ANTIS Sparkling & MANUEL VILLAFANE Cabernet Sauvignon & Malbec 2008 Of Argentina Introduced By Dan Terass Of William Harrison Imports 11/09 At CPW

This was another unexpected tasting with Dan Terassa our rep for William Harrison Imports just a week ago at Cleveland Park around November 10th was it? I can't remember exactly. It was the late morning when Dan came through with these three samples of new wines that he is representing from Argentina.



We already knew the ANTIS as we have carried some of all of these wines over the years from the Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and the Chardonnay in the various tiers that they are available. They have always sold well for us especially when our customers were looking/ are looking for a good wine to pair with their food. They are not so much sipping wines, especially the reds in my opinion.




This time, however Dan had the sparkling wine , a non-vintage brut I think ( or was it an extra dry? ) for us to try. Mike was not here so I got the honors to try it all by myself. I liked it, really I did quite a bit. We will sell some at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 anthonyquinn@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ).




Two other reps came in together from Suprex Imports and so I invited them over to have a taste with me and they both really enjoyed the ANTIS sparkling wine from Argentina. It's always good to get other feedback if possible just to have a range of opinions.




AS you can readily see with these photos that I was busily snapping away with my Canon camera as I like to record these events to include here and share with whoever might be interested.




Then Dan introduced the MANUEL VILLANE Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and the Estate Malbec, both 2008 vintages from Mendoza, Argentina and I tasted them as well. I wrote my notes and have left them at work and will add them a bit later once I get there.

I had some specific comments that I made of them and want to relate those here a bit later.




WE have a good working relationship with Dan Terassa. He brings us a lot of really good wine and we have done some marvelous business with him over the years.

So please stay-tuned for an update on the MANUEL VILLAFANE wines here shortly.




In the meantime enjoy these pictures. I really do enjoy trying to capture the mood and the moment as best as I can and with hopefully some more artsy and creative/original shots and angles and compositions. This way hopefully the pictures themselves tell interesting stories that have you all returning for more : just like wanting to listen again to a good song or have another taste of a good wine.




I try to stay true to the notion of a blog which I feel is a bit chatty, more personal, a bit more loose and relaxed : informative in a more casual format. I like this type of writing as to me it is business and more. It's about sharing information and " adding to the equation " and thus providing something new to go along with all the rest of whatever else is " ot there " in cyberspace.




I don't like talking about scores and points and label or image as much as I like talking about the actual wines and the people behind them that were inspired both to create them and pay for them and all that it takes to make them with money from their own pockets.




I like finding out about how the wines were created and how the people behind them came around to this particular point in time with a vision and desire/drive and dedication to have done so that they are now standing before me here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits with a bottle or two that they want me to try and hopefully soon sell here in northwest Washington D.C. in our nation's capitol.






Cheers and I hope you liked the pictures and are now curious to come to Cleveland Park or your local store to purchase some ANTIS sparkling and some MANUEL VILLAFANE 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2008 Malbec both dry reds from Mendoza, ARgentina to enjoy with your meal tonight, Wednesday, November 18th, 2009. TONY

Piensa : Movie Being Filmed, Beautiful Morning, VERBENA W/ Elena, Luca & Alessandro Furlan, Olive Oil & Wine!

These are some of the pictures that I took as my daughter and I started our marvelous Friday morning, October 30th, 2009 in Tuscany. We left TENUTA VALDIPIATTA just outside of Montepulciano and drove towards Montalcino and VERBENA winery. My good friend Alessandro told me that he would not be at VERBENA until 10:00 -10:15 AM at the earliest.




He suggested that we stop along the way in the town of Piensa and park outside the ancient part of it and then walk around inside. We had to stop first along the way and take some scenic photos and then we found ourselves just outside Piensa where we found parking easily. We paid and walked up into the beautiful old town and saw a movie being filmed. I will include those pictures soon.



Then we drove over to the bottom of the hill of the town of Montalcino to the local gas station Eis is it ( ? ) and waited for Alessandro to show up. He took us to VERBENA which we had passed on our right side as we approached Montalcino. I pointed this out to my daughter as we did and it was good to know that we were so close.

I have lots more to say but want to post these photos now. Enjoy them and stay-tuned for more really soon. Cheers, TONY



I like this more thoughtful picture of Elena above as she ponders something that you must have said to her Alessandro? You two would speak and then you would translate and it worked beautifully this arrangement on a beautiful, warm, blue-skied late morning/ early afternoon just a mile or two from the base of the town of Montalcino.

