Drinking The Bourgogne Rouge/ Red " En Bully " RAPET PERE & FILS 2008 Over Two Nights Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011/ Merci Mark Et Jeanne-Marie De Champs

This was quite the treat to be able to over the course of two nights enjoy the bottle of 2008 bourgogne rouge " En Bully " of RAPET PERE & FILS that wine rep of J.W. SIEG & Company Mark Congdon brought to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwine.com, http://www.clevelandparkwine.com/ also on Facebook @ Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits and also now on Twitter at : cpwinespirits ) on Friday, September 23rd, 2011 and that we sampled with customer and friend John Cavanaugh. What a great middle to a busy day! Thanks Mark, especially for leaving the four bottles of burgundy when you left so that I could enjoy them with my family and friends. They were all grand! They will also all be in the store on October 1st, 2011 and all on sale, too. What more could anyone ask for?!? The " En Bully " will be On Sale for $19.99 a bottle and I hope to have all 15 remaining cases to sell you all. Great news for this weather now and all our Indian summer evenings.

We will also get some of the 2007 Gevrey Chambertin red burgundy from the DOMAINE RENE LECLERC and also have that on sale in the first week of October with two other red burgundy selections from Jeanne-Marie De Champs the president of Artisans & Vines, LLC. I will list those her shortly with all the information and pricing. I have already blogged here about Jeanne-Marie de Champs and her selections at : chatwine so check them out as well by using the search engine here. I have in those included pictures as I will here as soon as I have a chance. Call me at the store for more info : 202-363-4265. Look forward to hearing from you. Cheers et merci a Mark et a Jeanne-Marie. A la prochaine, TONY

Last Night @ National Zoo Wash.D.C. Wine-Tasting " Grapes & Apes " W/ Andrew Stover/VINO50-SHINDIG/SAWTOOTH/ Cara Beach/GIRARDET Wine Cellars/Vines 14

This was a great event last night at the National Zoo of Washington D.C. N.W. as they hosted their annual wine-tasting called Grapes & Apes from 6-9PM on Thursday, September 22nd, 2011 for the Friends of the Zoo I heard that one thousand people were in attendance. Nelso and I arrived from Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@cleveland parkwine.com, www.clevelandparkwine.com, anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwine.com, also now on Facebook at : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and on Twitter at : cpwinespirits, too ) just after 6 PM to greet Andrew Stover the president of his own regional United Staes wine selections VINI50 and also the wine sommelier at Oye restaurant her in Washington D.C. ) and there were people gathering and starting to mill around us. Lawrence Camp the Business Development Manager of BREAUX Vineyards ( Purcerville, VA. www.breauxvineyards.com ) was set up next to us. Cara Early the Marketing Director of GIRARDET Wine Cellars in Roseburg, Oregon, 97471 541-679-7252 www.girardetwine.com ) that would be pouring the VINES 14 red 14-grapes wine blend with us was looking for parking and would join us shortly. We set up ans scoped the setting and got ready to start pouring.

We would be pouring wines for the next 3 hours solid from SAWTOOTH on the Snake River of Oregon at the border between Oregon, Washington State and Idaho. SAWTOOTH Vineyard is in Idaho. We poured the off dry Riesling and the pithy, spicy dry, hearty Syrah. From SHINDIG ( Andrew Stover's own blends ) we poured the Michigan slightly off-dry red blend of Merlot, Pinot Noir and Marechal Foch and Baco Noir. Everyone referred to it as the Pinot Noir. I corrected them and told them to think about the Baco Noir invented in Bordeaux, France by Francois Baco a very long time ago. We also poured the SHINDIG white dry blend of Seyval Blanc with some Riesling made in the Finger Lakes of New York State.

I'm off to work and will finish this later. Enjoy this so far and stay-tuned for more. Cheers, TONY

ZOE Means Life In Greek / A Dry Rose 2010 ( $16.99 ) SKOURAS Red Saint George & Moschofilero Blend Of Indigenous Grapes/ Captivatingly Rich Color!

This is a really good picture of you Marcie Weinstein : I pretty much really do love it. Congratulations : hope you like it as much as I do.

