... ...
Wow, did I say " wow " enough times yet?!? This was a treat, a real treat, something special for me after 35 years or so of drinking wines and enjoying them first with my parents when we lived in Paris, France in the 70's, and then later in college at Randolph-Macon in Ashland , Virginia where I gave a very , very rudimentary wine class to my friends like Jim, Patty, Martha, Chuck, Ed, Margaret and a few more. Wow, I hardly knew anything when I started and I did make some wonderful discoveries in Paris, France that have stayed with me, as well as my art : and I have combined the two together even lat night as I met Jancis Robinson for the very first time. Wow!
It was something that I have been planning for a very long time and things just fell into place one Saturday when my good friend and customer at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits on a Saturday dropped a " big bomb " on me announcing that Jancis Robinson would be in town and that he was going to go and meet her. This was like a wonderful slap or two or even three in the face! Wow,: " I want to meet here! " jumped into my thoughts immediately blocking all else out! Can I meet her, too?!? " That's where I was as Jim continued to explain that wine-writer Dave McIntyre had invited him and that he would be interviewing her there in the Baird Auditorium of the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. I was having trouble following this as all i could think of was : " How can I meet Jancis! I have my book VINES/ GRAPES / WINES that I want her to sign! '.
Jim and I were outside Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits on Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 by Palena restaurant and I had just finished putting his case of wine into the trunk of his car. I was jealous of Jim, very jealous and envious, too! Oops, I should not be as I am an adult but I have keenly wanted to meet her and I asked Jim more about Dave and his involvement and asked if he could get me in,too I believe? Anyway I resolved to look into this more immediately and I did and the rest is history as I got my friend and wine colleague Andrew Stover to help me and we purchased both a ticket and Jancis Robinson and sports' writer Linda Murphy's " new " book AMERICAN WINE and I was set. Set for all the anticipation of meeting Jancis Robinson in another couple of months. Two months to " get ready " and to " fret " and to " organize-strategize, plan " , you know, finally include as much as I could possibly into this experience as I possibly could?!? Wow, that's a big order, a really BIG ORDER. Was I up to it, could I pull it all off?!? I was willing, more than willing to give it all that I got : and so I did last night, finally coming face-to-face with Jancis. NICE.
Yesterday morning I wrote a poem inspired by Jancis Robinson before showing up to work at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits in Cleveland Park Northwest, Washington D.C. where I manage the wine department now for more than 13 years. I was pleased to write another poem inspired by Jancis. I had written one a couple weeks' earlier and already have posted that on my : chatpoetry.blogspot.com page.
Off Now Me Meet /
Yeah Jan Drin Rin Ink /
Words Eat Drink Like /
To Kit It Si Itchen /
Sink We Sit I Not /
Blink Want Meet Greet /
Janci Anci Ancis I /
Time First Times Many /
The Intens So City /
Wash @ Baird An Audi /
Laudit Vie Via Via ! /
Is So Me For Isual A /
Sight Come Comp Comps /
Be Pound Bam Pound Bam /
Till Cry Till Sigh Till Boo /
Boo Boom Zoom I'm So /
Happy Done Peed Eat /
Pie Kiss Sky To Final Si /
Oui To Me meet Jancis /
A Special Treat I Will Bask /
... I will publish the rest of this poem at Chatpoetry.blogspot.com as soon as O am able. Cheers.
So, last night I left Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits at 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. N.W. to drive down to 10th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W. and hope finding a parking space and be on time for the interview at 6:45PM. It was 6:05PM when I was in my car and driving off and there would be rush-hour traffic and I was nervous. I had everything organized : my new sketch pads, my new oil pastels, my pens, my lumix lens camera, my two books to have Jancis sign, my confirmation of my ticket purchase for $75. Yes, I paid $75 for the ticket. I also purchased the book and was thrilled for both. Both were very worthy costs to be paid and I was happy to do it as I wanted to meet Jancis even though it would be in a grand setting and with lots of people and little chance for me to really talk to her one-on-one. Oh well, that's how the cookie crumbles and I was ready to catch ant crumbs that could possibly come my way : and happy for them.
Being an artist I want to bring something that's my own to the wine table. I want to bring my artist's eyes as well as my visual sensibilities, attention to details other than those picked up perhaps by others? I want to add to the equation and not duplicate it.
