Anthony Quinn's Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits Store Email Written & Sent On September 20th, 2011 : Read It & Enjoy! Cheers!!

Cleveland Park Wine Cleveland Park Beer, Liquor & Wine
Featuring a wide, international selection of fine wines, micro-brews and
spirits
GREAT CHANCE TO COME TOGETHER here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits as the
cool weather and rain of today are the perfect foil for us all to get together
here and outside the store and work together to accomplish many shared goals
and opportunities. Things seem to be heating up and I had plenty of opportunity
sitting in traffic not far from home this morning to organize many of my
thoughts. Take a gander in outline form :
1) TONIGHT : Giovanni Pasquero-Elia of PAITIN winery in Piemonte, Italy
here Tuesday, Sept. 20th, 2011 from 5-8PM with Regis of Roanoke Imports to
taste his red wines made from the Barbera and Nebbiolo grapes : that means some
Barbera D'Asti and some Barbaresco, too. No charge, join us. What great values
Giovanni's wines offer : classic and traditional and meant to be enjoyed fully
in the context of a meal with family and friends, and what values, too.
2) Weekend Tastings with Regis tasting the RANSOM gin products and Sotiris
tasting more Italian wines with maybe a surprise or two. Both here from 2-6PM.
3) A GAUCHEZCO wine dinner at Chef Geoff's on Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
for you all. I'm waiting on a menu and a price for the dinner and have just
called Mark Congdon my local rep for more info to put here for you at least to
all mark your calendars. UPDATE : Mark just returned my call and the evening
will have two Malbecs served as well as a dry white Torontes and a dry rose as
well. I will have to ask him what grapes are used to make the dry rose?
4) Spoke to owner Richard Gguyen of Nam Viet here about his friend Javier
Perez of the Team Pura Vida that will be running the 36th Annual Marine Corp
Marathon and I need more info to include here? Go to : Javier@teampuravida for
more info and I will add more as soon as I here from Richard.
5) Cleveland Park Day is on Saturday, October 1st, 2011 from 1-5PM and so
I called my local rep Vince Grande that represents both Italian producers of :
MARCHESI Di BAROLO ( in the Piemonte region of Italy ) and CANTINA Di
MONTALCINO in Tuscany ( among other selections, Too I am sure). Anyway, I have
called Vince and asked him to come up with a really SPECIAL wine-tasting for us
from 1-6PM to really make that period wonderful here in the store. Both Santos
and Ravi are also working on things to treat you all to from 1-6PM here at the
same time. Last year we had wine-owner and wine-maker Hugh Hamilton come of his
own winery in the McLaren Vale, of South Australia called HUGH HAMILTON.
6) Make plans already for our next Big-Theme Wine-Tasting : AUSTRALIA : on
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 from 5:30-8:30PM. This will be fun : we will
include many of our favorite Aussie wineries from LONGVIEW, WEST CAPE HOWE,
VINACEOUS, GIBSON and LOOSE END, HUGH HAMILTON, LOGAN, CULLEN, D'ARENBERG, SHOO
FLY, LEEUIN, PENLEY, INNOCENT BYSTANDER and more. Still working on this of
course. Just getting started and building gradually ...
7) Working with the Cleveland Park Business association of local stores
here to help promote our neighborhood and what we may/can offer you all? I am
signing up to work on the Marketing Committee as that is something that greatly
interests me and that I am good at.
8) I just heard last night that legendary wine-importer Joe Dressner
passed away. He was fighting brain cancer and we have sold selections of his
wines for years. He had been to the store I believe three times, the last time
with owner/wine-maker Eric Texier of TEXIER French Rhone wines before heading
down to their dinner at Lavandou here at the end of our block. Joe, you will be
missed! It's really a big loss for all of us. You have made a huge difference
to the wine world with your selections of wines made in Europe and that respect
both the place, the grapes and of course the land in which the vines and grapes
grow. Someone might not like the wine(s) that you have selected but no one can
dispute the quality : traditional, classic, always popular even today as they
will still be tomorrow and the next. Thanks for all that you have added. I will
order some of your wines for October and celebrate with them and sell them in
testament and in celebration of you and your wine selections. This will be a
fun event. Look forward to more info about all of this.
9) Introducing Ralph Gillotte to the Cleveland Park staff. Ralph's first
day was yesterday and that is a BIG DEAL and we are all thrilled here to have
Ralph on board especially to help me with the wines. Ralph used to be our sales
person from Vinifera Italian wines and he really knows them well. He knows
really great Italian wines, too as Vinifera imports only sells the very best:
period. SO, we will probably have even more emphasis in the future on our
Italian wine selection. I have as yet to learn what Ralph likes along with his
Italian wines? Ralph has had experience in both retail, restaurants and local
country clubs. He's just back from a 2-month trip to Hawaii where he worked two
jobs I believe, one being in a local wine shop there? We will get more
information in the next few days. SO : come by and welcome Ralph to our store.
We think you will like him : great smile.
10) We are very sad to say " bye " to Greg Siebert that worked really hard
here and really made his mark and contribution on our store. I know a number of
our customers really liked working with him. He got another job offer but would
not tell anyone what it was. We wish him well and Greg said in leaving that he
had really enjoyed his experience here and that he wanted to stay in touch and
receive this store email and return for some of our tastings. We will include
more info as we get it. If you are reading this Greg : thanks for everything -
you will be missed. Cheers and good luck.