The ZOE dry red blend from SKOURAS is pretty amazing and I am thrilled to have it at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com, www.clevelandparkwine.com, anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwine.com, also now on Facebook at : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and on Twitter at : cpwinespirits ) here in our nation's capitol. I bought a case recently and have been selling it well and putting some in the cold box/cooler for people to buy already chilled and ready to drink as well as warm off our display of mostly dry rose wines from all around the world. It sells for $16.99 and we are now all sold out. I will have to get you to add that to our order for the first week of October, 2011 if I have not already Marcie.

Just look at that color will you?!? Pretty amazing if you ask me. Makes me want to have a sip right now as I am typing away at this blog posting and it is already 10:57PM here at my home in northern Virginia and I am working pretty much now on " empty ". Oh well, I do most of my best work working on what I call empty!

This past week one of our regular customers came back and asked me if I had any more ZOE? I looked at her and smiled and said that " of course " I did. Little did I remember that recently she bought some from me and that I was beginning to run low. She told me that a recent family member of hers is named " ZOE " and that her relatives were all thrilled to discover both the wine and that they really liked it, too. She told them all that the wine could be purchased here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and she wondered if any of them had already been here in search of the wine? I told her that I could not be sure one way or the other. Anyway this lady bought me out on this visit and so we will need more really soon Marcie.

It's got such great color and is so flavorful and pleasing, too. It's very enjoyable all on it's own. I think it will be welcome in the store even when the temperatures start to drop and it feels cooler. It will still work with many food selections and please people all on it's own as they sit outside on cooler days and evenings and perhaps continue to grill their food outside in the cold. The color alone will warm them up as they look into their glasses.

This is a very successful blend of the two Greek indigenous grapes of Moscofilero and Saint George. It feels good to have a really good Greek dry rose as part of our selection of quality dry roses in our Cleveland Park neighborhood.

Just tonight I had a brunette female customer come in asking my advice and telling me that she was making a Greek dish and would welcome a good Greek wine if there was such a thing? She said that her experience with Greek wines ten years or so ago was quite disappointing. I told her that we sold lots of Greek wines and that they were all quite excellent and that I recommended them without reservation. I went in search of a red dry version of the Saint George or Agiorgitiko indigenous grape variety to have with her meal and found her one costing $12.49 a bottle I believe? I will include the name tomorrow when I am back at the store.

I know she will be quite happy with my selection and look forward to hearing from her soon. Too bad I did not have this ZOE dry rose to have recommended to her as it's deep rose color would have mirrored the beautiful deep red dress and matching earrings that she was wearing this evening. I complemented her on them both and she said that it was not by accident that she had chose them as I quickly nodded that I knew this already as we both smiled at one another.

I will add more to this blog soon but will post it now " as is " and give you all a chance to enjoy these pictures that I took awhile back with my artist's eyes. Cheers and " zoe / life " to you all. TONY

The person above on the left side of the glass is Sotiris Bafitis that single-handedly assured a bright and rosy future and place for Greek wines here in the Washington D.C. metropolitan region when he first made the wine list at Zaytinya restaurant on 9th Street N.W. Washington D.C. 10 or so years ago. Thanks Sotiris. Of course many other people contributed and added to this over the years and so everyone from Aris Zizzis and Gus Kaleris the owner of Constantine Wines in Maryland and Yanni the owner of Dionysos Imports in Virginia ( and many others including those in New York city ) should all be given a big round of applause. Peter Anastopolos that used to manage Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits before I took over already had a very healthy selection of Greek wines that I have added to over the years making our store perhaps the most important single store with the largest selection of Greek wines available for purchase and I fear that very few people know this. Oh well, let's get the word out will you?!? Stop on by and check this out for yourselves will you?!?

As I said I will add to this blog entry as I have time. Cheers and thanks in the meantime. TONY

I love this last swirl of lush Greek rose color around the edges of this Reidel wine-tasting glass. Looks like a Greek dancer to me. Love it I really do. I can feel the power and the warmth and the majesty and the theater of it all - Greek life and passion and I can also see Anthony Quinn now as he was as a younger actor in the black-and-white movie : " Zorba The Greek " from the 1950's I believe at the end of the movie teaching his good friend the English poet how to dance on the beaches of Greece after witnessing first-hand their failed business venture fall apart/ break apart/roll off into the sea and be swallowed up by it! Time to dance, time to make merry, time to embrace Zoe then just like it is now. Cheers.

