New Update : 3/29/2014 RIO/SOL 2010 Cabernet Sauvigno-Shiraz! / 2012 : MIOLO & RIO/SOL , LIDIO CARRARO, CASA VALDUGA E SALTON Wines/ ' New ' Updates / Cachaca & Now VeeV Acai Spirit ( Liqueur ) Blended W/ Other Exotic Ingredients - ALL From Brazil! All @ Cleveland

Park Wines & Spirits, Washington D.C. N.W. ... the headline should finish.


It takes a village as I said ...  thanks all, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn  Saturday, March 29th, 2014 here at the store as I finish this and post this and get ready to sell more Greek wines today as we open a bottle with Danielle of Santorini HATZIDAKIS Winery dry white, 2012, On Special for $19.99, 13.5% alcohol by volume. Cheers, join us from 2-6PM to enjoy this and a bottle of the RIO/SOL Brazilian dry red 2010 Cabernet / Sauvignon / Shiraz , $10.99, 13% alcohol by volume, and some 2009 Crianza , Rioja from MARTINEZ LACUESTA dry Spanish red. Everyone always welcome, come taste with us today, Saturday, March 29th, 2014!  TONY  @ Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits, 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008, 202-363-4265 ... come taste ...  Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn



I HAVE JUST ADDED BELOW an update. VeeV continues to sell well! We have an open bottle to taste customers on for all to taste, enjoy and buy!   TONY 2/24/2014

I am interested pretty much in anything from Brazil. I grew up part of my life in Rio de Janeiro and Brazilia when it became the capitol. I was there as a child of seven and eight years old in Brazilia's first two years of life as the famous buildings were being built, crawling and climbing them as a young, very impressionable young boy, speaking Portuguese with the workers , engineers, builders, climbing into the warehouse through a tiny window way up on one of the outside walls; and basically having the time of my life. So, as I said I am interested overall in anything about Brazil and VEEV was/ is no exception.

We sell the RIO/SOLRio Sol wines ...

• Conversation started October 28, 2012
• 

  10/28, 11:36pm
  

  Anthony Quinn
  

  
  

  We sold you RIO/SOL dry red Syrah/ Cabernet Sauvignon blend at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( www.clevelandparkwines.com ) that we bought from Dionysos Imports in Virginia. Did not know you make espumante as well? tell me more. Thanks. I am working with Bralvin Imports to imprt Brazilian wines to the United States. Contact me at : anthony@bralvin.com and go to Facebook at : Bralvin to see what we are up to. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn ) ....
• 
  

  ...     and the MIOLO wines of Brazil - have for years now ...

 , and I am thrilled to have them and be able to share them with our Cleveland Park N.W. Washington D.C. customers. We do it seems have plenty of customers from Brazil and besides the Cachaca that we sell ( that is what people expect us to have ) we have some wine and now some VEEV and it is thrilling to have these as Brazil seems to be at the top - or approaching the top of it's game. And on top of that the Acai in the VEEV is also good for us? I love this!

" From deep in the of the Brazilian Amazon, the Acai berry is thought to be the world's preeminent superfruit. And VVEV is the world's first Acai spirit. ... blended with exotic ingredients, such as prickly pear and the Acerola cherry. Go to : www.veevspirits.com. It is produced and bottled by : VEEV Distillers, Rigby, Idaho.

The presentation was made to Ravinder Sharma and then to me and I was able to taste the VEEV one day at the store and liked what I tasted and heard and plans were made to bring it in and do an in-store-tasting. Both of these goals have been accomplished and we now have VEEV on our shelves for sale and all that is needed now is for more people to hear about it , taste it and tell their friends. It would also be a great idea to schedule another in-store VEEV Acai Spirits tasting. We have to work on that Ravi.

I just looked at my book on Rio De Janeiro ( called that ) written by Kurt Peter Karfeld and published in 1955. The title page reads : " Album com fotografas em cores, Introducao de Celso Kelly , Texto em portugues, ingles, frances e alemao ... edicoes melhoramentos and the text starts :

J A EXISTIA, ANTES DE NASCER ...

Pressentimento, atracao O navegante vinha de longa. O mar ainda era uma grande aventura. De Terras, por esses meridianos, havia noticia pobre de verdade e rica de sonhos e esperancas. Pau-brasil, prata, oura, cristais ...

How many of us speak or understand Portuguese? I would venture not many but for those few of you that do and that read this I added the part above to add some history and some perspective.

In an hour I am off to have lunch with a Brazilian lady Elisabete and her French Canadian husband Laurent. They invited us with our neighbors Matt and his Swedish wife Catarina to their home for lunch here in our neighborhood. It will be nice to see them again. Catarina and I went down to introduce ourselves three or so weeks ago.

A couple of days ago I told Ravinder Sharma that buys the liquor for our store that we needed to buy some more VEEV as we were almost out. he called our supplier and when our order came the next day the VEEV was marked " out of stock " and so that is a good sign that I interpret to mean that since we and our wholesaler are both out of VEEV temporarily that it is in fact selling and doing well.