SO YOU SEE MY DRIVE TO WORK can be fruitful and many ideas and memories come to
mind. I had to make my list here quickly once that I arrived. I probably missed
some things but that's okay. I will add them to my growing list.

BEER / ALE / LAGERS / CIDERS From SANTOS:

1) Cerveza Premium 100% Malt Lager Beer from CUSSQUENA ( On Special for
$7.99 a 6-pack of 12 ounce bottles, made in Peru ) is brewed by Union De
Cervecias Peruvianas Backus Y Johnston S.A.A. Lima, Peru.
2) " Life and Limb " 2  Ale Brewed With Maple Syrup and with Burch syrup
added ( $14.99 a 1 Pt. 9.4 Fl. Oz bottle, 10.2% Alcohol by volume ) is made by
SIERRA NEVADA. For the complete story visit : www.Life-Limb.com. Made by Sam
Calagione and Ken Grossman in Chico, California.
3) " A Sorachi Ace " by BROOKLYN ( On Special for $9.99, 1 Pt., 9.4Fl. Oz
bottle, 7.6% Alcohol by Volume , Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY ) is 100%
bottle-refermented ale. " ... a classic, saison, a cracklingly dry, hoppy
unfiltered golden farmhouse ale ... ".

LIQUOR From Ravi :

1) Armagnac V.S.O.P. 10 years-old ( 10 ans d'age ) from CASTAREDE (
$56.99, 40% alcohol by volume , 47230 Lavardac, France ) is the oldest Armagnac
house founded in 1832. We should do a tasting of this soon.
2) Single Barrel Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon whiskey by KNOB CREEK (
$42.99 60% Alcohol by volume, 120 proof ) is " new and exciting ". It's aged
nine years.
3) Pisco estate-distilled producto de Peru from BARSOL ( On Special for
$25.99, 40% alcohol by volume ) is a Primero / Quebranta ( the name of the
indigenous Peruvian grape - it's 100% of the Quebranta grape ) " adheres to the
classic Pisco pot distillation method used for centuries in Peru ".

WINE From Tony & Ralph :

SPARKLING -
1) Non-Vintage Brut/Dry Aussie sparkling wine ( $13.99 ) that reminds me a
whole lot of really nice Italian prosecco. Enjoy!
2) Prosecco of CANALLINO ( $14.99 ) is pretty impressive. Dry, elegant and
so luminously bright!
3) Prosecco of VIGNADORO ( $18.99 ) has got a silky finesse and breed and
refinement that it's pretty amazing and so very agreeable. Lovely!