ROZES Amazing and Unique White Port ( $21.99 ) Poured By Our French Rep From Brittany, Francois Hurtel In Early 2011 NEEDS To Be Experienced To Be...

BELIEVED!


The fact that this ROZEZ white port is made like no other that I know of or that I am told is made like no other, that it is deeper, darker, richer, more unctuous and golden and lulling and soothing and that one's tongue can more-easily float effortlessly on it's surface or submerge itself more completely into it's body and core and luxuriate more completely in it's depths : well, if this does not paint a special picture and make you want to rush over to our store Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com, http://www.clevelandparkwine.com/, anthonyquinn@clevelandparkwine.com , also now on Facebook at : Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits and on Twitter at : cpwinespirits )in our nation's capitol, then I don't know what will?

Did I say that it's amazing? Did I mention that each and every time that we taste it out we virtually always sell out before the tasting is over? Did I also say that it's perfect now as the weather changes and it gets a bit colder it now being the 30th of September 2011 the last day of the month? It's all true.

It's an experience in itself. It deserves to be experienced and thoroughly enjoyed. We sell it for $21.99 a bottle. It's worth every penny of that, too if not even more! The bottle, too is memorable and easily found as it's a ceramic squat white bottle : not easily mistaken for any other? I suppose that this was all discussed and carefully planned? Great marketing anyway you look at it.

Come on over to the store today as we have the better part of a case now on our shelves. I will ask our French rep from Brittany Francois Hurtel to come and pour it once again? Perhaps I can even persuade him to get his beautiful wife to come and help him pour as she, too has a beautiful smile and disposition just like that of Francois. What a team they make. Venez nous voir vous deux : vous etes magnifique ensemble. Merci et a la prochaine. Vous etes toujours bien venues chez nous a Cleveland Park Wines Et Spirits.

I should be speaking in Portuguese as ROZES is from Portugal. I did learn it fluently as a child in Rio De Janeiro in Brazil back from 1955-1962 when we lived there. And before Pele the most famous soccer player was yet famous he did on the beaches of the Copacabana teach me how to maneuver the soccer ball on the white sands when I was five and six years old! Oh darn it : I forgot my Portuguese since then and learned French instead. I will have to learn my Portuguese all over again and practice it when I drink next this bottle of MIOLO Lote 43 50% Cabernet Sauvignon / 50% Merlot ( not filtered ) 2004 from Brazil's Vale dos Vinhedos ( On Special for $19.99, reg : $24.99, 13.5% alcohol by volume ) with my wife and neighbors. Come buy a bottle of that, too when you buy your bottle of the ROZES unique white port. Cheers , TONY

DOMAINE De JARRAS 2010 Gris De Gris Verite Du Terroir Vin Des Sables LISTEL Estate, France( $14.99 ) / Pre-Pheloxera

This wine is unique/rare and delicious, too! We had Francois Hurtel taste it here the other evening at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits.

Look at the beautiful deep rose/apricot/salmon color of it above : I love it! I really do like dry rose wines as well as do many of our customers. Justin just asked for one a couple of days ago and was happy to walk away with a French Cote Du Provence biodynamic 2009 On Sale for $13.99 that I get from our rep Charles of William's Corner imports as I am currently out of the Francois Hurtel selection.

With the warmer weather here in Washington D.C. and northern Virginia and the daffodils starting to bloom glorious " pops " of yellow on the banks of Rock Creek Parkway now ( I saw my first blooms yesterday and was shocked! ) it may be time to consider enjoying some more dry and flavorful roses. We have a really full selection at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwine.com, also now on Facebook at : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and on Twitter at : cpwinespirits ). We carry them year-round and love to recommend them depending on what we hear our customers are serving.

I would have asked Francois about his DOMAINE De JARRAS 2010 or 2011 dry Gris de Gris rose but alas VRANKEN/POMMERY that employed him up until December of 2011 has let him go. Bad decision if you ask me. he really did a great job selling to us in Cleveland Park N.W. Washington D.C. our nation's capitol. I will ask Sal Furfari our local rep from Bacchus about the DOMAINE De JARRAS instead. We may or may not carry it again. The work will have to start all over again as I am still feeling acutely the sting from hearing the news from Sal that Francois was let go. Oh well, we will see. I do keep an open mind about these type of things but the connections that are made between people is so important, especially today when the world seems to large and impersonal. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn

ROZES Gold Label Portuguese Port Tasted With Francois Hurtel Of VRANKEN/POMMERY In 2011 @ Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits in N.W. Washington D.C.

