Oops, it was Friday and nor Thursday that Ronnie and Herve Gantier visited us at Cleveland Park Wines Et Spirits. In the text that follows I cannot remember and think it is Thursday but it is really Friday. Make a mental note of that as you read on. Cheers.
It was great to get my old friend Herve Gantier the owner of France's winery called DOMAINE SAINT EUGENIE of Corbieres, France back to 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 : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and on Twitter at : cpwinespirits ) with wine rep Ronnie Miller this past week in March 2011. Was it Wednesday or Thursday? I think Thursday around noon on March 17th, 2011 if I am not mistaken. So many things to remember and keep straight!
Anyway it was a blast. I received first a call from Ronnie Miller saying that he had a special friend of mine that he wanted to bring by the store and was it okay if they got to the store in twenty minutes or so? I said " of course " that it was okay and I smiled inside wondering if it was Herve that was with him?!? I thought it was and so I finished what I was doing and got ready for this visit. It would be fun, it would be filled with smiles and laughter and big exclamations and lots of French going back and forth between the two of us - I knew that for a fact.
Ronnie you asked me if I had received an order from Lauren of your wines and I responded that I was about to get one later today. I usually have your wines Herve but on this occasion I was out of all three and that upset me but I knew that the " La Reserve " was coming for my customer Delores and that I had also bought some for the store. That made me feel better as the wines - all reds except for the one rose ( there are three reds ) all sell quite well at the store.
WE have had Herve's wines since 2002 when Mike Martin worked with me at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits buying the wines and selling them, too. Ronnie Miller brought Herve Gantier by then with his wine-maker, too. I forget his name but that was a glorious visit all in itself way back when in 2002 and I have blogged about that and other wine-tastings and the lovely dinners with Herve and even when he tasted his Corbieres alongside of younger Xavier Monnot of Burgundy that announced flat out to me in French : that I may not have heard of him yet but that I soon would! All these times spent with Herve have been grand and I have blogged about them all here at : chatwine.blogspot.com. Check them out when you have a chance to read about Herve and to see all the fun photos that I have taken.
Here above Herve is pouring his " new " release of his dry Corbieres DOMAINE SAINT EUGENIE dry rose with a unique color all it's own and a lovely dry taste that will be perfect when we get it in early April. I sent Ronnie and Herve off with a nice order of the four wines we tasted with them. All the wines showed beautifully. Greg Siebert that has joined Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( coming from New York where he worked for 17 years in the restaurant business in and around Rochester, New York ) as also on hand to try these excellent wines of Herve's. So was our good friend and customer Stephen Daddario. I'm glad that you were with us Stephen. As you already said when I posted a picture of Herve on our Facebook account that you were there when I took the photo of Herve!
Herve smiled a whole lot when he was in the store with us but I did manage to get some more serious shots like the one above. That's good : always nice to have a balance in the photos. I have downloaded very few here as it was about closing time yesterday ( Saturday at the store on March, 19th, 2011 ) when I did this and Greg's old boss from New York was visiting along with Sara Greg's girlfriend and so we were busy enjoying the very last of the two LEROY sublime ( nearly perfect in every way ) burgundies - the LEROY 1998 Bourgogne Blanc On Special for $57.99 and the LEROY Bourgogne Rouge On Special for $47.99. Wow, what incredible wines those were, too. Too bad that Herve was not around to share them with us as he used to make wines in Burgundy for twenty-thirty years or more. I did not know him then of course.
Anyway I was rushed to get both these pictures downloaded of Herve and some of the 2007 LEROY Bourgogne Rouge, too. I succeeded, just barely as we also enjoyed some of the 2008 CHEHALEM Oregon Willamette Valley Pinot Noir " Three Vineyards " dry red before closing the shop last night at 9:30PM. I have already posted that blog of the LEROY burgundy wines before hitting the pillows and sleeping late last night and so now I want to get this current blog on Herve posted now before I have to go to Staples with my son to buy some printer ink for our HP as well as something for me to grill outside for dinner tonight. The fun never stops " chez les Quinns " and that's a good thing.
By the way the CHEHALEM 2008 Pinot Noir at $29.99 a bottle was quite lovely but you could taste the ocean of difference between it and the LEROY 2007 Bourgogne Rouge On Special for $47.99. WE did sell a case and a few more of the bottles of the CHEHALEM, however and that's what we expected would happen once that we tasted it out. Everyone plays, everyone wins ... remember Sesame Street and the Grouch that referred to himself as " the benevolent grouch"? Well, I am a benevolent and sharing and positive grouch that always says : " Live and let live".
But this blog is really all about Herve and his excellent three red wines : 1) the " Les Clos " red blend of Bordeaux and Rhone grapes for everyday enjoyment ( $9.99, bright and melts in your mouth effortlessly - so smooth ), the regular ; 2 ) traditional Corbieres DOMAINE SAINT EUGENIE ( a 2009 in this case and delicious and forward and smooth with a bit more definition and highs and lows ) ; 3) the " La Reserve " Corbieres 2007 was it, or was it already the 2008? Anyway, it, too was really balanced and focused and more full and robust and simply an overall richer wine with more dimension and scope. The 4 ) dry 2010 rose was also superb and it will be great to get it back to the store. It has a lightness and a freshness and a distinctness that sits beautifully on the tongue and palate and rests and fills the mouth gloriously.
We will have all these four wines of Herve's back at Cleveland Park in April of 2011. The La Reserve will be back on this Tuesday so I will at least have on e of Herve's wines back in the store to close out the month of March. That makes me feel better.
My son is now up and walking our Terrier mixed breed dog and so I have to sum this up for the moment now as we will soon be off on our errands. I will probably add more of the pictures as I have time. I took some great shots of Herve on this last Thursday around noon in the store and it's nice to share them with you all.
Stay-tuned for more and in the meantime enjoy this post as it is now and also enjoy and revel in the glories of this first day of spring. It sure is a treat. My wife and I were out earlier soaking up the sunshine as best as we could. A bit of nippy breeze and some scampering chipmunks on wood piles close by and running along and under our low deck to the ground out back. A glorious moment now and then with Herve.
Merc i Herve et bonne continuation avec ta visite et a la prochaine fois. On/ j'aime bien tes vins de Corbieres. TONY
Here Herve buys a pack of Marlboro cigarettes to smoke later as Ronnie looks on. It's a classic photo and I am happy to include it here as it fleshes out the store and shows more of it's parts. Funny, I dot remember seeing Herve ever smoke a cigarette? That's okay ... bon voyage Herve ...
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