Scott Sherk & Tom Calder With Frenchmen/Woman : C.A. Hochman, Guillaume Goisot, Ann Gaillard, Olivier Morin / Jeudi 22.03.07

This picture below is of course, Tom Calder : but you knew that, right?


This was the first time in a very long time since I had seen Tom Caldwell that used to many moons ago buy the wines for Wagshall's Delicatessen on Cathedral Avenue past American University and down the hill and to the right in the small shopping center there.

Of course I had already known Tom for a very long time even before that as our paths had crossed many times over the years. And then Tom just up and left for France and that was the last I heard of him for awhile until Scott Sherk ( president ) came to sell Mike Martin and me wine at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and told me that he was working with his partner Tom here of Potomac Selections ( 8648 Old Ardmore Road, Landover, MD. 20785 , Tel : 301-583-8844 , www.potomacselections.com ) along with Tom Calder ( Agent Commercial en Vin, Export, 39, rue Benoit, Malon, 92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, tkcalder@yahoo.fr Fax: 01 46 45 15 29 ) now living in Paris, France and finding them wines to import here to our Washington D.C. metropolitan region as well as others, too. So, it was with great pleasure when I got a call earlier this day from Scott asking if they could all stop by? I said as usual : " Of course, no problem, Bien sur! Venez nous voir au magasin ". And they did just that and here are the pictures that I took to prove it.




I will have to find my notes and sheets from this fun and impromptu tasting as I would like to give Scott some business and have the wines of some of these owners/wine-makers to sell in Cleveland Park. It's been awhile and I do want to get some of these wines now in 2010 and go from here as it's a completely new year and now at the store we have a new wine sales person in Chris Barker as Mike Martin has left to return home to Rochester, New York where he is originally from ...


I am embarrassed to say that it is now just Tuesday morning, January 25th, 2010 at 12:03 AM as I type this line and call it quits for the evening as I am tired and have a full week ahead of me including the task to post this blog that has lain dormant now for way too long!




I have my work cut out for me here as it has now been a number of years since this visit. I will have to check to see where they are in my group of pictures and trace back to the exact month and year this way : not exactly the best method but it does and will work.

As I recall there were at least one or two of them from Burgundy.




Wow, I just found my notes before going to bed and I see that this all happened on Thursday afternoon, March 22, 2007 at 17:18, 17:23 and 17:32. That's between 5:18 and 5:23 that these French individuals wrote in our guest book and dated and even put the time. I love this efficiency, really I do. How refreshing!

Their names are Olivier Morin of Chitry,Charles-Antoine Hochman ( Gerant ) of DOMAINE De MIRAIL, Lectoure, France, Guillaume Goisot of DOMAINE GOISOT, Saint-Bris, France, and Ann Gaillard of DOMAINE De MIRAIL.




I enjoyed trying these wines very much and of course some I liked better than others. Now it is time to step up to the plate and actually get some of them delivered to our store in February 2010 which is just in a few days. I will call Scott and arrange this now as I want to bring some true sense of closure for me to this wonderfully fun and fine wine-tasting of several of their wines. I will try for starters to buy one wine from each producer and get the ball rolling this way.




I'm going to post this blog now in it's very rough first-draft form as to share these fun pictures with you all. Stay-tuned as over the next two-three days I will complete this and post it in it's final version. Cheers et a bientot comme j'ai beaucoup en plus a ajouter ici avant que j'ai fini mon travail dans ce blog ... TONY




P.S. This picture above is of Scott Sherk that I have now known for a very long time. I've known Scott almost as long as I have known Tom. We three have grown up in the Washington D.C. wine business together over the years and on many occasions our paths have crossed. Funny thing about this : I even saw Scott once at the then " new " American Indian Museum shortly after it had opened two or so years ago as he, too was there seeing one of the exhibits. It's truly a small world, ours ... and paths do cross ... sometimes in the most unexpected places ...