We will have it soon again and start all over selling this new and exciting VEEV acai spirit / liqueur. Call us at : 202-363-4265 or email me at : anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwines to be sure that we have it back. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn

P.S. : Sorry that the pictures are a bit fuzzy. I think that even still they give a good sense of the product VEEV and the energy and the enthusiasm that was present during the whole presentation. We were both excited and it shows. Cheers, TONY


HERE'S an UPDATE from Sunday, February 23rd, 2014 : Enjoy it, thanks to Clovis Boscato, to Jucelia Vicari, to Vallontano winery, to Maria Amelia Duarte Flores, Talise e Luis Valduga Zanini, and so many more, my Uruguayan friend that works for PIAGENTINI and X DECIMA, he's so professional, a wonderful ambassador for the wines of South America as well as those of Brasil! ... Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn  2/24/2014  a beautiful BREEZY day here in northern Virginia on my day-off . Drink more of these fine wines, cachacas and VeeV and Acai, too of course...   TONY

Carnaval's-A-Comin'! Coming Soon! Are You Ready?!? I Am, R U?!? JOIN US, Join Me, Let's Work Together!

     When was the last time you were cachaca'ed?!? When was the last time U were espumante'ed?!? When was the last time you were Tannat'ed or Marselan'ed or Bordo'ed or Feijoada'ed, Rio'ed, Gavia'ed ,Brazileira'ed , Belo Horisante'ed, Crystalina'ed. Bento Goncalve'ed, Vale Dos Vinhedo'ed, Nova Padua'ed, Porto Alegre'ed, Dom Candido'ed, Zattera'ed, Boscato'ed, X Decima'ed,  Brasil'ed, Amazon'ed ,Caxias'ed Carnaval'ed !?!

     SO many wine - vineyard, wine-region, cachaca references , and mostly of those still largely unknown. I could have asked about the better-known as well like : how's it to be Salton'ed, to B Casa Valduga'ed, to B Miolo'ed. to B LIDIO Carrara'ed and more ?!?

     I WANT to give a BIG ' Shout Out ' to the people I met in Brasil in June 2012 : Milton, Rodrigo, Danielle, Franceen, Barbara, Anna-Paula, Fernanda, Roberto, Bruno, Elisa, Ruis, Anna, Jaqueline, Michele, Gustavo, Manu... and so many more.

     I WANT  2 To say OBREGADO to those here in the United States that are Brazilian and that have inspired me and been of help like Gustavo and Roberta, you know who you are, Thank you very much!

     I WANT to give a BIG ' Shout Out " to Sonia Denical that has communicated with me the most as I have tried to promote the wines of Brasil here in the United States.'s kept me on track with her encouraging words and thanking me often for the work I am doing here. Obregado Sonia!   TONY 2/24/14

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Be Vain Brasil With Your Fine Wines Like Those @ DOM CANDIDO, DON GUERINO, BOSCATO, ZATTERA, PIAGENTINI, VALLONTANO, DUNAMIS, CAVALIERI CASA VALDUGA, CORDILEIRA De SANT'ANNA, MIOLO, SALTON, LIDIO CARRARO, & So Many More : Shout Out For Them Be Vain, You Have Every Right!

Now let me see, what foto do I like best, this one or the first one that I just posted?!? That's easy ... both because they both have grapes and vines and the future of some really fine wine in Brasil, at Don Guerino and other fine wineries, too! Bravo!  Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn  2/24 /14

 ....Bralvin ( on Facebook : LIKE Bralvin : All-Things Brasil! Cheers, Tim tim, TONY

Posted by Anthony Quinn · 2 seconds ago

Bruno and your brother : we vain! Shout it Out! LOVE your own wines! They are really special, let the world know! Shout it out! You are making really well-made, special, balanced, flavorful, world-class wines at DON GUERINO that deserve to be shouted about, that deserve to be on the shelves in stores and offered to drink and enjoy with meals in restaurants, picnics, bars, sports bars, hotels like Victoria Dall'Onder : Be Vain, YOU both and your family have every right to be! What is Southern Imports doing these days to promote your wines here in the United States?!? Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 2/24/14

There are so many great wines of Brasil! So many of us get caught-up with the idea that they are all new - newcomers and thus cannot possibly be as great? That's okay. We are fighting a big battle with the big companies that are making it hard for the small wineries to really get a start, and so here are some that I have discovered, they all deserve our attention. I am posting pictures now and then more text to follow.

Happy Carnaval everyone - just four more days!  TONY

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Be Vain Brasil With Your Fine Wines Like Those @ DOM CANDIDO, DON GUERINO, BOSCATO

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Be Vain Brasil With Your Fine Wines Like Those @ DOM CANDIDO, DON GUERINO, BOSCATO, ZATTERA, PIAGENTINI, VALLONTANO, DUNAMIS, CAVALIERI CASA VALDUGA, CORDILEIRA De SANT'ANNA, MIOLO, SALTON, LIDIO CARRARO, & So Many More : Shout Out For Them Be Vain, You Have Every Right! ZATTERA, PIAGENTINI, VALLONTANO, DUNAMIS, CAVALIERI CASA VALDUGA, CORDILEIRA De SANT'ANNA, MIOLO, SALTON, LIDIO CARRARO, & So Many More : Shout Out For Them Be Vain, You Have Every Right!