I was lucky, lucky indeed. There was traffic and I had to weave through it often enough as I would my way to the Natural History Museum and I did get there at 6:40PM or so and was lucky to find parking there on Constitution Avenue just at the corner of Constitution Avenue in front of the Natural History Museum where you can turn to the right and go under the Mall towards 395 where I needed to be anyway! Wow, what are the chances of this?! And it was legal, too : 2-hour parking and I was set. I could not believe my luck : the luck of the Irish with a name like Quinn. Cheers.
This is my wine blog and not my art or poetry blog and so I apologize for mixing so much of the three here. I will " correct " it soon enough and add more in about the wine. I got to Baird Auditorium on time and had to rush to find a seat. I scoped out the stage with the two chairs front-and-center and looked for a place to sit where I could sketch Jancis while she sat and spoke with Dave. I ran into lots of people that I know or recognized like Marlyn, Will, Marilyn and then Jim Stutsman that called out my name and said simply : " if you are looking for a place to sit the seat next to me is empty and you can sit here? ". I accepted immediately and was then sitting next to both Jim and Will Shore, and with Lili, Dave McIntyre's wife on the other side of Jim : snug and cozy and friendly and just like I like it!
Will commented on all my things and helped me to set myself up with sketch pad, oil pastels and Lumix-lens camera to accomplish all that I hoped to accomplish during this interview. I did, too. My legs began to shake from holding still and balancing everything on them and on the seat in front of me, sketching, turning pages and listening, taking photographs and absorbing as much as possible! A true feat. I did 2 quick portrait ink sketches of Dave, I did 4 of Jancis with ink and then 19-20 of her with oil pastels. I even managed to write what she said about Virginia wines when asked by Dave on a separate sheet of white sketch paper : " Great energy and broad vision, and I like the Petit Verdot and the Petit Manseng ... and I commend the governor of Virginia ". Jancis also mentioned drinking a bottle of 1959 Chambolle Musigny when the love affair with her and wine started years ago and just after she worked in the travel business for a stint of time?
I wish that I had a tape recorder to record this all. Cheers and stay-tuned for more. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
... ...
Wow, did I say " wow " enough times yet?!? This was a treat, a real treat, something special for me after 35 years or so of drinking wines and enjoying them first with my parents when we lived in Paris, France in the 70's, and then later in college at Randolph-Macon in Ashland , Virginia where I gave a very , very rudimentary wine class to my friends like Jim, Patty, Martha, Chuck, Ed, Margaret and a few more. Wow, I hardly knew anything when I started and I did make some wonderful discoveries in Paris, France that have stayed with me, as well as my art : and I have combined the two together even lat night as I met Jancis Robinson for the very first time. Wow!
It was something that I have been planning for a very long time and things just fell into place one Saturday when my good friend and customer at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits on a Saturday dropped a " big bomb " on me announcing that Jancis Robinson would be in town and that he was going to go and meet her. This was like a wonderful slap or two or even three in the face! Wow,: " I want to meet here! " jumped into my thoughts immediately blocking all else out! Can I meet her, too?!? " That's where I was as Jim continued to explain that wine-writer Dave McIntyre had invited him and that he would be interviewing her there in the Baird Auditorium of the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. I was having trouble following this as all i could think of was : " How can I meet Jancis! I have my book VINES/ GRAPES / WINES that I want her to sign! '.
Jim and I were outside Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits on Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 by Palena restaurant and I had just finished putting his case of wine into the trunk of his car. I was jealous of Jim, very jealous and envious, too! Oops, I should not be as I am an adult but I have keenly wanted to meet her and I asked Jim more about Dave and his involvement and asked if he could get me in,too I believe? Anyway I resolved to look into this more immediately and I did and the rest is history as I got my friend and wine colleague Andrew Stover to help me and we purchased both a ticket and Jancis Robinson and sports' writer Linda Murphy's " new " book AMERICAN WINE and I was set. Set for all the anticipation of meeting Jancis Robinson in another couple of months. Two months to " get ready " and to " fret " and to " organize-strategize, plan " , you know, finally include as much as I could possibly into this experience as I possibly could?!? Wow, that's a big order, a really BIG ORDER. Was I up to it, could I pull it all off?!? I was willing, more than willing to give it all that I got : and so I did last night, finally coming face-to-face with Jancis. NICE.
