OCEANA'S Riesling Of CA. Tasted By Jean Gagliolo Of Capitol Beverages Here July 2009 / 3 Meals - Help Fight Hunger Program W/ Boisset - Cheers!

Being a male artist I immediately liked the mermaid on this blue bottle. It caught my attention immediately.

I also liked the balance and the finesse, the subtle dry flavors of this Riesling that was dry but very smooth and soft dry. It may be sipped all by itself as well as matched with many a meal.



We do not have this Riesling yet but I will talk to both Sam , and Jean and perhaps we can work a tasting of it along with some of the wines from LYETH , and the FRENCH RABBIT. Maybe Jody of Winebow can do a tasting of the DELOACH wines, too. I've got some work ahead of me I can already see. I'm off on vacation next week ( the first week of August, 2009 ) and so I will see what we can all arrange when I return.

In the meantime we do have some of these wines already at Cleveland Park.


I love taking these pictures of the pieces of this puzzle. Study the parts carefully and you will come away with a good idea of what Boisset has organized and in the process of executing over the next few months ( perhaps through 2009 ? ).



I can't avoid taking these types of pictures when I focus and enlarge and rearrange certain parts of any whole. I think it lends a certain weight and gravitas : I do love the red color ink, too.



The reflections in this Reidel tasting glass are quite interesting in themselves. The Capitol Beverage winelist is the white with black ink over which I have put the glass od OCEANA dry Riesling. I love photographing on, over and off a white surface. The gold/sun-enriched color of this Riesling really does show well off this price list.



To better read what I have enlarged and distorted you have but to go back to the poster in one of the pictures above that you first saw. Look at it and then come back to this photo and you will have both closure and enlightenment?!? I hope so : and a broad grin and smile, too.


As you can see here in this photo I was tasting the 2007 OCEANA Riesling ...


I love taking some of my photos of the people behind the wine, too. Here is Jean Gagliolo that brought this bottle for me to taste. I like what the glass and light do to the face and the expressions of those that I photograph. The distortions and accents that both glass and light give to Jean add something special. What do you think?


This picture really reveals the artist in me as it is really about the parts and the way the meld and mold and conform to one another - as well as they way they blur into one : a cream of light and color and soft, rounded shapes that include wood and the fless of my hand as well as the OCEANA Riesling, too. It's a pure artsy photo and I hope in it's abstraction that it really adds to these other photos. Cheers ...



In this picture above you see the blue of the OCEANA cap that I cut off to remove the cork. I picked it up and included it here in this picture to give the name and some color to this picture above of Jean Gagliolo reflected through the Riedel tasting glass here with some of the OCEANA dry Riesling that it holds here.

Here are some more of the photos I took of this most noteworthy progrma by Boisset to help provide three meals per each bottle of the OCEANA, DELOACH, FRENCH RABBIT and LYETH vineyards ) from California and France ).

Enjoy these artsy photos that I like taking to capture time , place, mood, moment, color, texture, contrast, etcetera .... TONY

Steven W. Westby ( Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 , At Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ), Winemaker Of WITNESS TREE VINEYARD, Willamette, Oregon Here May, 2009

It was great to get winemaker Steven W. Westby here from WITNESS TREE VINEYARD ( 7111 Spring Valley Road N.W. , Salem, Oregon 97304 (503) 585-7874 Fax : (503) 362-9765 www.witnesstreevineyard.com ) here to Cleveland Park Wines& Spirits ( Tuesday, May 5th, 2009 ) to taste his wines with us.

I liked them all but was most impressed with the 2006 Pinot Blanc that was so much more flavorful than a Pinot Blanc and reminded me much more of a Pinot Gris. We will have to buy some as it had a real French cross between both a Burgundy ans a wine from Alsace. I would love it with a meal as it was slow to unwind in my glass and give-up/reveal so many of its layers of distinct mineral and citrus flavors.

I liked very much the dry Riesling as well. I knew nothing of these first two wines : it was my first time tasting or at least really focusing on them. I could see selling both and will talk to Chrissy Carlenter my local Washington Wholesalers rep about them.

I already had the Pinot Noir here ( the regular bottling, the 2007 Willamette Valley, $34.99 ) but had not tasted the reserve bottling in quite some time. I am happy to have them here in the store and will add some of the whites, too : certainly the Pinot Blanc really soon.