I'm SO GLAD TO SEE THIS just now here on Bralvin Facebook on the BRALVIN Home Page : great to see, a good piece I copy and share here with you all. Cheers, TONY 2/24/14

Two in a Vineyard shared Casa Valduga's photo.

Grapes for sparkling wine sparkling wines from Casa Valduga are made from three grape varieties (solo or mixed): Pinot Noir ink and white Chardonnay and Moscato. Generally lend character to the mix inks more austere, more body, aromas of red fruits, while Chardonnay gives more creaminess and elegance.

Uvas para Espumante

Os espumantes da Casa Valduga são feitos a partir de três castas (solo ou misturadas): A tinta Pinot Noir e as brancas Chardonnay e Moscato...See More

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• Bralvin and Deborah Thom-Niedziela like this.
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  Bralvin WOW, I LOVE This! Great! Glad to see this, I will share it, too. Thanks, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 2/24/2014

  a few seconds ago · Like

TALKING WITH Sonia Denicol on Facebook :

Demesne Vicari Italic Riesling - the Lizete Vicari

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  Debbie Portela , Isadora Barbosa ,Geraldo Gomes and 27 others like this.
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  Bralvin How are you Madame Wine, I miss not talking with you more. Have you read my recent blogs at: chatwine.blogspot.com on the wines of Brazil?Let me know what you think? Cheers, Anthony (TONY) Quinn Please read and share Them, that would be great. TONY Happy Mardi Gras 2014 to you all, what wines of Brazil will you enjoy, any red maple you like for this? Seems like that's a good choice? What do you think about some chilled red maple? TONY

  Like · Reply · a few seconds ago
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  Silvia Corbucci is the white of the year (or decade) for me! incredible! delights!

  Like · Reply ·3 · January 22 at 1:24 pm
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  Sonia DENICOL We will combine together to take a Sivia Silvia Corbucci , me, you and Patricia Brentzel !

  Like · Reply ·1 · January 22 at 1:28 pm
• 2 Replies
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  Anthony Quinn That will be fine. Everyone in the wine business in Brazil needs to show Themselves holding a bottle of wine of Brazil, even with a glass of it to show the wine, the bottle, the label and the color and clarity! TONY  Like · Reply ·2 · January 22 at 9:01 am

     The only Brazilian family wine member, Patricia Carraro of the LIDIO CARRARO winery in Serra Gaucha Brasil to come to our store Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits, 2423 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington D.C., 20008, 202-363-4265 and ever taste the wines of Brasil with us to my knowledge. For that alone I give Patricia here a BIG " shout out! " Obregado Patricia, we still sell your wines and in March we will have more coming. I have already spoken to our local rep Jody Jackman of Winebow Imports baout getting more. You came with Kay Mallon here of Winebow Imports to make this presentation back in July 2012 I believe? TONY

2/25/214 : Happy Carnaval this Friday, February 28th, 2014 ...  TONY

WE SHOULD SCHEDULE this Friday a VeeV Acai liqueur tasting, too?!? Call us ASAP! Anyway, we have an open bottle that I can taste with everyone. Saved by the Veev bottle! Cheers, Tim Tim tudos ...  OLA TUDOS!!   TONY

Bralvin‎Madame do Vinho

How are you Madame do Vinho, I miss not talking with you more. Have you read my recent blogs at : chatwine.blogspot.com on the wines of Brasil? Let me know what you think? Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Please read and share them, that would be great. TONY Happy Carnaval 2014 to you all, what wines of Brasil will you enjoy, any red Bordo you like for this? Seems like that's a good choice? What do you think about some chilled red Bordo? TONY

Like ·  · 9 hours ago · 

• Sonia Denicol and Louseno Menegotto like this.
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• 

  Sonia Denicol I'm fine TONY, and you? I miss talking to you either, but I always take a look in what you are doing through your page!
  I see that you are doing a great job there with brazilian wines. I saw what you wrote about Don Guerino brothers, they really are do...See More

  Like · Reply · 2 hours ago
• 

  Anthony Quinn Sonia, so good to hear from you! It cheers me so, really it cheers me immensely! We will taste some of the SALTON Pinot Noir here, the ' Volpi ' from Campania, the 2012 Estate-Bottled, $17.99, 13.5% alcohol by volume, with our local rep Mike Cavanagh this Friday, and so I will enjoy that Sonia. I also like all your suggestions for what to drink. Which producers will you taste? Let me know any names? I love to know the names of the wineries?!? Thanks. obregado my friend, TONY 2/25/2014

Sonia responded again. Here's what she said :

