Email For Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits I ( Anthony TONY Quinn ) Wrote & Posted on Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011 : See How Things Have Changed - Stayed The Same, Cheers & Enjoy

IT'S AN EXCITING TIME HERE : NO STORM like some of us got in northern Virginia
yesterday afternoon. When I drove back home having seen my mother it looked
like a battle zone as I got off 495 and onto the loop and saw all the green
leaves and fallen branches and wondered just exactly how bad the storm actually
was that my wife had told me about just before I left to return home? Wow, I
was amazed as I got into our neighborhood and saw evidence of this storm
everywhere with even lots of limbs having been cut by chain saws and cast off
to the sides of the larger thoroughfares. This was quite the sight and
definitely perked me up after a long and arduous and rather uneventful ride
home : one of my longest ever I might add.

IT WAS FUN, HOWEVER, as my mother and I discovered a really " fine eat " in
Martinsburg, West Virginia. Two good customers recommended it to me when we
were talking about Italian wine. My mother and I both had a glass of the house
chianti instead of buying a bottle of the COLTIBUONO 2008 Chianti Classic ( on
their list for $30 a bottle. I told Sonia that owners Francesca and Roberto of
COLTIBUONO had both been here in our store tasting with customers. She asked me
if we had some Bonarda because it is her favorite red to drink. She was
delighted when I told her we had some from Oltrepo Pavese. She's bringing her
children to the National Zoo and then stopping to see us here and then perhaps
going over to see Pietro at Sorriso as they are both from Veneto ). That was
simply too much for us to drink and I had to drive and so one glass over a
leisurely lunch was perfect. We dined at CASA VISONE , an Italian bistro owned
by Eva and Francesco Visone. Francesco is from Florence, Italy and Eva is from
South Carolina.

CASA VISONE is located at : 120 N. Queen Street, Martinsburg, WV 25401 (
304-260-9294 ) and we both recommend it highly. Sonia from Veneto, Italy was
our waitress and she was lovely and charming and really helped to set the mood
and cement the occasion and the meal for us both. Check it out if you are up in
that area ever. They are open for lunch and dinner and you can get take-out,
too. Really a lovely " find " for us and I know that we will return as the food
is excellent, the prices are very fair and the atmosphere is lovely, too.
Cheers. Our two customers were spot-on with this recommendation of theirs. It's
nice to share information as we do here. By the way we now have the
WEST-WHITEHILL reds from West Virginia in Moorefield, WV. The Sweet Mountain
Spice Wine at $10.99 with a chill of thirty minutes is delightful and great
with some desserts. Check it out as well.

WE JUST RECEIVED SOME IN SITU Wines from Nice Legs Imports. The IN SITU Chilean
wine  1)  2007 Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon, $26.99 blew me away the other
day! What a great gift! It's drinking so beautifully. It inspires and fires and
pleases me so almost completely. It's really ready to enjoy NOW even with this
heat and humidity and burning sunshine that is relentless in the middle of the
day. It really tasted great last week when I tried some here in mid afternoon.
We also have some of the  2)  IN SITU  Winemakers' Selection 2009 Chardonnay is
a well-balanced, flavorful and distinct medium-bodied dry white, $16.99, the
3) IN SITU  Winemakers' Selection Carmenere 2008 ( also really lovely and very
approachable now even with this weather ), and the  4) IN SITU  Winemakers'
Selection 2008 Syrah, $16.99 that needs some food and is slow to open and
reveal it's charms.

WE HAVE A NUMBER OF SALE WINES COMING THROUGH OUR DOORS over the next couple of
weeks and so I will wait for them to actually be here in the store before I
mention them and create a stampede here. We don't want any of you to be
disappointed but I can assure you that we have some wonderful wines coming here
that all be on deep sales from some of Oregon's finest dry Chardonnay, to some
of France's best Viognier : both at seriously-reduced prices. SO : stay-tuned
for more information on all of these developments as they start to roll through
our doors this week and next.

AN ORDER FROM COBBLESTONE Imports just came through with wines of  1)  Italy (
LA QUERTIA Montepulciano, $12.99 ),  2)  California ( RAMSAY'S Petite Sirah
2009, $16.99 ;  and Pinot Noir 2008 , $18.99,and  3) Portugal, some of the very
first we have ever seen dry rose Vinho Verde LAS LILAS 2010 11% alcohol by
volume that at $9.99 is a great way to enjoy a rose with all this hot,
sweltering heat : especially when the humidity chokes us. This is like the
straw that we need to pierce the humidity and let us breathe, smile and even
turn cartwheels!

