Eliza CRIVELLI Of Castagnole, Piemonte Pours @ Michael Downey Portfolio Wine Tasting

I had the pleasure of meeting and tasting along with others with Eliza Crivelli, the neice of the owner of CRIVELLI ( Castagnole, Piemonte, Italy ) at the annual Michael Downey portfolio tasting. She tasted a whole selection of her family's wines. I liked them all pretty much across the board but remember really enjoying this " Collina La Mora " 2007 Barbera D'Asti CRIVELLI, $16.49. We have some currently at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandoparkwine.com 202-363-4265.



There's art in simply opening a bottle of wine : and Eliza does it with such finesse.



Here you can Eliza displayed the incredible variety that CRIVELLI provides us all here in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.



I can't help myself : I really enjoyed taking all these pictures of Eliza and I will soon include more info about the wines. I love the Ruche and we always have it here, sell it out quickly and need to order more!


Good thing that Brennan Downey will be here in the store at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com ) tomorrow , June 10th, 2009 so that I may finish ordering the wines I need and want and look forward to selling again or for the very first time.





Finally a moment to catch one's breath as there was such a constant stream of people in attendance this lovely Monday. Eliza, thanks for this excellent tasting. I look forward to getting more of your family's excellent selections to our store in Cleveland Park N.W. Washington D.C. : our nation's capitol.

It was nice to finally meet someone from CRIVELLI. Cheers ...






I love when people speak with their hands. I can't stop snapping pictures like this and so I ask your indulgence here with me. On top of all of this she is a beautiful young lady and family. She immediately caught my attention, even from across the room. So I thought I would lead with these photos to set the mood before I showed you all pictures of her wine and the rest that I took to complete the picture here.

I have so much more to say but it will have to wait till I can find another moment. In the meantime I will post what I have written so far with these pictures for everyone to enjoy. Hope you like them Eliza. Let me know your comments, please. Cheers and caio, TONY

Late October 2008 At Cafe St. Ex - A Totally Wonderful & Serendipitous Dinner W/ John & Theresa Morisson, Ugo & Me

     Ugo and I met John and Theresa Morrison at Cork American wine-bar earlier to taste wines from France. It was a tasting that was organized by Bacchus Imports and Todd Schneider was there helping to orchestrate this excellent event. It is here at Cork that I bumped into my great friend Raz that I have already blogged about.

     Here are some of the pictures that I took of John, Theresa , Ugo and myself at the Cafe St. Ex. John, Theresa and I had an excellent experience. I cannot say the say the same for Ugo. Oh well, that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes.

     I loved that the hostess and the waiter were eager to help us immediately. I came with the request that we needed someplace to dine and to taste Ugo's wines and they immediately seated us and the waiter was most helpful and attentive. I enjoyed the experience immensely and the wines showed really well as we celebrated both a birthday party and some good food, wine and conversation in a really cozy, warm setting. It was great.

     Thank you all at Cafe St. Ex. You guys did your job beautifully and quickly and I have only fond memories of this experience lat late October , 2008. I am sorry there was a problem about the tip at the end. From my point of view it was a big mistake and I apologize for that. You deserved much more than you got for you went way out of your way to make us feel welcome and comfortable. Thanks again. Cheers,  TONY

     Here are some pictures that I took of Ugo's visit here to Washington D.C. and to Old Towne Alexandria, VA in late 2008. Enjoy them,   TONY

Italian Winemaker Luca Paschina Of BARBOURSVILLE Vineyards ( Charlottesville, VA ) Stops By With Rep Jason To Say " Hello " And Sign Some Bottles

Here are some pictures I took of Luca Paschina's visit here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008, sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com Tel : 202-363-4265 ). Our BARBOURSVILLE rep Jason Tesauro ( Jason@BarboursvilleWine.com (434) 531-3761 and I had been talking about my meeting Luca sometime soon either at the winery or at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits.

I believe that Jason had invited me to a tasting or a luncheon that I could not attend and so he kindly brought Luca around afterwards. Thanks Jason. It's funny, it is now Friday, January 18th, 2009 and I have been cleaning my office space at the store. I came across am beautiful invitation in the form of an octagon that had been sent to me asking me to come to lunch at BARBOURSVILLE ( the Palladio restaurant ) on either Monday, March 13th, 2004 or Tuesday, March 14th, 2004. I am sorry to say that I did not attend. It was a luncheon and tour of the anciet grounds and winery with a vertical of the first seven vintages of BARBOURSVILLE'S Octagon.