Sonia Denicol Let me know your opinion about this wine after you taste it.
My suggestions are always for wines of small wineries. Era dos Ventos, for example. They have new wines now, Merot 2008 and 2009, Marselan 2008, that I love, Tempranillo 2008 and Teroldego 2007, another one that I love and as we say here, a "vinhaço", a big wine!!!
In the same style there is another boutique winery called Tormentas (Storms in a free translation). Marco Danielle is the producer that makes one of the best brazilian Pinot Noir, Bourgogne style. He has now a very good Barbera and Teroldego too.
There is another winery I discovered last year, Bodega Czarnobay, from Encruzilhada do Sul, at Serra do Sudesta. They made 2 wines, Alto das Figueiras Merlot, delicious, and Pedregais, a sparkling wine made with Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. They started to work in biodynamic system two years ago.
In Santa Catarina I can name two special wineries: Domínio Vicari, very, very small. Lizete Vicari is the winemaker and she produces just 1000 bottles of a Merlot and a Riesling Itálico, an orange wine.
The other one is Santa Augusta, the first one to produce a byodinamic wine, Imortali, fantastic!
They also produces sparkling wine and a delicious white wine form Moscato Giallo.
I believe you know Cave Geisse, one of the best brazilian sparkling wine. Another one I love is Adolfo Lona, you must taste it!

There is some many others... but we'll have time to talk about them!
Cheers!!1

Bralvin on Facebook  - LIKE us and stay in Touch with the wines of Brazil here in the United States, Washington D.C. anyway!

WHY We Sell SALTON Wines @ Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits In Washington D.C. Northwest, 20008 ? Simple : Good, Available , Well-Priced & With A. & M. Imports Behind Them Ready To Pour With Mike Cavanagh! Obregado Tudos ...

SALTON here in Washington D.C. provides wines that are affordable and that we can sell against everything else and that our customers like and buy because they are good for the money, competitive and that's what we need. I want to sell the others and will buy more LIDIO CARRARO from Winebow Imports, RIO/SOL from Dionysos Imports ... and want to buy CASA VALDUGA again but the Country Vintners does not have them anymore, and Soothern Imports does not seem to have anything here in this market except the CARNAVAL sparkling wines that are really not something I want to promote as , for me, BRASIL is so much better than that! I'd like to buy from Southern Imports the MIOLO and the DON GUERINO wines that they supposedly sell here in the United States? They do not seem to be pushing these or any others here in Washington D.C.?!? I have reached out here on Facebook and no answer, will try again now. SO : Mike Cavanagh of A. & M. Imports comes and pours and together we keep something ALIVE and in the faces of our customers here in Washington D.C. to have celebrated the New Year of 2014 and Carnaval now, and the Summer Olympics and the Soccer World Cup soon, too! Thanks- Obregado Mike and Katie Cavanagh for your help these last few months. AND : in fairness to SALTON : IT was - the Extra Dry Espumante the very first Brazilian wine I tried in Brasil when I returned there in late June 2012 at the Hotel Victoria Dall'Onder when Milton Sebbem offered me a glass upon arrival, and nothing tasted so good as it did- and my second glass - obregado Milton, ambassador extraordinaire of SALTON. They should hire you!! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 3/3/2014

• Anthony Quinn Oops, that's SALTON! TONY

  39 minutes ago · Like · 1
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  Katie Cavanagh No worries Anthony, we knew what you meant:)

  35 minutes ago · Like
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  Anthony Quinn Thanks Katie, appreciate this very much as it's a lobor-of-love for me. Cheers, TONY

  10 minutes ago · Like · 1
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  Katie Cavanagh Tell me about it Anthony! This wine thing isn

  9 minutes ago · Like
• 

  Anthony Quinn Katie, tell Mike I would like to post the ' other ' pictures I took / he took on his phone, there must be some FABulous pics waiting to be posted to show how great this event was with him and Fatima ( that poured the LEBLON Cachaca, acai and aged-Cachaca Brazilian rum - and gave out green beads, masks and buttons, too - she's a dancer as well ) and Rolf from Washburn that poured the Texas Yellow Rose Rye and Whiskey, too : so much happening. The pics show some of this palpable excitement that filled the air, charged our inner souls and beings with an energy and a fluidity and a warmth that was absolutely contagious in ' THE best way! ". The SALTON wines showed really well, the Pinot Noir, $17.99 was ' on fire ' and brought it's own magic and fireworks to the palates of those that tasted it like Bonnie that mentioned she liked it but bought the Intenso espumante instead. Lots of people also liked the ' Flowers ' and Marge and Dean, Mike and I had lots of fun talking about the Flowers drier-tasting white blend of Moscato that was flowery in the middle taste and yet quite dry when you swallowed, and ONLY $10.99 a bottle : what a deal! Cheers, tim tim to you both, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 3/2/14

NEW UPDATES :

• Bralvin, Orestes de Andrade Jr., Judite Nunes Dos Santos, Luciana Pires and 13 others like this.
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  Bralvin Drink Vinicola Campos de Cima ... VALLANTANO Vinhos Finos do Vale Dos Vinhedos : todos - tudos muito bem BEM BEM BEM BEM!!!!! ....
  