As I said earlier everyone signed my guest book and this is what Scott wrote here : " Another great visit with the surprising Tony Quinn! More shops should take his approach with visitng winemakers ... Kudos to Tony : Scott Sherk, March 22, 2007. Thanks Scott, I appreciate this as I try very hard to make all wine-makers and wine owners comfortable and appreciated for what they have done/are still doing when they visit the store. They are like our rock stars : the Jim Morrison's, the Joni Mitchell's, the k d lang's, the Peter, Paul and Mary's, the Bob Dylan's, the Steve Winwood's, the Jesse Colin Young's and more that with their wine-making sing and play over our palates with as much passion and conviction and respect for time and place and weather ... all on their " way to find out " like Cat Stevens ...

But don't get me started because this also applies to the great artists like Rembrabdt and Kandinsky and Arthur Dove, Milton Avery, Monnet, Bonnard, Vuillard, Mary Cassat and so many more ...






Tom Calder writes here : " Ce qui'il y a du bon dans le vin est qu'il faut tres peu pour faire du bien et beaucoup pour faire du mal ". Amities, Thomas

Then Tom added in English : " Best wishes to Tony Quinn an American with his heart in France. From Tom Calder an American in Paris. Ton's good work here allows me to work over there. " Thanks Tom, I appreciate these sentiments very much as I think you got it right about me. Good luck to you in Paris and in France and keep up the great work.






Olivier Morin of Chitry, Burgundy writes : " Merci pour votre gentillesse, et votre humour ... amities, Bourguignonne, " signed, Olivier MORIN, Chirty, Jeudi 22 Mars, 2007 17H 30.


Charles-Antoine Hochman ( Gerant ) of the DOMAINE De MIRAIL writes : " Bravo pour votre selection et votre competence, grace a vous l'avenir des vignerons qui cherchent a enprimer dans terroir est assure dans la belle ville de Washington! " ( EARL du Domaine de Mirail 32700 Lectoure, France, Tel: 05 62 68 82 52 Fax : 05 62 68 53 96 mail : c.hochman@wanadoo.fr.




Guillaume Goisot writes : " Special thanks for your participation to the French Tasting. Votre magasin se ressamble pas a ma cave mais vote travail est fabuleuse! " Merci pour tous, Guillaume Goisot , Saint-Bris, FRANCE 22.03.07 17H 23

And Ann Gaillard writes : " Merci pour votre gentillese, votre dynamisme. Bravo pour votre cave, vous etes un excellent ambassadeur de la France. Au plaisir de vous recevoir chez nous ". Domaine de Mirail Le 21 Mars, 2007 Ann Guillard






As I said I enjoyed tasting these wines and will call Scott later today, Tuesday January 25th, 2010. I'm excited. It's always nice to have these souvenirs of the many visits that are made to the store. I get a whole lot out of them and I enjoy looking at all these smiles in these pictures, including mine.




I will probably add more after I speak with Scott. Stay-tuned ...





I'm especially glad to have this picture with both you Tom and you Scott .... we go back a long way, so many stories, so many memories. We should get together sometime outside the store and over some of these good bottles of French wine and share more of our individual stories here in Washington D.C. and elsewhere : starting with wine and going off from there ...

Happy New Year / Bonne Annee mes cheres amis .... TONY ( 1/25 /10 Mardi, 9H 42 )

Susan McCarthy Owner Of KENNEDY POINT ( Waiheke Island, Aukland, New Zealand ) Here At Cleveland Park Wines Wed. April 1st, 2009

     I learned about Syrah from Susan that she makes brilliantly there on Waiheke Island. It tastes a lot like the northern French wines that inspired it I am sure like the Cote Rotie, Cornas and Hermitage wines.  I'd never heard of either the island or them making Syrah ( with a splash of Viognier ) in New Zealand.

     I like it so much along with the elegant Sauvignon Blanc ( no gooseberry ) that I tasted with her and Jeremy Sutton our Kysela Imports rep and have decided to have Jeremy pour them both this Saturday,  April 5th, 2009 from 1-5 PM. If you are free you should join us.