I must have had something really important to do on that Monday my day-off to not have attended! Either that or I was simply insane or mad at the moment. Oh well, Jason and Luca : how was it? What gems do you have to impart and share with me now five years later about this wonderful chance of a lifetime? Catch me up to speed and please invite me again. I am truly sorry that I missed this Monday luncheon.

Jason has placed some wines here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and I am happy to say that I had some bottles on hand conveniently for Luca to sign them for our customers. We have sold a variety of the wines including the Octagon and the Pinot Grigio, Viognier, the sweet Malvasia, the Chardonnay and the sparkling to name just the few that come immediately to mind.

We have some of the excellent " Phileo " ( there are three ways to say love in Greek , phileo means love for friends and special things. ) A long and cool fermentation is the secret behind the wine's effusively fragrant aromas, floral complexity and luscious sweetness. Great and best with desserts.

It's time to give the wines another try Jason. If you read this please call me at 202-363-4265 and let's arrange another tasting of current vintages. That would please me greatly, really.

My experience with the wines in the past is that they are really elegant, bright, well-made wines that really please and charm. I personally would like to see a bit more edge to them, a more pronounced quality that sinks or flies high and does not rest so nicely in that middle range of comfort and immediate pleasure. This is just my point-of-view of course. I know that the wines as they are sell really well and that often our customers that have tried them have nothing but praise.

Anyway, I'd like to see what they are tasting like now and to hopefully get to Charlottesville sometime soon to actually visit the winery. Jason, you have always invited me and I think it is time that to make my visit there a reality really soon. Especially now that my daughter is in Charlottesville at U.V.A. and in her fourth year.

I am sorry that I do not have the good pictures of you here Jason as you always dress really well and represent so well BARBOURSVILLE. Actually, I take that back Jason, there is a nice shot of you beyong Luca with your nice hat and vest - snappy. It's a good profile of you. We will include more later as I can scan them onto my computer as they were taken without a digital camera.

I look forward to our next visit with hopefully you again Luca as well as you Jason. Luca, we can talk about Piemonte, Italy while we are enjoying your wines. I think I got some nice shots of you in our store Luca. Was it 2006 I believe? I will find my notes really soon and include them and the exact dates of your visit as you both signed our/ my store winemaker/owner poster as well as our/ my guest book.

It's just a few days before the inaugural here in our nation's capitol and so I may not get to the rest of this blog until after the 20th of January, 2009. In the meantime enjoy this story and the pictures.

Go to for more technical infprmation : P.O. Box 136, Route 777, Barboursville, Virginia, 22923 Tel : (540) 832-3824 Fax : ( 540 ) 832- 7572.

Cheers and Enjoy. TONY

Giorgio Cichero ( LA SLINA ) & Mauro ( BOCI ) - 5/2/06 - of Piemonte Here Tasting At Cleveland Park Wines With Our Customers

It's always great to have Mauro and Giorgio here tasting their Piemonte wines with our customers. I really loved both the LA SLINA ( Giorgio Cichero 335 1418095 ) Dolcetto Di Ovada, Castelletto D'Orba (we currently have the 2007 at $16.49 ) and the BOCI Antichi Giochi Monferrato rosso from Grazzano, ( we sell the rossa Fracchia 2004 now at $16.49 ).

Both Giorgio and Mauro came to taste their wines with us on Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006 from 5-8 PM with our customers. I had just met them at the annual Michael Downey portfolio tasting in North Arlington, VA. with a group of other winemakers ( Andrea Fossi of FOSSI Chianti, Tuscany: Max DiLenardo of DiLENARDO winery, Friuli, Salvatore of Gragnano red semi-sparkling fame, Naples, and more ). I will include a picture that I took the tear before at the Michael Downey portfolio tasting where Mauro brought his son. Giorgio would not come then. He still had to be talked into coming! I must explain now.

Giorgio is afraid of flying and this might be the first time that he has ever gotten on a plane to fly anywhere! This trip was a HUGE BIG STEP for Giorgio. By the way Mauro and Giorgio are best friends I believe. I was told that Mauro had to constantly try and convince Giorgio to make the trip here to the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

I remember asking Giorgio pretty much the first chance I got how the flight was?!?! He smiled and told me it was hell!

It was great to have both Giorgio and Mauro together in our store. We tried their " Bianco " LA SLINA white that they made together as well as an assortment of each of their wines. The " Bianco " did really well along with the white Gavi LA SLINA and Giorgio's Dolcetto. From Mauro we had an assortment of his reds including his two sweet Malvasia reds ( Voulet and the other slips my mind now - oh, the Sulin ). They pretty much all sold evenly with both Giorgio and Mauro meeting lots of our customers and signing their bottles pretty much non-stop.