  I am so happy I found this, great foto! Makes me feel so good to see a Brazilian wine pictured here and not another bloody wine from somewhere else. Brazilians need to know how fine their wines are. The Quality is quite high and if the prices charged for them are equal to those prices charged for other wines made outside of Brasil then Brasil will be able to complete well. I like the fruit-forward quality of the wines of Brasil. They add something fresh and pure , tasty and balanced and fun to the wines already readily available to us. NOW : AGORA the wines of Brasil need to become readily available. Start talking about them, start making some noise, BE PROUD, don't make more excuses for not drinking or promoting them : be daring, be brave, have your own opinion, be loyal! Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Sunday morning here at home in northern Virginia, day before Saint Patty's Day ... can you hear my noise?!? TONY

  Like · Reply · 2 hours ago
• 

  Ronaldo Schmitz Tatiane Figueiredo, boa ideia 

  Like · Reply · 22 hours ago · Edited

• Sonia Denicol and Edvan Lopes like this.
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  Sonia Denicol This Era dos Ventos Peverella is an experience! An orange wine made with a very rare grape called Peverella. It's almost extinct in its origin, Veneto, and we don't have notices that is planted in other countries. Peverella wines were widely consumed by families in Rio Grande do Sul until the 50s and now are being rescued by some small producers as Era dos Ventos. Fantastic!

  4 hours ago · Like
• 

  Bralvin Thank you - obregado Sonia for giving us this information. I appreciate this and all your help my dear friend! TONY I like it, Cheers, TONY

Roberta Ohoi Tastes The Rodney Strong Sauvignon Blanc " Charlotte's Home " Northern Sonoma 2010 ( $19.99 ) In 2012/ Thanks To Bill Holland 7/15/95

I have to say that I was really impressed with this bottle of the RODNEY STRONG " Charlotte's Home " Sauvignon Blanc ( $19.99 ) that our Washington Wholesale rep Roberta brought Ean and me to taste the other day at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwine.com also on Facebook at : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and on Twitter now at : cpwinespirits ).

This RODNEY STRONG Sauvignon Blanc was fresh and lively and bright and not heavy anc cloying and a real delight to sip and enjoy. I have now tasted it twice as Roberta returned to our store to taste it with customers perhaps three weeks later on a weekend in late February, 2012. People liked it then and bought it and it's a pleasure to have it for sale in our store as it is an excellent example of Sauvignon Blanc done right in California and at a really affordable price. The winemakers never lose sight of the fresh fruit which they started and it remains front and center throughout. Bravo to them for not overworking or producing it : simply letting it's charm and more lovely and subtle flavors weave their own magic without much outside help. I like that, I like that a lot. Restraint and knowing when to add or tweak and not rushing ahead. Bravo.

Years ago when I worked for Forman Brothers my father and I were invited to a private lunch at RODNEY STRONG and it was just the two of us with the staff of RODNEY STRONG. It was a delightful lunch and they did everything to make my Dad and I feel comfortable and welcome. I will always remember that visit and tour fondly. I have pictures from the tour and will include them in a future chatwine blog. That was before digital photos and so I have to copy them here when I get some time.

Funny, we did not meet Rodney Strong until we were leaving after this great tour. He was walking into the offices and we were walking out and we had a chance to stop and chat briefly for a few minutes. That was nice. I'm glad that happened. Just our good fortune.

I just looked around for my old cards from this trip and voila I found the one I needed that dates back to the period of July 15-20th, 1995 when my father Harry Alan Quinn and I visited the RODNEY STRONG Vineyard ( 1145 Old Redwood Highway, P.o. Box 368, Windsor, California, 95492 707-431-1533 Fax : 707-433-8635 ( there was no email or web page address on the card ) and Bill Holland ( manager, visitor center ) took care of us so well. Thanks Bill, this was a great visit and I appreciate it.

I will finish the rest of this blog of Roberta Ohoi's visit to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits a bit later but will post this " as is " as I am glad to get this out as my father's birthday was just this past week and I am thinking of both him and my mother as well as I just celebrated hers, too this past weekend.

It's now Wednesday, March 14th, 2012 at 11:01 PM and it's now in the seventies or even eighties and all is well, warm, sunshine everywhere with clear baby-blue skies above and it's time for me head off to work. Cheers and stay-tuned for more. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn

P.S. Being an artist I like to take lots of artsy photos. Hope you enjoy them.

PASSADOURO 2009 Portuguese Dry Red & MORGAN 2008 Monterey CA. Syrah Tasted By Jody Jackman Of Winebow With Tony Quinn & Ean Bond

Being an artist I want to bring my artistic point-of-view to the table so to speak when I take photos and include them here in my written blogs where I also comment broadly on the specific events that occur weekly at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 , Tel : 202-363-4265 anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwines.com, also now on Facebook at : Cleveland Park Wines and on Twitter, too at : cpwinespirits.com ) that I have now managed the wine department for the last twelve-plus years in Cleveland Park N.W. Washington D.C. What a grand ride it has been for the most part. The last four months have been bumpy indeed. More about that perhaps at a later time.