It was great to walk into the vineyards as we crossed the street from their home and winery into their sweep of rows and rows of beautiful vines that were first of the Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and then of the Sangiovese ( Sangioveto Grosso ).

We got to taste both these ripened grapes that had been missed as the pickers quickly worked their way down these rows of vines. I liked the sweet taste of both and it pained me a bit to see her drop the cluster to the ground of these delicious Sangiovese grapes.

Seeing this Alessandro quickly grabbed some from the bunch in Elena's hands as he also liked very much their taste. I should have done the same. Oh well ...



You said just before leaving us around 2 PM Alessandro that this gas station was a famous meeting place for many that come to this region. I am glad to have been there, too as I can just imagine all the famous and not-so-famous that have pulled into this gas station over the years to conduct business or just be shown one of the greatest adventures and experiences of their life time!




In this picture above are shown one of the plastic green containers for the just-picked olives. I love their myriad of different colors. This is visually beautiful and makes me wonder how each olive in it's different colors ( are they all the same kind of olives? or are they many kinds that are later blended? or simply at different stages of ripeness ? ). I don't know these answers and forgot to ask although these things did occur to me at the time.

Both my daughter and I were really caught up in this experience of the olives being picked and made into olive paste and then oil just two days ago. It was a great experience to be able to be on the spot at the right time and get to taste such fresh extra virgin olive oil.




Don't get me wrong : the wine experience of the Rosso's as well as the Brunello's ( including the Reserva 2004 and 2006 ) were also quite the experience. We tried the vintages of 2004 and 2005 primarily. I liked them all of course and did linger for some time on the 2004 Reserva Brunello. I believe that is the one that I took with me back outside into this beautiful day as Luca and his team of pickers returned with a fresh batch of olives that had just minutes ago been picked.

My daughter described the taste of the two-day-old extra virgin olive oil as tasting " so good, so light ". I agreed : there was a real elegance and delicate, fresh brightness without hardly any edge or burn at all.
We just continued to dip our bread into it and smile and sigh in satisfaction as we put these pieces of golden yellow tinged with green to our now awaiting lips and tongues. Wow ...

It was my first meeting of Luca and Elena as neither of them has been to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 anthonyquinn@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) yet.



We are currently selling quite well the 2007 Rosso di Montalcino at the store On Sale for $27.99 a bottle and I will have to order more as we are almost out. I will also have to order bottles of the Brunello from Brennan Downey next time that he comes to the store, probably this week I think. Both will be great to have as I am all excited about this trip and visit to these wineries and so of course I want to have ample supplies of their wines to share with our customers that in many cases seem to love Italian and Tuscan wines.




I was also thrilled that my daughter could cut her teeth so to speak on such wonderful red wines as these : some of the greatest made in the world today. She seemed to really like them and that pleased me very much.




As you will see from these pictures that follow that I took many of my favorite types of pictures though the wine glass that I held and often swirled around to capture the transparencies of the red Sangiovese grape in all its wonder and regal, royal splendor of intense color variations, moods and magic.




Both the glass and the red Sangiovese wine as well as the reflections of light and image reflected on and off the wine glass do things to change the final image that the lens of my Canon catch in the less than a split second of time.




Looking at some of these images takes both time to get used to and to appreciate and understand. Sometimes the obvious is hidden and replaced by the unexpected that each viewer either welcomes or not depending on their mood or reference of the moment.

Of course I like all of this as it is often a bold challenge to the people looking at them. I want something new to show through. I want something " of the Moment " to be the focal point attaching people to the place and the time of the experience. This all helps to better define the moment and experience.




I will include more soon as I have a chance. Enjoy this so far as it has been developed ... caio, TONY ( Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 3:15 PM )






I'm glad to have this picture of us together above as well as the one below with Luca speaking as much with his hands as with his lips. I took many of these and will probably include them later in my blog spot called : chatart.blogspot.com. They in themselves speak volumes along with the facial gestures.

Luca was speaking a mile-a-minute to Alessandro as we looked on. He was getting ready to head back out to pick more olives and I don't know exactly what he was saying? Fill us in Alessandro : what was Luca so passionately speaking about here?

JamesTeegan of ROMBAUER Vineyards, Silverado Trail, CA. Visits Cleveland Park With Five " New " Releases / Tuesday April 13th, 2009 W/ Jody Jackman

With James Teegan and Jody we tasted : ! ) the ROMBAUER Chardonnay ( $37.99 ), 2 ) the Merlot " Carneros " $32.99 ), 3) the Cabernet Sauvignon ( $37.99 ), 4) the Diamond Select Cabernet Sauvignon, 2002 ( $66.99 ) and the Zinfandel ( $33.99 ).