     Check out my previous blog with GLENFIDDICH and BALVENIE. I got Susan to be in those photos, too as she is a big GLENFIDDICH fan.

     I will write more about Susan's visit soon but want to post these fun photos now. 

     It was great to have owner Susan McCarthy of KENNEDY POINT ( 44 Donald Bruce Road, Aukland New Zealand,  Tel: (09) 372 5600  info@kennedypointvineyard.com,   www.kennedypointvineyard.com ) here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits.

     Cheers,   TONY

John Morrison & I Visit Briefly THELEMA Vineyards In Stellenbosch, S.A. Friday, March 20th, 2009 And Meet Owner Thomas Webb /Taste, THanks Andrea!

It was all too brief a visit to THELEMA and yet John Morrison and I had a grand time, really we did. We got to drive on a beautiful day and see some of this mountain. I got it in the pictures out back just past the tasting room and reflected in the floor-to-celing glass doors of the tasting room. It's really quite a beautiful space to taste wines to have nature come in and yet keep it enough at bay as to not disturb the wines. I liked it.

The weather was wonderful and we tasted the heartier styled 2009 " Sutherland " Sauvignon Blanc and the flavorful yet nicely-balanced 2006 " The Mint " Cabernet Sauvignon. I liked the Cab better than I did the Sauvignon Blanc which was just a tad too big for my palate. I was lucky to taste these as I promised John that we would not taste any wines while there because we were on such a tight schedule. But there you were John talking to Thomas and Andrea offered me first one taste and then I accepted another, tasting and then passing the glass to you John so that you might taste quickly, too. I'm proud of myself : I almost kept my word : and we were not late because we stayed and tasted all the wines. Oh well, we'll do that next time, won't we John? I've got a rain check to do that with you, don't I ?!?

I took lots of pictures and got Theresa Morrison's WINELANDS book signed for both John & Theresa and one for me. Marci Weinstein our sales rep fro Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) knows Thomas' son. They both were in wine school together in Adelaide, South Australia.

We saw Thomas Webb walking over to the winery and tasting room when we arrived. We did not know it was him. I was much more caught up in watching the turkeys I believe as they walked together in a group to our left : the direction that Thomas Webb was coming from. That's when we noticed you John , we just did not know it was you. Why weren't you with us Marci? You would have known and we would have met immediately.

As it was we got a lay of the the land and I got some fun photos before we met Thomas. I am sorry that I did not get a chance to meet your son that was not there as well as taste more of your excellent wines that I have carried at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com ) for years now, buying them from Cape Classics that sells them through Country Vintner imports.

John and I were at the winery in Stellenbosch Friday, March 20th, 2009 in the early afternoon before we drove over to the Elgin Valley to meet owner Ian Corder of ELGIN VALLEY Vineyards.

For more info on THELEMA go To : Thelema Mountain Vineyards ( Pty ) LTD, P O Box 2234 , Stellenbosch 7601 Tel : (27 ) 021 8851924 www.thelema@thelema.co.za thomas@thelema.co.za Fax : (27 ) 021 885 1800 ).

Here are some of my usual artsy photos that I like to take to catch a fun story in interesting, intriguing images. Did I succeed? Let me know. I loved the bouquet of Hydrangeas up on the left corner to the back of the tasting table. I also liked the ornamental grasses and flowers that greeted us as we walked into the tasting room. It was also a treat to see some of the grape vine leaves turning to beautiful reds and yellows in an otherwise ocean of green, dark grape leaves. I noticed this especially as we drove away but was unnable to get a good picture of it. Oh well, I missed the turkeys, too!

Thanks Thomas and thanks Andrea Rossouw for the two tastes. Cheers, and I hope you like this entry. I will probably add to it over time. Come see us next time that you visit the U.S. and spend any time in Washington D.C. Thomas, Marci tells me that you are a great guy and that she has wonderful memories while there. TONY