Pictured above is one of my all-time favorite ( as well as of many of our customers ) salespeople Jody Jackman of Winebow Imports. Owner Leonardo Loscascio of Winebow Imports in my very humble opinion out to be rewarding her handsomely as she goes way beyond in doing her job and sharing her knowledge with many of our customers when she does her in-store wine-tastings on many a Friday from 5-8PM. Thanks Jody, you are the best. You are a big part of why I still give Winebow the business it gets from us. It's still very much a people business in my humble opinion once again and not simply about scores and points and numbers, boxes and clever labels and concepts created in advance before there was even the wine to put in the bottle.

It irks me greatly that the whole process of selling wine on a large scale has been completely turned around and starts with the results which are money and moving more boxes of wine. I support the smaller families that have a product first along with some part of a dream that want to sell what they make to stay in business and not add just some more money to what they already make like the corporate giants out there that live high up in buildings built of many floors and lots of shiny metal and glass. Harsh words I know but then again for me at least it's the truth that I do not like and wish to make many others aware of as they buy bottles of wine named CUPCAKE that again in my opinion started with a name and the wine was the last thing considered : money speaking loudly once again with the wine taking it's place but not center stage where it should always be.

On this occasion in the store when Jody came to taste some of her current releases I ended up quickly taking quite a few pictures as she both spoke and poured and filled Ean Bond and myself ( Anthony Quinn ) up on a series of wines that included a Dao Portuguese white and a German wine I believe as well? I will have to check my notes. These pictures are of two wines in particular : a dry red Portuguese blend from the Duoro region called PASSADOURO. It's from the 2009 vintage and I had asked Jody about some of her Portuguese wines and so this was timely indeed. We still do not have it on our shelves but I will check my notes and then with Jody and we will try and get some here in March.

I love watching the wines cascade down from the lip of the bottle into my awaiting Reidel Austrian wine-tasting glass and the picture above is a perfect example of that. If I can give people a visual stimulus to rush out and buy a bottle to try then I have done part of my job. I like adding these visual prompters to help people to decide to buy a wine : seeing the brilliant color and clarity and the light shining on or through it can do that as well, if not much better than just simply looking at the label. And when you combine that with seeing the color, the label, the glass and wine inside of it what better prompter could there ever be?!? I don't think many? I call it : adding to the equation - that's what I like to do, not copying the equation.

On top of all this seeing the wine tumble and pour from the glass like a magnificent waterfall reminds me of growing up in the wilds of Brazil and taking my camping trips as a very young little boy indeed and being there by waterfalls and witnessing the water do the same thing and being transfixed as I watched or even swam in the water itself of got close to the wall where the water was cascading down into the body of water below. It has stayed with me these images all of my life and I am forever grateful and thankful for that.

I ask your indulgence here as I have included many pictures that are quite similar but in fact different and they do reveal subtle variations and new things which can all add to the moment that Ean, Jody and I shared. Nice to be able to go back and relive a slice of this moment as it all happened so quickly as most things do and are all to often as quickly forgotten as if they never happened at all. Look at the lovely deep , rich colors of this Portuguese dry red above. They are beautiful and deserve our attention as well as their tastes do. WE often do not have the time to appreciate both color and clarity as we are so determined to get to the taste as quickly as we can. That also means that so often we do not have either the time or the desire to linger and to bask in the bouquet as well.

I have started to take pictures looking up at the glass and the wine inside like the one above. I want to see what that gives us all as an image. I am still working on this and trusting always that at least in some of the pictures that I will get something that is worth our attention even with our terribly busy and stressed lives of today. Patience and believing have really carried me quite far down my artistic pursuit of life and things, people, places, moments and magic and wonder and a fair amount of joy and contentment, too.

This blog entry I must admit is turning out to be more an artsy one and so I hope you will indulge me here. I was glad to try these wines with Ean the other day in this early-as-yet 2012 year of ours. I will check my notes when back at the store about both this dry PASSADOURO 2009 Duoro red as well as the MORGAN 2008 Monterey, California Syrah. I am home now on Sunday typing this and trying to keep up with my wine blogs and all of my pictures as there are so very many of them. I cannot recollect exactly my thoughts on the PASSADOURO now. It's glorious outside with a wonderful baby blue and clear and brisk sky that is rendered quite cold once the wined wraps you up for long seconds in it's grasp and hold! Brrrr! It's now Sunday, March 4th, 2012 at 12:31PM here at home in northern Virginia on the day before my father's birthday as well as six day before my mother's! Glad I am remembering that. My wife reminded me about my mother's and I remembered about my father's. Life is wine and so many more enriching things for me. Certainly it's all entwined and each has it's special place and special importance to be enjoyed as a group and shared and treasured and wondered and marveled at as well.

I love this label above as seen through the glass of my Reidel wine-tasting glass.

