Macallan Single Highland Malt Scotch Tasting December 2008 At Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits

      Sometimes Ravinder Sharma who buys the liquor here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 2008 sales@clevelandparkwine.com  www.clevelandparkwine.com  Tel : 202-363-4265 ) set liquor tastings up and I either don't know about them or simply forget that they will happen. This was the case with this MACALLAN highland single malt scotch tasting.

     This was quite the tasting : elaborate presentation and set-up and lots of people stopped to try these wonderful single malts from MACALLAN Highland Malt which included some special older-aged bottlings like the 15 year old" Fine Oak " ( $82.99, triple cask matured in a unique, complex combination of exceptional oak casks : European - seasoned with sherry, American oak seasoned both with sherry and bourbon  ) and the 17 year-old " Fine Oak " ( $102.99, matured in a unique combination of bourbon and sherry oak casks ) that we do not get a chance to often try. We also tasted the 12 year-old ( $54.99, aged exclusively in sherry oaks casks from Jerez, Spain  ) and the " Cask Strength " ( $52.99, aged exclusively in sherry oak casks from Jerez, Spain ) which are all available here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits here in the nation's capitol. 

     We directed a number of people over to the table to taste but most people stopped on their own because the display it self was so inviting and our gentleman pourer was so well dressed, too. It all made for quite the visual display!

     I tried to sample these MACALLAN single malt scotches but the store was full of customers and I got distracted selling wine. It was a success anyway. I was able to take a number of good pictures ( the artsy ones I like so much showing the glass, the bottle, the person pouring or tasting and most important the color of the single malt itself as it reflects the lights around, etcetera ). I hope that you like them.

     For more technical information go to : Easter Elchies, Craigellachie, Scotland www.themacallan.com.

     It's Friday, December 26th, 2008 as I type and post this at almost eleven AM here at the store. I hope that you all enjoyed a great Christmas and or other holiday times. 

     This tasting happened here in the store on December 13th, 2008 from 5-8 PM. William Davis of Billington Imports was also here tasting some of his excellent Argentina and Chilean wines : ALAMOS Malbec( $10.99 ) and the CATENA 2005 Alta Malbec ( $59.99 ). He also tasted the COUSINO-MACUL original white Sauvignon Gris that is made in really small batches and which was just released within the last month here. It sold out immediately and we will have more in January 2009! Thanks William for tasting here, too as always. Anyway, we are happy to be doing these and giving our customers a chance to try some of these rarer, great single malts before they actually buy them so as to know exactly what they are buying. Our distributors have been a big help in making this a reality. In the case of MACALLAN highland single malt we can all thank Republic distributors ( Wayne Currier in this case, a really great guy and old friend of ours who has often been there for us when we need him ). Thanks Wayne and your team for setting this up.

     Happy New Year to One and to All of Us! It's been a really rough, trying 2008 : let's all work together to make 2009 more rewarding and fruitful for all of us. Cheers,   TONY

William Davis, New Rep For Billington Imports ( 12/22/07 & 11/15/08 ) Tastes Our Cleveland Park Wine Customers Twice Here

It's always nice to have William come and taste. One of the first times that he came we had three tasting going on all at the same time on Saturday afternoon here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. It was December 22nd, 2007 here and we had William pouring his Chilean/Argentinean wines and Melanie and her aunt Rose making Peruvian Pisco Sours with the Macchu Pisco and the La Diablada, and a young brunette pouring samples of the GUINNESS " Smithwick's " imported Iris ale ( imported by Diageo ).

That was almost a year ago and since then William has been to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. frequently to show Mike and me new things on a regular basis from his German to his California to his Spanish and of course Chilean and Argentinian portfolios.

We have done several in-store wine-tastings featuring areas of his portfolio that were most needed in our store at the time as well as most appropriate to the season.

We met one evening at Ardeo with reps Jody Jackman and Ivy to taste new releases which included I believe the " new " ALAMOS Selection Malbec and Pinot Noir ( both of which we picked up quickly ), and several others. That's when Leslie was the general manager there and we proceeded to have a wonderful time together.

I have pictures of that, too which I may be able to include here a bit later. I do believe that this is when our Winebow rep Jody Jackman wanted to introduce you to me William.

William is a bit like me. He takes interesting artsy pictures and shows them to me on his i-phone. He also brings me interesting poetry books to share with me. He's thoughtful and his eyebrows furrow and his face pauses as he reflects on what he will say or respond to in answer to my questions. He doesn't take them lightly.

He , like so many other reps of ours is finding his way with us ( and in the Washington D.C. metropolitan market at large I suspect ) and " paying his dues " and increasing his business, even in these most challenging economic times.

This last Saturday we had William come from 12-4 PM and that was followed by wine owners/ makers husband and wife team of Hugh and Pam Hamilton of the HUGH HAMILTON winery in McLaren Vale, South Australia ( that produces the ever-loved " Jim Jim " red and white that never lasts long in our store ). Their tastings overlapped as Hugh and Pam showed up around 3 PM. We all mingled and our customers got to taste both William's and the Hamilton's wines ( " The Mongrel " Sangiovese red blend, the Viognier and the " Jekyl and Hyde " Shiraz($29.99 ) ).

William, Jody and I decided that since Dave McKintyre ( new wine writer for the Washington Post ) had just written a piece on Chile's ambassador here in Washington D.C. ( who came to our Chilean " Big-Theme Tasting as our guest two years ago - and his love of wines ) that we would feature the Big Tattoo TWO BROTHERS Chilean wines of Alex and Eric Bartholomaus. This was timely and the wines are inexpensive and delicious, too. On top of that they were mentioned in the article of David's and from each bottle sold 50 cents is donated to the local hospices to help in the fight to defeat women's breast cancer.

The big surprise was discovering just how good the " new " California dry Riesling 2007 ( used to be made in Germany ) - a blend of 75% Riesling and 25% Gewurztraminer for just $10 was - WOW! I really liked it as well as the clean blue and white label on a light blue bottle! We should do really well with this, satisfy a lot of our customers, too and help in the fight with breast cancer.

The Big Tattoo Syrah ( ON SALE for $6.49 ) and the 2006 Big Tattoo 50% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah from Chile were also well-received as was the ALAMOS 2007 white Torrontes. It was a good tasting. We sold a fair amount for a quieter Saturday afternoon in the store. All the wines showed well and we still have some of all of them at our store.

This blog follows upon that of Alfredo Bartholomaus ( the founder of Billington Imports ) that I just posted. Check that one out, too. Alfredo, an old friend of mine who's path has paralleled mine and crossed from time-to-time was just at our store less than a month ago and it was great to catch-up briefly with him.

It's almost Thanksgiving and with that in mind I do want to mention that this " new " Big Tattoo dry Riesling/ Gewurztraminer blend will be an excellent wine to enjoy this next Thursday with family and friends. Give Mike Martin or me ( Tony ) a call at Cleveland Park Wines ( 202-363-4265 ) and we will be sure to put some aside for you.

For more technical information about the wines William sells through Billington Imports you can reach him at : william.d@billingtonwines.com amd www.billingtonwines.com .

Cheers, and a Happy Thanksgiving 2008 To One And To All ! - TONY