WE ARE ALSO HAPPY to come to your buildings and do some wine-tastings for you
and your neighbors there and other tenants as well. Please tell the concierges.
supervisors that we would be lovely to come and do both wine-tastings as well
as mixed drinks that are fun and current and popular : as well as beer
tastings, too. Just let us know when and how and what you would all like. Our
ears and eyes are open to any suggestions. Just let us know, we are more than
willing to try and meet you all half way or even farther. It's more calm and
quiet and we are prepared to do some tastings pretty much immediately starting
now in August. Call : 202-363-4265 or email me at :
anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwine.com. Cheers. I look hearing from you. You may
also simply respond to this email and we will respond with answers or
suggestions asap.

I LOVE THE FIRST DAY OF EACH MONTHS : stacks and piles and cases upon cases of
wines! We just received a big order from Bacchus Imports of many wines from
California ( GRAYSON Cab Sauv. 2010 $10.99,  AVALON  Cab. Sauv 2010 and Sauv.
Blanc 2010 both at  $10.99, LANDER JENKINS Cab Sauv 2008 $14.99 ) , Italy (
SANTADI ), Chile ( CONO SUR Pinot Noir 2010 and 2010 Sauv. Blanc both at
$10.99, VINA FALERNIA Pedro Ximenez dry white  $11.99 ), Australia ( GOTHAM,
$16.99 ;  and MEN OF GOTHAM, $8.99 ), Argentina ( CRIOS de Susana Balbo), Spain
( Marques de Caceres - the " new " dry white Albarino, $17.99 ) and more with
the Death's Gin.

IT'S ALSO A GREAT TIME TO CONTINUE WITH MY SATURDAY late morning-early
afternoon Wine-Tastings I can even do a beer tasting if you would like. There
are plenty of single bottles here that I can choose and we can really turn up
the heat with some great beers : ales, porters, lagers,Belgian-style, beers
that to me taste like good wines, and more.

WE CAN ALSO GET GREG involved and so if you would rather do a mixed-drink -
cocktail tasting we can do that, too as Greg is our super mixologist here! Cost
for the wine and the beer tastings would still be $10 a person and I will
discuss the cocktail price with both Greg and also Ravi. More on that really
soon.

I CAN ALSO COME TO YOUR HOME AND APARTMENT and houses and do private
wine-tastings for you as well. I have had twenty-five years of experience doing
these wine-tastings and can basically do them in my sleep so please call or
email and let me know if you are interested in this as a special gift to
someone or to yourselves. I just did one this past Sunday for two of our
favorite customers and it was a blast. It was a small group of six and with me
that made seven. They came and bought the wines here in advance. As a matter of
fact they were here for our Big-Theme Loire Valley French wine-tasting and they
bought some of those as well as bought some wines for their private
wine-tasting : a gift to their families. We had six wonderful wines to taste.

IT NEVER STOPS ON the first day of the month and we just received more wines
from Austria : 1) ANTON BAUER Gruner Veltliner " Gmork " 2009, $11.99, and dry
rose 2010 $11.99,  ...  2) LEO HILLINGER Welschriesling 2010, $13.99,  ...  3)
STRAUSS Samling 88 Scheurebe $13.99, and the Sauvignon Blanc dry $19.99  ...
and  4) PAUL D. Gruner Veltliner 2009 $11.99

BUT HEY, I have to get back to my private wine-tasting. I started with 1)  the
Greek Agiorgitiko Nemea 2009 " Red On Black ", $12.99 that opened really slowly
but beautifully. Designed to complement a meal and a great wine slightly
chilled for twenty minutes, medium-to-light bodied and earthy and spicy and
really impressive. We then went to the  2)  VALDIPIATA Rosso Di Montepulciano
2008 Tuscan red, $19.99 that had more breed and finesse and was for me at least
a step-up but it also costs $7 more a bottle. It , too was a lovely
medium-bodied treat that opened gracefully and would be better with a meal. We
then passed to the  3) " Pheasant's Tears " Unfiltered indigenous Saperavi
black wine Kakheti 2008, $19.99 from Georgia. It. too had lots of power and
breed and was quite impressive in the glass. It was also a great food wine. You
cannot rush it to reveal it's true colors and flavors. They all three needed
some coaxing to shed their skins and strut their stuff!  We then moved onto the
fourth red that I held back because of it's opulent bouquet of ripe-smelling
fruit. it's warmth and far-reaching arms to embrace and draw one to it , the
4)  Di LENARDO Dal Vigneto Vigne Da Lis Maris indigenous Refosco 2009, $13.99.
This was perhaps clearly everyone's favorite because of it's charm and broad
appeal. It was very well-received by all seven of us at this private
wine-tasting that I conducted in the home of our good customers.