I love all the reflections off the surfaces of labels and bottle glass and wine glass and even off the wooden surface of the table, too in many of these pictures. There's a glare, a glow, an intensity that draws one closer and also expels one. Works for me.

I also like very much the label as it stretches around almost the whole bottle glass surface that almost touches but does not quite, leaving a line of green glass from the start to the finish of the label. I also like very much the design of this PASSADOURO label, especially the drawing of the otter on it and it makes me want to know more? Was it put on there simply to draw one to it , for it's appeal as everyone loves animals? Or is there a story attached to the image? I will have to do some research on this and get back to you all later.

I love the deep red bright red color of the wine in the picture above. This makes me want to rush out and get a bottle and pour some and have a sip and then another and then another. That is as long as the wine is now ready to drink? It may need some food to help flesh it out? It may not? That depends on the spices and the levels of acids in the wine? As I said I cannot at this moment remember.

I also like this picture above because it makes me think that the otter on the label above is swimming in this liquid and in-motion ( as I swirl my glass ) red wine above. I quite like that.

I love the life of the red wine above : like theater, like dance, like the ocean and the blurring of the edges between air and water or wine in this case : the thread, the glue, the bond between the two.

I also love the color of the MORGAN 2008 Monterey, CA. Syrah and how it changes as I swirl it around my Reidel Austrian wine-tasting glass and how the light from the ceiling fixtures above that are so strong infiltrate, permeate and liven and add contrast and shading to the Syrah as it moves around the glass. Pretty magical, pretty electrical : energized. It's the Energizer Bunny become liquid wine.

I love seeing Jody's eyes and the one eye of the otter in the picture. They provide the transition necessary as well as they serve to ground the picture, too.

In this picture above there is the one eye of Jody and the one eye of the otter : lovely : they have bonded, they are now one. What more could anyone ask for?

It's now as both Jody and the otter as swimming together in a sea of liquid wine turbulence, excitement, energy, explosion of flavors, a wind of a bouquet and that Jody's eye is registering this as well as is the rest of her face. There is action and expression everywhere. I like it, I like it a whole lot. What do you all think?

The wine is swelling in the picture above as is Jody's smile. She's really warming up to this experience. I wonder if she has named the otter yet? Boy or girl?

It's also as if in this picture above Jody is getting to the same eye-level as the otter and the wine itself in which it is valiantly swimming? Is Jody trying to see things from both the perspective of the swimming otter as well as the flowing wine that is very much alive like the otter, Jody, Ean and I ? I like that thought, too. Becoming one with the wine, the others, the moment, the time and the place? These are all really important things and which can add so much to enjoyment, appreciation and hopefully also much less stress and worry.

Look at that smile above : the red translucent wine gives it a bit of extra warmth don't you think? And look at the grand swoop of Jody's eyebrow! Makes me want to ski and go over skiing over that swoop and land in a head dive right in the swirling red wine to later come back up and lay flat on my back and bask in the glow and the rush and the excitement, emotion, energy of the moment with a mouth full of delicious Portuguese PASSADOURO 2009 wine! Oh yeah! I know, I know, a bit of a stretch. But then that's what us artists do : we stretch reality and make fantasy and desire all come into our reality : at least that possible reality that exists inside all of us and which we choose to share or not depending. I choose to share as often as I can. I choose to live life as fully as I can and sometimes I do it with words and not as often with actions. it's fun to play, to imagine, to indulge ourselves : to feel alive. Cheers! We are all conscious or unconscious players in one another's lives and fantasies and dreams and desires. That's life, simple as that . Very primal still with lots of embellishments, frills and accessories but primal always at the core.

I love this picture above. It's one of my favorites because you can really see the color and the clarity, the brilliance and the spark of Jody's left eye. I have to thank my camera for this, as well as Jody : it all came together so clearly in this picture above.

In this picture, too. Just like in a play with different acts and scenes we have switched in these two pictures above from one scene to another? Or perhaps it's just the end of one scene in the picture above?

We pick up so quickly once again in the picture above. No rest for the weary. That's real life.

Ahhhh, there's a moment of discovery, or realization in the picture above? Jody has just though of something. heard something? The pieces of the puzzle of this Portuguese PASSADOURO 2009 dry red are all coming together - flashing before our eyes perhaps?

Once again I love the cascade of wine pouring from the lip of this bottle of MORGA

N 2008 California Monterey Syrah. What a grand spectacle : magical, wondrous really. Thanks Jody. What thick and rich and bright deep colors it has. The lecherous wolf is perhaps also here talking to the young Goldilocks? My artistic and literary bent is running wild here : please indulge and forgive me. And I have not even had a sip of wine this early Sunday afternoon as I type all these words and my imagination and process of assimilating words and stories and feelings and thoughts all run wild and collide and ride and are expressed rather than suppressed ( as is so often our path in life today ) sadly. I was an English major in college at Randolph-Macon in Ashland , Virginia and I loved those four years of mine. Very fertile indeed.