We have bought the red and white bottle of the ROZES Poruguese port but never the gold bottle. Why is this? I will have to confer with Francois Hurtel about this? I simply cannot remember why now as I type this late on / or now really early on Friday morning here at home on September 30th, 2011 as we all get ready to usher in the month of October, 2011 and say " good bye " to the month of September. It's 12:10AM now on Friday morning and I am getting ready to go on upstairs to bed and get a good night's rest as I have a very busy end to this weekend which will stretch way into late on Saturday night when I close the store at 9PM. Yikes : that's two long days still to go. Oh well, I'll make it, really I will.

I just found out that Francois Hurtel no longer works for VRANKEN / POMMERY : that they let : " him go, and in December in the holiday season and with his wife pregnant " a friend related to me this past week at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwine.com also on Facebook now at : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and on Twitter at : cpwinespirits ). SHOCKING! And according to this person : " and he hit all his numbers! ". That means he matched all his goals that they wanted.

From my humble perspective of having been in this business now for thirty-plus years : I buy from the people that I like to do business with. I liked doing business with Francois. He was always direct and helpful and met me " in between " where we both could to help one another out. He was and is a " straight shooter " and I will have to look closely at whoever comes to our Cleveland Park N.W. Washington D.C. neighborhood here in our nation's capitol next year. I will probably not have the same connections or feeling of confidence/ of having worked well together with whoever this might be that I have nurtured and built with Francois for years ever since he came to us many, MANY moons ago with the PIERRE FERRAND cognacs.

Oh well, I was going to ask Francois about the " gold " ROZES as I cannot remember much about it now. We may sell it, we may not. I LOVE the " white " bottle and will continue with that. NOW FRANKEN/POMMERY will have to work quadruple hard to keep their wines at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits in 2012 comme vous avez vraiment tromper quand vous avez metez Francois a la porte. Pas bien ca. vraiment pas bien messieurs. Est ce que il y a quelq'un chez vous qui peut bien repondre a cette unjustice grave?!? J'attends votre reponse ... It's now Sunday night here as I post this on January 29th, 2012. Cheers et merci Francois pour tout ce que tu a bien fait pour nous.

Beautiful golden color to this port above. Being an artist I notice things like that. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn

More Of Tony In His Art! " Saxing Off " / An Etching I Did Years Ago In Paris, France ( 1979 ) Based On A Drawing I Did In The Paris Metro Of A Sax

Musician ... this headline should finish. I wonder what wine he drank while playing in the Paris metro system? Should have asked him...

I meant to put this on my chatart post and put it here instead. I did this etching in Paris, France back in 1979 I believe from a frawing I did of a sax player in the Paris metro. Hope you like it. These are some of the experimental prints I made of it trying to decide how to print it eventually. Hope you like them. You may enjoy just about any wine as you look at them and study them and arrive at your own conclusions about what works and what does not? Cheers, TONY

Encore Plus D'Art De Antoine " Just Missed The Boat ! " / A Black-And-White Etching Done in 1978 @ Atelier 17 of William Stanley Hayter/ Qu'Est Ce Que

Vouz Voyez ? the headline above should finish ...

I did this black-and-white etching very early in my career in Paris, France : 1078 I believe? It was a intricate etching with lots of lines and lots of suggestions of animal forms dissolving into a background of earth, sky and water : all things coming together. I had a whole lot of fun with it and my imagination really began to work overtime and I liked this : made me work even harder and smile to myself inwardly even more. I was pleased, I was compelled, I was driven , I was dedicated to this pursuit of mine and it was rewarding me inch by inch, line by line, and really small bit by small bit. Great! Of course I did not really know any of this at the time. It would come gradually, it would come later. I would realize some of this as I looked back years later very much as I am now.

