Finding A Dapper, Energetic, Bright-Eyed, FULLY-ALIVE Jean-Charles Boisset Yesterday 3/4/13 In Camden Yards, Baltimore Maryland w/ BOUCHARD AINE 08/09/10 Burgundy Reds & BATASIOLO Barolo 08/04's! WOW!!

AT LAST! Finding you Jean-Charles ( PORTFOLIO TOUR 2013 ) fit as a fiddle, smiling, enthusiastic, energized, pretending to box with your fellow presenters, full of personal stories and why we make wine and why we drink it, talking very much about family and commitment, about the love and the passion, the " first kiss " of your parents, your mother's favorite Burgundy red, how your sister and you made some important decisions about your wine empire business, about biodynamic agriculture being important to nourish the deeper soils below so that the vines to extend and grow into them, about using horses in the vineyards once again to revitalize the soil. You spoke in depth with such conviction about the soil and how important it is, ESSENTIAL to the vines : and keeping it healthy. YOU WERE AMAZING to watch and I must say that I am disappointed in myself. I came fully-prepared to listen and absorb as much as I could and I probably registered half if that much. That is better than nothing and I am still happy for that. I brought my camera and my pens and paper to draw quick portrait sketches of you and I did around ten of those as well as got many photos, too. I am thrilled with all of that. YOU SHARED THE STAGE & PLATFORM, very much as a circus master would do. You complemented everyone there by your side. You deferred to them and their expertise. There you four were up in front of us all seated with six red wines poured before us ( 3 Barolos from BATASIOLO : 1 2008, 2 2004's, a " Bofani " and a " Boscareto " : and 3 BOUCHARD AINE red Burgundies - 2 2009's ; Gevrey Chambertin " Lavaux St. Jacques ", " Clos de la Roche " 2009 , one 20010 VOUGERAIE Nuits St. Georges " les Damodes ". You spoke in depth about sommelier Nicole Burke from California, about Ricardo March us/ canada Director of BATASIOLO and Julian Mayor, Head Sommelier of Bourbon Steak House in Washington D.C. It was nice and encouraging to hear so much about these three talented sommeliers and wine personalities. As I pointed out being a wine retailer myself I immediately noticed and felt a pang of imbalance in not having included a retailer in this extraordinary wine-tasting of six great French and Italian reds. IT WAS QUITE THE SPECTACLE : Jean Gagliolo and I arrived with Stuart Emden just in time for this sit-down wine-tasting of these excellent six wines listed above. It was a " show down " of sorts, in a fun way pitting the Barolo reds against the Burgundy reds. It was asked repeatedly of us which we preferred between the Barolo or Burgundy reds? Did we have a favorite country? Did we have a favorite wine? Did we like one of the three flights better than the other two? You all asked for more questions from us? You wanted us to participate. One of the ladies sitting across from me asked about the alcohol content of the first 2008 BATASIOLO Barolo I believe. Later she and a couple of others asked for you three to talk louder as the excellent music down the room from us from MOJO GYPSIES Rockin' Rhythm & Blues was making it very hard to hear what the three of you were saying. I agreed : we all did : for this amount of effort, time, expense, etcetera to have been made not being able to hear was a big disappointment. ALSO : it would have been nice to have someone recording this all for you, filming it as it was such a wonderful, lively, informative event. You four spoke with real knowledge and passion and together weaving what you all said and added to the other's words was pretty much a complete wine-education,grape-growing, vineyard-management class ; helpful, insightful and inspiring, too. Bravo to you all. YOU ALL WORKED beautifully as a team and the pouring of the glasses for us all before we started and as everyone took their places was quite impressive. I took some pictures of this as it is beautiful to watch wine being poured as it in itself is lovely to watch the motion of it all and the wine leaving the lips of the wine bottles and finding a temporary new home in the wine glasses. It's also beautiful to see all six wines poured with their names printed beside the glasses on a white sheet to better see the color and the clarity and the luminous. lustrous, reflective qualities of all six reds their side-by-side. Really well done and I , for one did notice and appreciate this very much. Thank you, prego, merci, gracias, obregado ... FOR ME there were no losers here : all six wines were masterpieces in their own right. They all had their distinct personalities and the only question valid for me was which of the six would work best for any particular occasion, situation, time of day, time of year, weather conditions, group of people gathered, personal stories and tastes considered? Match the wine with the time and the event and the time of year, inside or outside : consider the particulars and try and please as many as possible. That is my mantra. What a treat, what a spectacle, so much " candy " for the eyes to take in as our local rep Jean Gagliolo of Prestige Beverages drove us from the Cleveland Park neighborhood in Washington D.C. N.W. to the Boisset Family Wine portfolio wine-tasting that involved Prestige < Bacchus and Southern Importers : all wholesale houses selling, promoting and distributing the Boisset Family portfolio of wines in Maryland and Washington D.C. It was interesting from the get-go that such a presentation should be placed in Camden Yards, Baltimore and not in the District of Columbia. That is the first thing that I noticed and that Jean and I spoke of as we drove through Washington D.C. and up 16th Street to head towards Baltimore. I have much more to add but it's time to get off to work now to sell some of the Boisset Family portfolio of wines at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits at 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 , tel : 202-363-4265 anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwines.com. stay-tuned for more. Cheers, and enjoy this Tuesday , March 5th, 2013 as we wait for some snow later tonight? Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn I will add the pictures here later as I have several great serendipitous moments to share with you all.