CASTELLO DI NEIVE Barbaresco Piemonte & CASTELCOSA/ PRA DI PRADIS Of Gustavo Fernandes - Tannic Tongue Selections W/ Tony Quinn & Ean Bond

I will have to ask Gustavo of Tannic Tongue Selections whether this CASTELLO DI NEIVE Piemonte Barbaresco was in fact a Riserva bottle as I suspect it was? From S. Stefano this was a classic example of a top-flight Nebbiolo made in Barbaresco and I am sure that I will buy sometime if Gustavo still has it in stock. At Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwines.com , also on Facebook at : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and on Twitter now at : cpwinespirits )we are buying some of the Piemonte wines that of course include both excellent Barbaresco and Barolo wines. However, given their cost these days we are searching for more " value " wines made with the Barbera and the Dolcetto grapes.

We are even buying more of the " fun and lesser-known " indigenous grapes from the Piemonte when available like Gamba di Pernice, Grignolino, Freisa and Ruche as they, too are excellent and provide interest, variety and individual flavors that have very much their own individual identities as well as usually costing $30 or under a bottle. This is in Washington D.C. where there are lots of choices and wines and small wine import companies to chose from that stick their necks out on a line and " add to the equation " as I like to state things and not simply sell the most obvious and easy to sell wines. This gives them and us more of a cutting-edge and I love this.

We at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits put our necks on the line many times each and every day. I think that many times we are successful, too in showing our customers the wide range of tasting opportunities that are available to them besides the most basic and obvious ones. This keeps wines made from indigenous grapes alive as well as importers and stores like ours that offer a wider range of wines, styles, tastes and food-wine pairings that often have existed for decades if not centuries and simply have to be mentioned depending on the situation or specific circumstances.

Gustavo has brought Ean Bond and me ( Tony Quinn ) some fabulous wines to taste in a very short period of time and we will get some of them soon enough. I hope by April, 2012 which is just another three week's away. Also pictured here are some of the CASTELCOSA / FRANCO FURLAN wines from Friuli that I have sold in the past as I know Franco's son, Alessandro Furlan quite well. since the mid eighties. I will buy some of these just so that I may speak about Alessandro and tell the story of how he came to Washington D.C. back in the eighties to learn English and the wine business at the Mayflower Wines & Spirits. What fun those early days were!

I will have to talk some with Gustavo and check my notes at work. We will definitely buy some of the red CASTELCOSA /FRANCO FURLAN and perhaps one of their special dry reds called " PRA DI PRADIS "? I cannot remember here at home what the prices were and what I have already committed to but I am sure that Gustavo can tell me when I ask him.

I checked and it was the Black Label " Stuccara " dry ref Friuli blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc that we tasted.

Being an artist I like to take these pictures to visually stimulate one's interest in rushing out to their local or favorite wine store and asking about these wines pictured and then buying them. I also want them to rush to their favorite restaurants and do the same thing : drink these wines with some excellent food. This CASTELLO DI NEIVE was always designed to be enjoyed with a meal. It was always designed to make you hungry for some food whether a big meal or some side dishes, appetizers and even some good cheese or some good pate or prosciutto.

Being an artist I also like to show the brilliant colors and the clarity and the vibrancy of these individual wines. They are pretty amazing : look at the delicate and rippling and fluctuating viscosity in the color of the red Barbaresco from CASTELL DI NEIVE above. It's pretty amazing : it makes a pretty good argument for rushing out immediately to buy some and enjoy it with your next meal? It works for me. I am a very visual kind of person.

Tannic Tongue selections and many of the small wholesalers today in Washington D.C. like Downey Selections, Siema, Grappoli, Boutique 34 South, J.W. Sieg, Cobblestone, Atlantic, 5 Grapes, Tradewinds and Roanoke Selections and many more really fill a gap to bring us some of the " best-kept wine secrets " available to us and to our customers.

Unlike some of the giants like Southern that are so large and have so many selections that never hardly ever see the light of day working with these small distributors ( and even more their excellent reps like Andrew and Brennan, Estebe, Neal, Mark, John & Theresa, David, Chris, Alexis and Regis ) their wines do find their ways into many of the best and most important stores and restaurants where they will be properly sold and shared with a public that is very ready to enjoy them either at home in most cases but also out when dining with family, friends and business associates.

Gotta love all of this , I certainly do.

I took many pictures when Gustavo came to taste the other day and have already put some of them into a " draft " form here on my chatwine.blogspot.com and just need now to find the time to add the text as I have just done here tonight on Thursday here in northern Virginia at home on March 8th, 2012 at 10:54PM. It's been an absolutely warm and beautiful and sunny and glorious day with some wined picking up as the sun disappeared and was replaced with our night. Our son just got back from walking our dog for the last time tonight and it's now bedtime for all of us. More tomorrow as I proof this and then get ready to post it. Cheers, caio, e a presto, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn

Grazie a Gustavo.