Giorgio is a bit of an Italian Cassanova. His English is not as perfected as Mauro's yet but he has no trouble finding a way to communicate when he wants. He got to charm Pam, Ramona and Gaby among others of our customers. He also got Ramona to write in our guest book these words : " Dolcetto di Ovado is the best wine in the world ". He said this all during the three hours that he tasted it with a beaming smile each and every time that he said it! It would perhaps be easy to agree with such a warm smile and certainty written over every feature of his Italian-sunned face.

I asked Mauro why he never said anything when Giorgio would make this grand pronouncement and Mauro smiled and replied : " I don't mind having the second best wine in the world ". I can see his point.

I will include more about the individual wines shortly. There's lots more to convey but I at least want to get this posted after more than two years. The world needs to know about Giorgio and Mauro and their excellent wines imported by Michael Downey Selections in north Arlington, Virginia.

Here are some of the pictures of our tasting. Pictures are also Shannon Downey and I believe Matt that works for them as well as myself and our customers Pam, Ramona, Gaby and Franceen. Hope you like them and they help to paint a picture of an absolutely special three hours at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Conn. Ave. N.W. Washington D.C. 202-363-4265, sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com call Mike Martin or me ( Tony Quinn ) for orders or more information ).

I am left with Giorgio's smile as I close this blog. What did it really say/express? Here's a man that finally made it onto a plane and got to his destination safely - wow! How was he feeling? What did he think of all this tasting, signing of bottles, etcetera? Was the English a real barrier for him? He seemed pleased. He seemed at ease. I hope that we helped in our small little way.

Anyway, it was a pleasure to have you both here in our store Mauro and Giorgio. Come again anytime. Cheers, TONY

VINIFERA Imports Is On A Roll With Their Italian Selections / I Taste Weekly And Love Them! 2008

It's always a pleasure to try the Vinifera imports Italian selections of world-class wines. Our old rep Michael Weiser really took good care of us and now Gustavo Fernandes is stepping up to the plate and doing a fabulous job. Each week I try a bevy of wines to " ooh " and " ahhh " over from ICARDI, TENUTA MORMORAIA to Franco MARTINETTI, ODDERO CASALE GIGLIO ( Lazio ), SANT'ELENA and many more. You might like the style of wines being produced by these wineries but you cannot dispute the quality! Here are some pictures I took to remind me of how really fine they are : hope you like them. I last tasted a selection of them including the fabulously old-world style ICARDI last week, Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 I believe with my rep.

On January 19th, 2007 we had owner Maria Grazia of ICARDI at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits tasting some of her family's latest wine-releases. We tasted a whole range of Maria Grazie's wines from the white dry Cortese features in the array of recent wines brought to me recently. We also tasted her Barbera , her Barolo and her Moscato and more. I have included some pictures of that tasting at our store.

Yesterday, Wednesday October 29th, 2008 Gustavo came by with a sample of the ICARDI " Rousori " Dolcetto D'Alba DOC 2003 ( it was a bit too cold because it was really cold outside yesterday! ) and once it warmed a bit in my Reidel glass it really started to open and show some earthy, dusty dry mineral and fruit-integrated-fully into the well-worn, warm, shiny wood overtones. I could still taste some of the last rays of Italian sun that had touched the grapes before being picked ! It will sell for $21.99 when we get it in November along with the white Cortese.

Gustavo also brought me a surprise bottle of the MADRE SELVA rosso Lazio 1994 from CANALE DEL GIGLIO that I absolutely fell in love with! I've already ordered a case of it to come as well! It's pictured in the glass and Gustavo is holding the bottle up to his face in the first two photos appearing on this blog. Impressive wine and tasting great with this extra fourteen years of bottle age and showing nor signs in the least of getting tired yet.

Call Mike Martin or me ( Tony Quinn ) for an update at : 202-363-4265.

For more technical information on ICARDI go to : AZIENDA AGRICOLA ICARDI : Strada Com.le Balbi, 30 12053 Castiglione Tinell ( CN ) Tel : 0141 855159 Fax: 0141 855416 email : icardivini@libero.it.

This is what Maria Grazia wrote in our guest wine owner/maker book :

" Carissimo Tony, Grazie per aver apprezzato i nostri vini. E stata una bellissima giornata! In dimenticabile. Caio a presto in questo bellissimo wineshop. Con affetto " Maria Grazia

Cheers, TONY