Why do I say this? I mention it because it occurs to me now. I moved on pretty quickly to many other etchings in Paris, France. I would often go back and re-print a plate. Pretty much all of what I have printed I would categorize as " Artist's Proofs ". I like this : I know it is much harder to sell and probably nowhere as profitable. Certainly it is much less marketable. I get that that, I really do. But I am and always have been very much about the raw inspiration at any given moment. That to me is the " germ - the truth, the closest thing to being as honest as anyone can be at any one given moment ". Wow, that's all a tongue and a mind-twister. So be it : I'm happy, I still believe this and only time will prove me right or wrong : all depending on one's point of view : or the collective " point-of-view " of one large sea or sky or cave of opinion/ likes and dislikes.

SO : enjoy this one print that I pulled of this etching done many years ago in Paris, France that I started when I first went to print at William Stanley Hayter's Atelier 17 at 10, Rue Didot in the 14th arrondisement of Paris, France back in 1978 I believe. Cheers and please comment and tell me what you all see below in the " comment " section at the end of this blog? I would love to hear. Cheers et a la prochaine. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn

My " The Beggar Woman "/ Etching Artist's Proofs Done In 1988-1989/ Metro Trocadero/ I Drew Her Each Morning/ ZUCCARDI Argentina Wines Oct. 2011

I had learned about wine in part already with my father as we would visit the Nicolas wine shops at first. Then we discovered Steven Spurrier's Caves De La Madeleine and his Acedemie Du Vin. When I turned 21 my parents gave me a class there ( the first wine class offered there ) and I was allowed to come on a trial run. Patricia Gallagher was not sure that the older men would like me and welcome me to the class? So it was a test to see if I passed? According to my mother I passed with flying colors and was invited back! I like that, I like it a lot.

Anyway, at some point while learning about wine with my father I also started to draw the musicians and the people in the Paris metro. I was fascinated by this one particular old beggar woman in the Trocadero metro and I drew her many times and this etching is the result of those drawings.

This etching represents the life as I envisioned it of this old beggar woman from being a young girl to a young lady to finally coming to beg in the Trocadero metro.

The walls of the metro represent the people like me that are almost machine-like and indifferent and cold and simply pressing on to get to their destinations. Not pretty, not right. Something wrong with this picture isn't there? Should be fixed, shouldn't it?

Anyway, I wanted to share these artist's proofs with you and get your impressions?

On wine, last night my wife and I enjoyed some Argentina dry white and red : she the ZUCCARDI 2010 Torrontes white and me the ZUCCARDI Mendoza Malbec 2009 dry red. Also tried over the weekend the ZUCCARDI 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2008 or 2009 ZUCCARDI Tempranillo, They were all so different and opened slowly and gracefully. I liked the Cabernet the best, then the Tempranillo that needed the most time. I liked the least the Malbec becasue I thought of it as columns of flavor and I will check it tonight, a day-old and see if my impressions change. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn

" The Lover " Black and White Monotype Etching I Did In Paris, France, 1978-1979 / Celebrating Today 2/7/ 2012 31 Years Of Marriage!

I did these two prints awhile back in 1980 and unfortunately I hardly ever printed these plates. That's too bad. I should have made more copies. these are perhaps the only two copies that I ever made. How is this possible? I cannot remember the specifics at all : a bit shocking now as I look back on it as my wife and I celebrate our 31st anniversary today here in northern Virginia. She has already gone off to work and I am headed out really soon as well. We did meet in France and I made these prints at Joelle Serve's Atelier 54 where I was an instructor there for her and was able to print for free in exchange. It was a great arrangement and I do believe that I stepped up to the job and met mostly French students wanting to learn how to etch. I loved the experience and think of it fondly always.

I also think fondly on our 31 years of marriage and that we had so many wonderful times together in Paris, France as well as a bit of traveling, too. Those were some glorious days, our first days together before marriage and a family. There have , of course been many to follow with our marriage and starting our family.

I did this etching - the plate that is - a zinc plate with one of those grease red pencils that makes rather blurred and hazy markings that leave a whole lot of room when one wants to print from them as to interpretation, mood, areas to focus on, areas to diminish. It leads to only monotypes and I love that, too. Each should be an " original " , much like our marriage and the both of us, the two " solids " in our lives for so many years now.

I would have liked to have pulled more prints from this zinc plate. Oh well, I really do like these two blacks and white that should be kept together and enjoyed as a pair. Cheers on this Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 here in northern Virginia at home at 8:35AM as I get ready to really start my day and celebrate fully our anniversary. A bientot et a la prochaine fois ... and here's to many more, too. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn