MARCEL DEISS, TELMO RODRIGUEZ, ERRAZURIZ Wines Tasted In Cleveland Park, D.C. W/ Chris Of Monument Selections The 2nd Week Of Oct. 2009

It was a treat to taste this MARCEL DEISS 2003 biodynamic Beblenheim Alsace Pinot Gris ( around $30 a bottle ) with some bottle age on it. You never really know what you are going to get with an older-aged white and though I was hoping for the best I still was not sure what would be awaiting my taste buds?




They were not disappointed. This was an exceptionally well-preserved wine that offered plenty and really no signs at all of any fatigue. Rather it may still be developing more and is quite bright and fresh, lively and showing amazing character for a wine from Alsace that will be a real treat with food as both together will show and highlight more of the other as well as create a very nice dining experience as well.




I left my tasting notes at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits where I work. I just wanted to record now here at home my unvarnished memories of this experience a few days ago in the store.




Chris from Monument Imports brought me this gentleman that I seem to have hit it off with pretty much from the get-go. I liked this a lot : we shared a lot of the same views and both enjoyed the experience while I tasted and photographed and we bounced things off one another.




We have sold the MARCEL DEISS wines here 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 many years now. We used to buy them from Bobby Kacher at one point and I guess that is where I discovered them. Thanks Bobby.

This 2003 Beblenheim Pinot Gris is very reasonably priced ( around $30 a bottle ) and we will be tasting it this month in an in-store tasting on the weekend - a week from now to be exact - on Friday I believe. I will add that information tomorrow when I get to the store. We will also taste a couple of the other wines that I tasted along with this MARCEL DEISS.

We were able to try the ERRAZURIZ " Max " reds of Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and also the " Max " Reserve Shiraz. Of the two I found the Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon much more interesting than the Reserve Shiraz that was just too smooth and elegant. It was in fact my least favorite wine of this excellent line up of wines because of this.

The other wines that we tasted were a fabulous white blend from SCHIOPETTO from Italy's northeast. Top quality flavorful blend of three white grapes produces this distinct, flavorful white that will hold it's own against many a food flavor. This is some of the best white wine from Friuli and it will be great to sell it instead of just another Pinot Grigio from this region. Let's turn up the volume and the stakes here and really endorse this distinct and welcome taste profile of great minerals, citrus, bright sunshine and cream accents.

I had to mention Pinocchio when I heard the name SCHIOPETTO and we got a number of comments from this one that ran awhile on a nice live energy and process by association and whatever else from this beginning. Smiles erupted all round : the energy flow started quickly and spread here.

There was also an excellent GABO DO XIL that I tasted. I definitely need to consult my notes here as it is already late and I must get to bed now. I liked it : that much I remember , this wine from TELMO RODRIGUEZ ...


I will write more about all of this and probably include another picture or two and include names, vintages, the name of the man pictured here that I hit it off with almost immediately. I've got my work cut out for me. In the meantime enjoy these pictures and the stories that each and everyone of them tells all by themselves. Cheers, TONY

VALLE REALE Montepulciano Red & White Wines Tasting, Including The San Calisto 2005 Montepulciano D'Abruzzo , Oct. 2009

This was quite the fun, last-minute tasting late one afternoon last week ( early October, 2009 ) with a welcome and familiar face that told me she was friends with Miriam of VALDIPIATTA. This made her an even more welcome face for me as I have been in correspondence with Miriam recently and plan to visit her property the last week of October, 2009 with my daughter.



We tasted some really fine wines here : one dry white Trebbiano D'Abruzzo that I quite liked ( called Vigna Nuovo ), as well as the red counterpart also called Vigna Nuovo di Montepulciano. I liked both immensely and plan to get them into the store really soon and perhaps even include them in a tasting as I did last night with Miriam's Rosso di Montepulciano VALDIPIATTA 2006 Tuscan red.




We also tried the VALLE REALE Montepulciano D'Abruzzo which has been a big hit at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com ) now for quite some time : I'd say five years or more. Gastone Zempieri that used to work for Winebow Imports brought it back then to Mike Martin and me ( Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn and the rest is now a glorious history.




VALLE REALE is still with Winebow Imports and is now sold to us by David Pinzolo and Jody Jackman, both of who do an excellent job servicing our account. Thanks David and Jody : we appreciate all of your support now and over the years.




I liked both the Nuovo and the normale Montepulciano VALLE REALE reds. The Nuovo is softer and lighter and very easy to enjoy all by itself. In the warm weather I would clearly prefer it to the normale bottling that we usually sell.

The white VALLE REALE Trebbiano was a special treat and a surprise and I was very glad to rediscover it once again.

I don't want to be an name-dropper but I will this one time : notice George Clooney in the icture below? He's sitting with his friend at a table with a stack of VALLE REALE wine cases behind him. How fortuitous for VALLE REALE : I like this! Too bad he did not have an open bottle at his table that he was sharing with his friend? Or perhaps he did have one already and a second one was being brought to the table momentarily for him to share and continue in the good moment and the further glow of a good bottle of VALLE REALE?!?






We finished with the special bottling of the San Calisto 2005 Montepulciano D'Abruzzo. I enjoyed it very much with it's extra finesse and more nuances and clearly-defined subtleties. I could see very much enjoying it with a meal that I could linger and and expound on the joys and the sorrows and the beauties in life that are many and always abundant and everywhere one looks if one can only see them and also acknowledge them.




I really enjoyed this tasting and the four wines. It was a pleasure to revisit VALLE REALE and Italy's Montepulciano wines as well as the area of Abruzzo.

I still have not been but all in good time. That will have to wait. However, in the meantime we can sell these excellent four wines and come closer to this region of Italy through them vicariously.

Bravo and cheers and please stay-tuned for more pictures and more of the stories from this tasting as well as more of the names and details, many of which I have as yet to include. TONY

Matt Lewis Of KESTREL Vineyard, WA, Here The 2nd Week Of Oct. 2009 ( Cleveland Park , Wash D.C. ) Tastes " New " & Current Releases

This was a fun tasting once again. I have a whole lot of fun at these tastings and enjoy both the wine that I am tasting as well as the people, the stories and of course my odd-angle/through the wine glass picture-taking.






It was good to see Matt Lewis once again : he came last year I believe as well. We have been selling the KESTREL wines now for more than six or seven years at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. It was Brett Chapell that brought them to us many moons ago originally. Thanks Brett, we have enjoyed selling them since then are currently out. This was perfectly timed as we are out and we have many requests for Washington State wines and never seem to have enough of them. That's bad.




This was a fun tasting because we tasted five wines I believe : the two cute ones - a red and a white with cartoon-style, bright labels and the KESTREL Cabernet Sauvignon, the KESTREL Syrah and the KESTREL Late Harvest Chardonnay. They were all excellent : balanced, well-made and reasonably-priced for their categories and styles. I could see selling all five in Cleveland Park N.W. Washington D.C. - our nation's capitol.




I'm not a fan of these cute cartoonesque labels but I realize that they are attractive to many and that the prices they offer are very reasonable. That's a good thing as the wines inside both are excellent as well as that they represent value from Washington State.




I did not get a chance to try the KESTREL Merlot this time as it is out-of-stock currently. Oh well, we have always sold it in the past and we will buy some again when it is available.




You can see by these pictures that I was having a lot of fun. It's true, I really do love looking for new angles and ways to see things - hopefully with a fresh eye.




Thanks Matt for coming by again. Legends Imports has your wines and it was perhaps three months ago that our last rep brought them by the store to taste me on both the KESTREL Cabernet and the KESTREL Late Harvest Chardonnay.




Cheers and stay-tuned for more updates as I get them and can include them here.













Enjoy these pictures, TONY

More ALMA NEGRA Sparkling & Still Argentinian Wine ( The Chardonnay Sparkler & The Bonarda With A Touch Of Cabernet Franc ) Tasting @ Cleveland Park

This was a very relaxed tasting indeed as Andres Ridois the Commercial Director of ALMA NEGRA ( ardois@ernestocatenavineyards.com Av. Rivadavia 413 , 7 Piso, Ciudad de Buenos Aires Tel : ( 54 11 ) 4331-1251 ) brought both the sparkling Chardonnay ( the Sparkling rose of Malbec was not available ) along with the dry red mostly Bonarda with a small amount of Cabernet Franc. Fun, we had a blast and I have already included a whole story about this along with many pictures at my other blog called : chatart.blogspot.com. Check it out.



I like very much this first picture above of Andres' face through the glass and the golden color of the sparkling Chardonnay ALMA NEGRA from Argentina.



To get to this other blog simply scroll down on this page and look to the right of the page where it says : View Complete Profile - click that and scroll down to where you see my other blogs and click on the chatart blog and it will be right there.




As you will see from these pictures that a number of them are quite artsy and hopefully with some new angles and perspectives. The same is true on the chatart blog. I hope you like both blogs.




I was helping this young lady here in the red dress while tasting and holding my camera in my right hand. I could not resist taking the pictures to see what I would get. The camera was resting on the rack and I snapped the shutter three or four times and I got these two provocative images of her mouth and the red dress in this first image and then the second which appears shortly of her smiling.

I wonder if she knew that I had taken these pictures? I hope that she will not mind : they are expressions of my artistic character let loose to run a bit wild in fulfilling it's expression. I like them : and yet this lady in red did not try the ALMA NEGRA. She just happened to be in the store at the same time. Fortuitous? Yes, I think so ...

I liked both very much the sparkling ALMA NEGRA Chardonnay as the ALMA NEGRA dry red. It does not say on the label what the blend is. They do this on purpose. But as I have said it is mostly a blend of Bonarda and some Cabernet Franc.




It opened slowly and continued to come more into focus and reveal more of all it's charms with time. It's more of a food wine in my opinion. The bubbly can be enjoyed all on it's own with or without food.




Jody Jackman our Winebow rep arrived to do her tasting ( Friday evening, October 9th, 2009 and since she sells the ALMA NEGRA wines it became almost like a private, intimate party of the five of us and I am sure people that passed by in the store wondered what was going on? I explained and we did have some of our customers try the ALMA NEGRA.




We have now sold the ALMA NEGRA sparkling wines 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 at least the last two years if not a bit longer.




We have sold the two sparkling wines at different times and are currently out of both but will have some of the sparkling Chardonnay come back in a week or so.




I captured by accident something nice with all the parallel lines going from left to right and upward with the tilt of the wine glass, of Andres' face and with the light above. My good fortune.

Below I captured one of the many pictures with Andres speaking equally with his hands as with his spoken words.




Just like Andres is speaking with his hands above I am also trying hard to preserve a " moment " : our " moment " of this specific place and time and filled with things perhaps slightly orchestrated but mostly serendipitous, unexpected and delightful ... claro que si Senor et Senora ... es verdad mio amigo ... hasta luego ...




I love the deep golden colors and the distortion of the facial features and the light above of this picture.

Nelow, I love the way the glass and the bottle of sparkling ALMA NEGRA act like a pyramid and converge to the top where Andres' face is perched ? No, it's just where the eyes are led to ...




I like these next four or five pictures that follow below of everything seen through the Reidel champagne glass stemware that I drinking from and also using as the second filter to that of my Canon's lens. I liek the brightness, too of the ceiling lights at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits that provide a lot of light and contrast of the lights and the shadows.




These intense golden colors of the sparkling wine in the pictures above and below remind me of the deep color of the FALESCO " Ferentano " dry white from Lazio that is made with the Roschetto indigenous grape from this home area of Riccardo Cotarello, the owner of FALESCO. It's unoaked but seems to have some because of the thick, oily skins of the grape. We sell it now for a reduced price of around $25 a bottle and it sure is impressive. Kelly of Palena and I both discovered it at the same time three years or so ago at the Johhny On The Half Shell restaurant ( the old La Colline location across from Union Square ) where Riccardo Cotarella himself did a small seminar for a few lucky retailers and restauranteurs like ourselves. We both started singing it's praises pretty much immediately after that.




We spoke a lot about the Bonarda grape. It seems that Andres is even a bigger fan of it than I am and that pleased me no-end. I am sure that I was smiling broadly as he spoke of the history and the Argentinian love for this grape. I agree : it has many great expressions there in Argentina even though it came from Italy's region in the northwest of Italy in the Oltrepo Pavese region.




Conversation was brisk and very animated with lots of smiles and good cheer going between the five or six of us, depending on who was around at any given time around our tasting table as customers walked back and forth and business was good.




The elongation of the features above of the eyes and the mouth are incredible in the picture above.




In the picture above I am taking a picture of the champagne bottles on our shelves and on or in our cooler through the Reidel glass filled with bright golden sparkling Chardonnay ALMA NEGRA. Nice.




Look at the arc of the diver here in the tilted bottle of ALMA NEGRA sparkling wine and the tall, thin, sleek Reidel glass and the pose of both of Andres' hands. I love seeing the golden bubbly enter the glass and leave the darkened bottle. Ahhh, the promise of so many good things still to come ...




Enjoy this glass of ALMA NEGRA bubbly Jody because soon we will be starting our Friday evening for our store customers and featuring among other things Miriam's Tuscan Rosso di Montepulciano 2006 dry red ( $19.99 ) that is drinking so well just now. I don't think that it has ever been readier to drink and enjoy than now.




Above I told Andres that I wanted to take a picture of him with Jody Jackman and this is the pose/stance that he took immediately and he kept it going for me long enough to snap two good pictures with a beaming Jody.




Here Kelly of the Palena restaurant down the street from us is amused by something that she saw or heard Andres say or both.




I love this picture above ( it is one of two that I took ) of all of us holding this black t-shirt with the ALMA NEGRA white mask on it that was given to me by Andres. Thank you Andres, I will enjoy wearing it I promise you.




Kelly of Palena listens to Andres speak eloquently on the subjest of ALMA NEGRA, Argentina, Buenos Aires and the Bonarda grape.




WE were also doing a Peroni Italian beer tasting at the back of the store as you can see in these final two pictures that I have posted here.




I hope you enjoy these pictures and their various angles as I feel that they capture different levels of reality and perspective. I love how the faces bet distorted and broader often through the Reidel wine-tasting glasses.
What do you think : do you like these pictures of color and light and fractured and distorted objects and people through the Reidel wine glass stemware ?