Through My ( Anthony Quinn's Reidel Wine-Tasting Glass Stemware ) Since 2007 and On Till Now 2011 Mostly At Cleveland Park Wines, Wash. D.C.

Do you know who these people are? I hope you enjoy these pictures that I took through my Reidel wine glasses and others and I will fill some of the names in shortly but in the meantime enjoy this montage of my pictures so far. Cheers, TONY

Laurent Givry, President Of Elite Imports Visits Cleveland Park Wines, Then Fran & Nicole Of Elite Imports Taste Fri. Jan. 21st, 2011, 5-8PM

This was a great visit, unexpected and much appreciated from Laurent Givry the president of Elite Imports with Cindy. They both left Franklin Imports years ago ( Cindy was the right-hand woman for Mike Franklin ) and Laurent was one of his top sales people : and damned if they didn't have the balls to start their own import company and get it going from the ground up and hire people as they could afford them and become the success that they are now! Bravo Cindy and Laurent! You both are an inspiration to the rest of us that have our dreams and our balls and are also doing our best to make the most of both. It's not easy and it takes nerve and guts and determination and follow-through and it's great to see that you have succeeded and hired people like Lisa our old sales person and Fran our new one.

Fran has now called on us three times and each time has been very successful and I applaud him for that as well. As I told you in the store just this past weekend that the time you and Lisa Giufre organized our wine-tasting around your annual wine-maker/wine-owner warehouse tasting ( and the last one was at Mio restaurant I believe? I did not make that one unfortunately because I wanted to see Alessandro Furlan instead - tough decisions in life ) that when we had five French owners/wine-makers in the store on a Saturday, well, that was one of our most successful events-days.

I think of the two of you when I think of that Saturday back in 2010 : and of the five French people that came and poured their wines : Joel and Sandrine Duffau of the CHATEAU LES ARROWMANS and CHATEAU LA MOTHE DU BARRY, of Bernard Bouvier of the BOUVIER Burgundy house, of Christian Lauverjat of the LAUVERJAT Sancerre wines - red, rose and white , and of Jean-Remy of Champagne and really fine French champagne that also represents value in these days as well as being from an area that I know less about and have learned about with Jean-Remy's fourth or fifth visit now 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 now on Facebook at : cleveland park wine and also on Twitter at : cpwinespirits ) over the last two years with Lisa Giufre, Laurent Givry and I think even once all on his own.

I just added another blog about Joel Duffau here a couple of days earlier with pictures of this successful Saturday wine-tasting. Go to the search engine above here on the home page and type his name in if you want to see and read it as well ).




Laurent as I told you this past week you looked great and so I had to have some photos of this. I hope you like them - I do.




I like taking these pictures where everyone is less self-conscious because they do not know that I am taking them.




I also like taking these fun close-ups as you get to see into the eyes - the portals of our being. Being an artist I really do believe this stuff and it brings me immense joy to take these pictures to see what develops : I never know until I have snapped the picture. I like this one above of the two of us.




Just this past Friday both Nicole and Fran came and did an in-store wine-tasting of I believe six of the Elite wines which included three reds and three whites from both France and Spain. It was a very successful wine-tasting and Nicole was able to be with us earlier and get the ball rolling for us until Fran could show up from a previously-arranged tasting - he fit us in as we needed someone because we had a last-minute cancellation. Thanks Fran and thanks Nicole - you both did a great job.




I will add the wines here shortly. I have already included them in the photo album on our Facebook page at : Cleveland Park Wine if you want to see what wines we poured immediately. It's time to make dinner now so I will post this " as-is " and finish it later tonight or tomorrow morning. It's now Monday at 6:51PM on January 24th, 2011 and it's really cold outside - and dreary. Oh well, it will turn nice again ... cheers et a plus tard mes amis ... TONY




We did introduce some " new " wines from Elite Selections into our Friday evening wine-tasting which included an excellent Tempranillo from the Castilla region of La Mancha which Fran tells us is the largest one in the world. Hard to believe but he said it with such conviction that it must be true. It was a beefier style of Spanisg Tempranillo called " Symphonia " that reminded me with it's earth and rusticity more of a Rhone-Garnnacha-Mourvedre-style red. I liked it and On Special for only $11.99 it flew out our doors in this really cold weather. It's a perfect " comfort wine " when combined with a meal because it does need some food.




WE also tasted a " new " Pinot Noir that also needed a meal but it was smoother and mellower than the Tempranillo " Symphonia ". It did not show as well next to the Symphonia in my opinion : but that is mostly because it was so cold - is so cold now. I also think that it needs some more time to open-up more - perhaps another year or two? I think I am correct about this - it's a wine that can be aged.

January 2011 Fran Of Elite Imports Wed. January 19th, 2011

These are some fun shots that I got of Fran that works with Laurent and Cindy of Elite Wine Selections. He came in to the store to sell to us once that Lisa Giufre left the company to work for Bartholomous Broadbent is it? She now represents my friends owner Mike Radcliff at WARWICK Estate in South Africa as well as Serge Hockar the owner of CHATEAU MUSAR in Lebanon.




I like how you speak as much with your hands Fran as you do with your words. You were describing some of the wines from France and Spain that you were then tasting with us 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 at : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and on Twitter at : cpwinespirits ). I should have really put this onto my chatart.blogspot.com posting as it is more about your " art " of selling to us Fran. I love that picture above, really I do!