We will have Jody Jackman come here and taste both the Chardonnay and the Zinfandel at her next in-store, wine-tasting. That will be fun. She will taste another inexpensive Chardonnay and Zinfandel to show the differences. That will be educational and fun, too. I picked the Chardonnay and the Zinfandel because they are both really lush, bright, open and forward wines that will please most everyone as they have captured and stored so much of the power and wonderfulness and warmth of the sunshine> Just like capturing the bubbles in champagne : both the Chardonnay and the Zin have captured the sun's shine and releases it continuously and pleasingly on every one's tongue.

Just like the Eagle's hit back in the 1970's about " that pleasant, easy feeling " and the wines mimics this song's full range and they fill the palate completely just as the song fills the whole musical range on our ears , too. I mean, what's not to like?!?

If I were asked to pick my favorites it would have been the two Cabs ( one being the Diamond Select 2002 ) and the one Merlot. They were more reserved wines that would take me longer to draw out from themselves, extending them to their maximum pure, self expressions. I enjoy this process : it means that I am for me a more important player in the relationship between wine and man. That's to say that if I am patient and wait and see and taste what happens as the wines unwind, blossom and fill the spaces on my tongue along with the flavors of food I will be more rewarded. Of course this may just be an idea in my head ; it may be simply that I want or feel the need to be more engaged with the wine in my mouth?

I like this working at the wine and the experience that I will have with it with family, friends, acquaintances, fellow workers and the food, too. I'm used to this : to extrapolating and guessing and wondering/wandering as the tastes and flavors either work their magic for me or not. Of course I want them to work for me.

In the case of these three reds I feel quite confident that they do indeed work their varying magic, charms and showcase eventually their unique personalities over the expanse of my palate : bravo. I liked the Merlot, I am finding that over the last two or so years that I have enjoyed Merlot-based wines more and more because of both their flavors and their approachability now and at present and not always needing as much time to age as many Cabernet Sauvignons. This 2005 comes from the Carneros district and I like very much what it has going on.

I also liked both Cabs as I said and I will write more about them tomorrow when I am back at the store in Washington D.C. I am home now in northern Virginia and do not have my notes handy. So, stay-tuned for more.

Also, check out my earlier ROMBAUER blog that I did after drinking the bottle of 2001 Diamond Select Cabernet Sauvignon that Jody gave me at Christmas ( is it two years now?!? ) and which I enjoyed with family and friends at our local pool here in our neighborhood. It was amazing, even drunk in plastic cups with little time for it to open. We still loved it at the end of the day and the leaving-us -soon of the light ...

As I have already said it was fun o meet James Teegan of ROMBAUER Vineyards and to taste his excellent " New " releases earlier today ( Tuesday, April 13th, 2009 ) with Jody Jackman our Winebow rep. Here are some of the pictures that I took of this fun, serendipitous tasting as I took photos, talked, tasted and listened to both all the wines and to James and Jody as well!

I take a lot of artistic licence with the photos I take and look for interesting ways in which to capture in one frame the bottle, the label, the wine and those people attached to them. Sometimes I get it almost just right and other times I fail miserably. Thank goodness for the digital camera that gives one opportunity , one after the other after the other and again and again and again to keep trying to see what you capture fleetingly and serendipitously : and hopefully with the expressions that are natural on a person's face unaware that they have just had a picture snapped of them!

It does take a lot of patience. And slowly the people you are taking photos relax and warm to the idea. It then becomes rather collaborative my photos.

James and I hit it off pretty much immediately and I am always happy for that. It's a pleasure to meet other like-minded wine souls out there today. Many come to our store and I always feel especially lucky when I can make the right connections with them and that we both discover an appreciation for the other brought to our attentions by wines that we met over. It's a gift and one that I feel fortunate to receive as often as I do. Thanks James and Jody.

For more technical information go to : James M. Teegan jim@rombauer.com 3522 Silverado Trail, St. Helena, CA. 94574 www.rombauervineyards.com.

Before leaving I asked James to write something in our guest book. This is what he wrote : " Tony, The most unique tasting experience I have ever had. I love your approach to wine. Looking forward to printing the pictures. Thank you for your time and support. The joy of wine, cheers " signed James Teegan.

Cheers, TONY