WE THEN WENT to a dry Spanish white, the  5) FUENTE MILANO dry white blend 2010
of the indigenous grapes of Verdejo and Viura, $10.99 from Spain's Vino de la
Tierra de Castilla Y Leon that was fresh and bright and fleshy and smooth and
creamy and a great sipping wine all by itself. Everyone loved this, too and it
did not suffer at all from following the four reds before. In fact it was like
a lovely palate-cleaner and it refreshed and revived us all. Then we finished
with a real special treat of the  6) CHARLES ORBAN RM ( recoltant-manipulant )
non-vintage brut champagne from Troissy, France. It sells for $46.99 and is
worth every penny. It showed brilliantly on Sunday night and we were all bowled
over by it. It has a lovely balance of all of the components and the bread and
the yeast and the nuttiness and the honey and everything is focused and fleshy
and quite complex and totally a great team effort of it's various components!
Wow, I was thrilled. I could have drunk half of the bottle or more all by
myself. What a great way to end a wonderful tasting with a wonderful group of
people and " new " friends for me. Cheers. Oh, the fun story is that my hosts
bought a bottle of the CHARLES ORBAN On Special at $49.99 a bottle and thought
it was only $9.99 when they popped the cork to enjoy with their burgers. They
LOVED it and said that it was wonderful, even more than the one we just
enjoyed. We have both here in the store. The rose sells for $51.99 a bottle.

BUT HEY, Let's not forget SANTOS RIVERA and his wonderful BEER :

1) Black Diamond " FREE Style " Belgian-style Blonde ( On Special for
$11.99 a six-pack, 5.2% alc. by volume, 12 fl. oz bottles, Concord, CA. ) from
the Black Brewing Company is " new and exciting ". It's a " brilliant golden
colored ale with rich silky flavor of European Pilsner malt that's punctuated
with spicy notes of Rye and accented by the complex Belgian yeast".

2) Black Diamondbrewing Company's " Jagged Edge " IPA ( On Special for
$12.99 a six-pack, 7.3% alc. by volume, 12 fl. oz bottles, ) ... you " ascend
to the Jagged Edge, audaciously hopped and framed with a big malt backbone. Not
for the faint of heart".

AND RAVI, I know you think that I forgotten you and the LIQUOR :

1) CATOCTIN CREEK Organic " Watershed Gin " is triple distilled ( $36.99,
in Loudon County, Virginia, 50% alc, by volume, 750ml bottle ) is made from the
highest quality ingredients and the husband and wife team are local and will
come to do a tasting here sometime soon. This is the first distillery in Loudon
County, VA. since Prohibition. That's been awhile.

2) OAK CROSS Malt Scotch Whisky ( $49.99, from the Compass Box whisky
company ) is " rich, round, elegant and hand-picked selection of Highland malt
whiskies with delicious, subtle spice accents from the new French oak and soft,
vanilla character from American oak. " Comments made by the whiskymaker John
Glaser. NEW & EXCITING!

3) TOMBO Shochu/Soju ( $16.99 , 26% alc. by volume ) are spirits distilled
from Barley. This is a product of Vietnam. Go to : www.tomboscoschochu.com for
more information. NEW and EXCITING! Wow, something from Vietnam!

TASTING Week's Schedule :

Friday, August 5th, 2011 ( 5-8PM ) : We have Bill Cook coming to taste
some of the excellent wines from Republic/National Imports. There is no charge
so join us.

Saturday, August 6th, 2011 ( 2-6PM ) : We have Dmitri of Nice Legs coming
to taste an assortment of his family's excellent wines from Moldova as well as
some other treasures in his Nice Legs portfolio. Join us, never any charge.

ART EVENT @ My HOME on Sunday, August 21st, 2011. Mark your calendars and save
this date. It will be an afternoon event from 1-5PM. Join me. Call me here :
202-363-42765 at the store for more info. Come see some of my recent artwork
from the past five years or so. I will include more info in the next email. It
will be in Annandale, Virginia where I live and of course wine will be served
while you look and hopefully enjoy.

I KNOW I HAVE FORGOTTEN SOMETHING but it's time to get this posted now. Cheers
and thanks for all of your support. You can always find more about things at :
www.clevelandparkwine.com, on Facebook at : Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits, on
Twitter at : cpwinespirits, and at : chatwine.blogspot.com,
chatart.blogspot.com and chatpoetry.blogspot.com. DON'T BE A STRANGER : COME ON
BY anytime. Cheers and thanks again,  TONY

Cleveland Park Wine Cleveland Park Beer, Liquor & Wine
Featuring a wide, international selection of fine wines, micro-brews and
spirits
Please visit our website below for more information, events and specials, and
our calender of wine tastings!

[1]www.clevelandparkwine.com

If you have any orders, suggestions or questions, you may e-mail us at
[2]sales@clevelandparkwine.com or call (202) 363-4265.

References

1. http://www.clevelandparkwine.com/