I do not remember having especially liked this MORGAN 2008 Syrah from Monterey, California. As I vaguely remember telling Jody the high alcohol in the wine bothered me quite a bit? I will ask Jody and check my notes on this as I may be quite wrong so suspend recording this last observation until I can clear it up here this coming week. I know that I have often found many of the California Syrahs as tasting too much of alcohol and not enough of the bright and fresh and vibrant fruit from which they started? Perhaps if the wines were allowed to be lighter, brighter, with less wood and heft that indeed they would be more successful and become more popular that they are now? Syrah has been a problem in California for years in my humble opinion and perhaps if they tried different tactics like perhaps not putting them in new oak barrels and used carbonic maceration that they would have a great new success story on their hands? Have they already tried this approach and abandoned it because the results were so disappointing?

But hey I am an artist and not a wine-maker. I have ideas, though and perhaps someone might try what I have suggested to see what results? I am so tired of such high-level alcohols and I just read recently that the watering and irrigating of the vines can lead to higher alcohol levels? Is this true? If so why don't they water less and not add nutrients to the water and let nature take it's course for whatever results and then dealing with that? So many questions I know. Oh well.

I am an interested bystander and I have been in the wine-business since I started work at Rex Wines & Spirits back in Washington D.C. on Wisconsin Avenue N.W. way back when now owner and president Dan Kravitz of Hand Picked Selections was the wine-manager under Alan Sahm ( do I have that spelling correctly ? ). I worked there a year and told Alan that it was unpatriotic to have to work on the 4th of July as well as on other national holidays. I said it in front of all the store employees and did not make myself popular with Alan I am sure, I was young and naive and impressionable then just as I am today. Nothing has changed Alan! I also once asked Alan if I had any future at Rex Wines & Spirits and he said " no " and I was out of there before my year ended managing Colonial Liquors at the corner of 19th and M Streets N.W. in 1982. History, rich, lush, verdant history : mine. I do call this my " chat " wine blog.

I've always loved how I get the reflections of the necks of the bottles as well as the ceiling lights in the wines poured into my Reidel wine-tasting glass. There's a bit of the green of the bottle on the surface on my wine.

Look at the picture above and how clear the word MORGAN is on the label : it looks great doesn't it? I think so. Bravo.

I love this picture above : I love the way the ceiling light as it reflects off of my Reidel wine glass in the picture above cuts through Jody's face making it all look like pieces of a puzzle. Fun. Look at the beautiful color of the MORGAN 2008 Syrah above? That red infused with all the bright light from the ceiling lights above is quite spectacular.

Here in this picture above it happens all over again! I love the glare , the intensity : Ean's expression is great : so is the color once again of the MORGAN 2008 Monterey, California Syrah above : liquid bright, almost transparent wine-light-clarity-warmth-wonder and magic. Wow, I'm loving it, really I am.

The picture above : priceless! I'd love to hear again what you were saying Ean in the picture above? What expression.

I love what's happening in my Reidel glass above of the MORGAN 2008 Syrah. The way the light shines on the glass and with all the reflected, refracted, absorbed and transparencies : the sense of motion and drama and energy and the whites and the clearer more fluid reds : wow, this is another piece of a red wine dancing like two doing the tango. Can you hear the music, can you almost taste the wine? I can.

I can almost get a handle on the wine here. Like coming up from the depths of the wine, having swum inside of it, gasping for air. That deep pink that you often wear Jody is a great color for you. Bravo. Thanks for sharing these Winebow Imports wines with both Ean and me the other day. You do bring us some truly exciting wine selections, many of which we have sold and included in our ever-changing collection of offerings at any one particular time or other at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits.

The picture above of you Jody is another one that I really love. I love how the lights act as ribbons and slice through your face and highlight parts of it and give you and your expression more action as if you are up on a stage and in a play on Broadway. Or like you are in a great film that is playing across the street on one of the last great remaining " big screens " at our very own Uptown Movie House. In that picture above you are reacting to something said and it hits you hard. In the photo below the news is sinking in and you are getting a firmer grip on the impact of the news.

In the picture above you have responded to the news that you have received above. You are firm in your resolve.

Ean, Jody and I are all taking a moment to reflect quickly over the last few minutes shared in each other's company and we are giving thanks for that before moving on to our next tasks which I am sure that there were many on this particular day. Looking at Jody's watch in the picture above it looks as if it's 12:15Pm or perhaps 1:15PM? Love the bracelet Jody there and the contrast that the bracelet and the shiny metal of the watch make ( they both really stand out against the matted deep black of your vest ). You know being a painter I pick up on things like that. And just like Billy Cyrstal when he was on Saturday Night Live way back when I will sign off with a paraphrase from him : " You look absolutely marvelous! ". Cheers and thanks for the tasting. We will talk again soon about all of this. Anthony ( Alan ) Quinn

P.S. Hope you like my chatty approach to this blog entry. The wine was the vehicle for me to chat in this instance about it and many other things as you have read that are about the business of wine ( and it's enjoyment, too ) as well as about life and people and art and food and many things that for me as I wrote linked and threaded my thoughts together loosely from one thing to another. Cheers, TONY