REDS -

1) Syrah Estate grown and bottles 2007 ( great vintage ) from California's
Santa Ynez Valley and made by ZACA MESA was great over the weekend. I enjoyed a
bottle over Sunday and Monday and I must say that it was quite spectacular,
especially on Sunday night when it was freshest. I loved it, even with the
higher 14.5% alcohol level. It was a really great foil for the cool weather
outside as I grilled on both evenings and prepared dinner for my family. It
sells for $26.99 a bottle and is worth every penny. We still have some so come
and take advantage of this before it is all gone. It's so well-balanced and
smooth : melts and molds and caresses and seduces and cajoles - an overall
grande " please ".
2) Private Reserve 2008 Merlot from Chile's Aconcagua Valley from ALMA De
Chile ( $14.99 ) is a lovely dry red that's medium-bodied and so silky and
bright and the sun shines through the color and catches in it and radiates
warmth and comfort and ultimate joy that's there for the taking and involving
no effort at all. It's perfect for this weather when you get home and want a
dry, smooth, no-edge red to sip. Cheers.

BY THE WAY : Our Chilean Big-Theme Wine-Tasting here this past Wednesday,
Sept. 14th, 2011 from 5:30-8:30PM was a huge success and we had more new faces
and customers and so much excitement and joy that it was palpable. You could
almost touch it. Many came from the Chilean Embassy to be a part of this
three-hour event where the wines showed beautifully and we sold many bottles
and cases of wine on this evening. We also raised money that we sent the next
morning to the Chilean Earthquake relief and you all helped us to do that.
Thanks. Feels good to help others where we can.
MANY OF THOSE WINES ( ALMA De CHILE, IN SITU, FALERNIA, AROMO, DOS PASOS
and VIU MANENT ) are all here from the tasting and can be purchased now if you
were not able to attend. We can tell you all about them. I tasted wines from
Chile from Wednesday through Saturday and we sold much more after the tasting.
It was a week of Chilean wines, of quality and of tremendous value, too. Thanks
Manuel Rojas for helping me to get the ball rolling and for inviting everyone
from the Chilean Embassy to be a part of this special moment.

WHITE -

1) Bordeaux blanc blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon Blanc, this 2010
CHATEAU LA MOULINIERE ( $13.99 ) has become a real favorite of you all. All you
have to do is have a couple of sips and you will understand immediately: what's
not to really like here?!?

Dry ROSE -

1) Shiraz dry rose from South Africa's Stellenbosch region and made by DE
MEYE ( $13.99 ) is very pleasing and rich and full on the palate. Again, hard
to not be drawn to it within the first three sips. Nice with or without a meal.
Beautiful apricot-salmon-strawberry colors that entice. This 2011 is as fresh
as it gets with 13.5% alcohol by volume.

TASTINGS :

FRIDAY, September 23rd, 2011 ( 5-8PM ) : We have Arielle here from Country
Vintners coming to do an Italian wine-tasting of some of Italy's all-time
favorite wines like Pinot Grigio and Sangiovese and maybe even more. Call for
more info as it will all come together by tomorrow at the latest! Cheers!

SATURDAY, September 24th, 2011 ( 2-6PM ) : We have Sotirs Bafitis back
again to do another sweep of Italy and France and perhaps even Greece. I will
have that resolved for you all by tomorrow. So call me at : 202-363-4265 for
any clarification. It will be a European wine-tasting. Regis Sheithauser will
also be here on Saturday at the same time pouring his RANSOM gins from.
IF YOU COME TONIGHT ( 5-8PM ) to meet wine owner/wine-maker Giovanni
Pasquero-Elia of the PAITIN Piemontese Italian house you can ask Regis about
what he will taste here on Saturday.

COME TONIGHT TO MEET GIOVANNI PASQUERO-ELIA of the PAITIN Wines with
Barberas and Nebbiolos, also with Barbarescos, too : all fabulous dry Italian
reds to taste that pair and marry so well with food. Get some bottles signed as
gifts.

I AM SURE THAT I HAVE FORGOTTEN SOMETHING but it's time to send this email
now so that you all have plenty of time to read it at your leisure. Is there
such a thing anymore as leisure?!? Thanks again for all your support. Cheers.
Join us on our web page at : clevelandparkwine.com, also on Facebook at :
Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits, on Twitter at : cpwinespirits and at :
chatwine.blogspot.com. Take care,  TONY

RALPH, glad to have you now on board, welcome.

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/
2. mailto:sales@clevelandparkwine.com