I will complete this later but for the meantime enjoy these expressive pictures of you Fran in motion and dedicated, focused and passionate about your work selling the wines of Elite Selections. Cheers and until the next time. ... PS: It's now Wednesday morning here at home in northern Virginia at 10:25AM on a chilly, brrr breezy baby-blue skies morning. TONY

Sara Shaw Wine-Maker @ DAEDALUS Cellars Willamette, Oregon Here 1/11 & 15th, January 2011 : Tasting & Visiting For Very First Time @ Cleveland Park

This was a pretty amazing experience for me : two times in one week seeing wine-maker Sara Shaw : Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 at noon with wine rep Tony of Nice Legs where I got a chance to meet Sara and try her many wines ( I wrote about this in my store email sent out to our customers that day and you can find a copy of that email now on our web page at : www.clevelandparkwine.com - as well as more pictures I downloaded there today - Monday, January 17th, 2011 - and on Saturday, January 15th, 2011 at 8:45PM or so when our wine rep Dimitri Curbet from Nice Legs brought Sara back around to meet Chris Barker and to finish our unfinished business fro the first meeting : i.e. Sara did not sign our wine-maker/owner poster that she is holding in her hands in the picture above , sign our guest book ; and I did not get a chance to take more pictures of her using my new digital Panasonic camera and I did not get a chance to do any portrait sketches of her as I like to do.




On this second visit of Saturday I did in fact get a chance to accomplish with Sara's help all of the above : thanks Sara and thanks Dimitri for stopping by. I will soon add the pictures that I took on Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 with a disposable camera that I bought from the CVS Pharmacy. I have no idea what I got with those 27 pictures. I will have to take them and have them developed this week as I am dying to see what I got especially because those include pictures of the wines we tasted with the labels and the bottles and the swirling wine. I am sure that they will provide a great contrast to what I have here now from Saturday's visit.




I understand that from talking with Dimitri earlier today, Monday January 17th, 2011 that when they left on Saturday night that they went over to Ripple restaurant and had dinner and enjoyed looking at the seven or so quick portrait sketches that I drew withing ten minutes or less and photographed with Sara before giving them all to her as my gift for such a wonderful visit and tasting. She seemed quite pleased at the time and seemed to like two of the sketches especially.




Dimitri told me that they had fun looking at them all at dinner and that they were quite surprised how all of them captured Sara - more than they thought at first glance in the store. I'm glad that they liked them. I sure had a blast drawing them so quickly and only wish that I would have had an hour more to draw more as I was just starting to get going when they had to leave.

I love this picture of you above Sara. It's one of my very favorites of the evening. What a smile.




Sara Shaw you are the wine-maker for DAEDALUS Cellars Oregon wines made in the Willamette Valley. I got to try seven or eight of them : pretty much everything except the Pinot Gris this go-round as you said that : " everyone knows the Pinot Gris of Oregon ". You were so much more excited to taste me on the dry white Gruner Veltliner and I must say that I was equally excited to try it when I saw what you had in your hands. I liked it quite a bit and we will have some for the store on February 1st, 2011. I also quite liked the dry Riesling for it's extra grip and body and clinging richness that simply would not let go. Because of this and the cold weather outside I liked it better than the Gruner Veltliner.

Perhaps I would change my mind in June or July? They were both excellent as was the dry Burgundian style of the Chardonnay that also impressed me immensely. I told you at the time that you make excellent wines and after trying them all including the sweet half bottle of Riesling I have to take my hat off to you. As a matter of fact I believe that I complemented you so many times on so many levels that I had you constantly smiling and even blushing at times : loved your youth and smiles and wonderful hair style that reminded me somehow of the comic strip character of so very long ago - the Flash - only it would have had to be a feminine and beautiful Flash character! Hope you can find your way to see this as a complement Sara and nothing bad.




I have so much to say but it is bedtime for me really soon and so I will add one of my poems that I wrote of four inspired by this Tuesday first meeting of ours here ( the others are at : chatpoetry.blogspot.com - and more photos will be at : chatartist.blogspot.com, too ; as well as go to our Facebook page at : cleveland park wines & spirits ).




Here's the first poem of four that I wrote on Wednesday morning before work on January 12th, 2011 : cheers and enjoy :

Met Sa Sar Sara Of
Dae Yea Aeda Vin
Ore Rouge Necta A
Alus A Lust For Rego's
Regon's Wine Smile Hers
A Thirst Burst An
Earn What Pay For? A
Grun A Velt Svelte
So Sleek So Firm So
Non Yeah Commit So
On Way Throught ( Throat )
Down It!





A Cold Feel Room In
Chill Brr Outside I
We Green Speak To Roter
Red Thoughts Quick Ours
Sped To Work The Connects
Links Thoughts Swift To Ries
To Dry To More Grip More
Stay Power-Stay-Stay-Stayi
Tayin Taying Oh Yeah
More Smile More Youth More
Power Of Chard Like Da Feel

#1 Le 12 Janvier, 2010 Mercredi matin en voiture en Virginie a 9:39AM on a sunny, clear, bright, snowy white , brisk, nice morn after last night's snowfall - white snow cling to trees green, brown branches ... TONY

Stay-tuned for more really soon and enjoy these pictures in the meantime. Thanks Sara, Tony and Dimitri.