We've had Bryce the former winemaker that sadly has passed away a year or so ago. Steven worked with Bryce and teared-up at the mention of Bryce and his wife that has stopped making their own BRYCE wines now. They both came to see me here on separate occasions back in 2004 when Bryce was still able to walk. You will see Steven holding both his pictures as well as those of his wife on their past visits here.

Steven talks with his hands constantly so I had to take lots of pictures of his hands in motion. I cut his head or part of it off often when I took these pictures. I think they are expressive anyway and so have included them as they tell Steven's story : his passion and excitement when he talks about these wines that he has made at WITNESS TREE VINEYARD. He's been there for fourteen years and I am sure has many stories to tell.

Steven wrote in our guest book : " Hey Tony - A great visit! Always good to start the day laughing ! " All the best, Steven.

We sure did laugh a whole lot as we told stories and traded anecdotes about wine and music and life, Oregon, Witness Tree, etcetera. It was a grand visit and Steven signed the bottles of 2007 Pinot Noir that we had here in the store. We still have a couple signed by him for gifts. Cheers and thanks Steven and Chrissy for your visit. I will fill in more of the technical info about vintages and prices shortly. In the meantime I want to post this now, Thursday, May 14th, 2009 before any more time lapses. Enjoy these many pictures.

This post is for both you Steven and for Bryce and his wide that I enjoyed meeting so much back in 2004. Come see me again soon Steven and let's have you do an in-store wine-tasting here on your next visit to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ). Keep talking with those hands Steven! TONY

THELEMA Rhine Riesling 2004 Tasted Late Afternoon & Again Late Evening, Saturday, April 25th, 2009

I just blogged about my day with a bottle of THELEMA 2004 Rhine Riesling yesterday, Saturday April 25th, 2009. By accident I put it on my chatart blog here on blog spot. To see the pictures and the full story just go to the main page of charwine and go to the right bottom column that says : View complete profile , click that and scroll down until you see my other blogs and click on chatart.blogspot.com to see the THELEMA Rhine Riesling, 2004 Steelenbosch, South African blog.

It's in anticipation of tomorrow : " Freedom Day " in South Africa, Monday, April 27th, 2009. Cheers everyone : and don't forget to come to our tasting of South African wines at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel: 202-363-4265 www.clevelandparkwine,com sales@clevelandparkwine.com ). It's free, bring some family and friends ! It's from 5:30-8:30 PM We are celebrating 350 years of wine-making in South Africa ( February , 2009 ) as well as " Freedom Day ".

ALSO : my goof Italian friend Alessandro Furlan ( of the Franco Furlan winery, Friuli, Italy ) will be in the store on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 ( 5-8 PM ) to taste four of his Italian wine imports which includes the DEGANI Valpolicella as well as three other vineyrads from Franciacorta ( a sparkling wine ), a Docetto from Piemonte and a Rosso di Montalcino from Tuscany. JOIN US : NEVER any charge!

Cheers, TONY


UPDATES : The Big Theme South Africa Wine-Tasting At Cleveland Park Was a big success and all the THELEMA wines showed beautifully, including the 2004 Rhine Riesling pictured here. It had more fruit and was rounder and more forward in it's flavors than this bottle that we originally sampled. We are selling it ON SALE for $12.99 and that's quite the deal.

I was going to sample the last bit in the bottle and so I chilled it. I got home the next evening and found that my wife had enjoyed it before I arrived. She liked it : and that was now on a three-day old bottle of wine : not bad. Oh well, that will have to do. I would have liked to have taken a picture of it and it's color against the green bottle and label.

I have done better, I have taken the bottle outside and taken pictures showing our beautiful spring here with all the new green growth of leaves and shrubs, bushes; the azaleas in full bloom, the pink wygelea( spelling? ), sky, trees above our house. I even dropped the bottle onto the ground and hid it in a canopy of green vines and ground cover. I've even taken a picture with our terrier-mix dog and one of me reflected in our front door storm-door. I hope it came out?

It's bee a fun journey with this one bottle of THELEMA Rhine Riesling 2004 dry white.

I spoke to Marci our Constantine wine rep and she told me that I got the names of the father and son owners confused : Gyles is the father and Thomas is the son. Sorry for the confusion. I may not have your name spelled correctly Gyles ( it might be Giles? ) but when I met you you gave me your son's card and I thought it was yours. Sorry again for that. Oh well, all is green, lush and verdant here and growing like mad.

It's still South Africa month ( May 2009 ) at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and we are having a wonderful time talking and selling all things South African. Cheers, TONY