Yesterday morning I wrote a poem inspired by Jancis Robinson before showing up to work at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits in Cleveland Park Northwest, Washington D.C. where I manage the wine department now for more than 13 years. I was pleased to write another poem inspired by Jancis. I had written one a couple weeks' earlier and already have posted that on my : chatpoetry.blogspot.com page.
Off Now Me Meet /
Yeah Jan Drin Rin Ink /
Words Eat Drink Like /
To Kit It Si Itchen /
Sink We Sit I Not /
Blink Want Meet Greet /
Janci Anci Ancis I /
Time First Times Many /
The Intens So City /
Wash @ Baird An Audi /
Laudit Vie Via Via ! /
Is So Me For Isual A /
Sight Come Comp Comps /
Be Pound Bam Pound Bam /
Till Cry Till Sigh Till Boo /
Boo Boom Zoom I'm So /
Happy Done Peed Eat /
Pie Kiss Sky To Final Si /
Oui To Me meet Jancis /
A Special Treat I Will Bask /
... I will publish the rest of this poem at Chatpoetry.blogspot.com as soon as O am able. Cheers.
So, last night I left Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits at 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. N.W. to drive down to 10th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W. and hope finding a parking space and be on time for the interview at 6:45PM. It was 6:05PM when I was in my car and driving off and there would be rush-hour traffic and I was nervous. I had everything organized : my new sketch pads, my new oil pastels, my pens, my lumix lens camera, my two books to have Jancis sign, my confirmation of my ticket purchase for $75. Yes, I paid $75 for the ticket. I also purchased the book and was thrilled for both. Both were very worthy costs to be paid and I was happy to do it as I wanted to meet Jancis even though it would be in a grand setting and with lots of people and little chance for me to really talk to her one-on-one. Oh well, that's how the cookie crumbles and I was ready to catch ant crumbs that could possibly come my way : and happy for them.
Being an artist I want to bring something that's my own to the wine table. I want to bring my artist's eyes as well as my visual sensibilities, attention to details other than those picked up perhaps by others? I want to add to the equation and not duplicate it.
I was lucky, lucky indeed. There was traffic and I had to weave through it often enough as I would my way to the Natural History Museum and I did get there at 6:40PM or so and was lucky to find parking there on Constitution Avenue just at the corner of Constitution Avenue in front of the Natural History Museum where you can turn to the right and go under the Mall towards 395 where I needed to be anyway! Wow, what are the chances of this?! And it was legal, too : 2-hour parking and I was set. I could not believe my luck : the luck of the Irish with a name like Quinn. Cheers.
This is my wine blog and not my art or poetry blog and so I apologize for mixing so much of the three here. I will " correct " it soon enough and add more in about the wine. I got to Baird Auditorium on time and had to rush to find a seat. I scoped out the stage with the two chairs front-and-center and looked for a place to sit where I could sketch Jancis while she sat and spoke with Dave. I ran into lots of people that I know or recognized like Marlyn, Will, Marilyn and then Jim Stutsman that called out my name and said simply : " if you are looking for a place to sit the seat next to me is empty and you can sit here? ". I accepted immediately and was then sitting next to both Jim and Will Shore, and with Lili, Dave McIntyre's wife on the other side of Jim : snug and cozy and friendly and just like I like it!
Will commented on all my things and helped me to set myself up with sketch pad, oil pastels and Lumix-lens camera to accomplish all that I hoped to accomplish during this interview. I did, too. My legs began to shake from holding still and balancing everything on them and on the seat in front of me, sketching, turning pages and listening, taking photographs and absorbing as much as possible! A true feat. I did 2 quick portrait ink sketches of Dave, I did 4 of Jancis with ink and then 19-20 of her with oil pastels. I even managed to write what she said about Virginia wines when asked by Dave on a separate sheet of white sketch paper : " Great energy and broad vision, and I like the Petit Verdot and the Petit Manseng ... and I commend the governor of Virginia ". Jancis also mentioned drinking a bottle of 1959 Chambolle Musigny when the love affair with her and wine started years ago and just after she worked in the travel business for a stint of time?
I wish that I had a tape recorder to record this all. Cheers and stay-tuned for more. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
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