, just south of the town of Adelaide that their family ( one of two loved dogs ) Jim-Jim has sadly passed away and will be sorely missed as he was a great family and vineyard friend and which Hugh always said each visit to our 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 Facebook at clevelandparkwines&spirits, too ) that : " Jim Jim gets more emails than I do ". Ouch! Oh well Hugh, that's humbling but also very flattering and I know that your family as well as all the visitors to the winery and all the wine-staff and field workers will miss Jim-Jim sorely : including your " other " dog that has been featured in the : " Wine-makers' Loved Dog " book that I guess comes out periodically? It will be hard for that dog, too I would imagine : though maybe it will luxuriate now in all the spotlight that it once shared with Jim-Jim?!?

Anyway, though I never met Jim-Jim we did have his two pictures on our walls for months at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and we gave out the postcards with his picture on it to many of our customers. We have also for years sold really well the Jim-Jim dry red and white wines to many of our regular customers that often come in search of just one of those two wines.

The price just went up on the wines and I will tell Arielle that we must have some of the wines next week to pay homage to Jim-Jim and to bid adieu to him.

It's been a great relationship that we have had - a love affair with these two wines named after the dog named Jim-Jim that Hugh and Mary his daughter have often talked about when they visited our store in the Cleveland Park neighborhood. They both signed many bottles of the Jim-Jim wines when they did in-store wine-tasting with our customers and created a strong and loyal bond as a result with many of them that still remains strong to this very moment years later.

Sorry for you loss guys. Our thoughts are with you. Cheers, happy holidays 2010 and happy new year 2011. Jim-Jim is looking down on all of us now I am sure and I am sure tending to some Shiraz vines up above and alerting whomever to their ripeness as he eats the grapes as they ripen and are ready for picking and for making excellent wine that will bear his wine even now both here and wherever he may be rest his soul. TONY

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