DOOLEY'S Toffee Cream & Vodka, DOM. DU TARIQUET Whites, DOM. ANDRE BRUNEL, GRAND CASSAGNE& " Only Girls ", " Le Clos " Red : Late 2009 W/Mike Martin

Domaine BRUNEL Rhone, GRAND CASSAGNE Dry Rose, & " Only Girls " Syrah Tasted, Too...


I like this product the DOOLEY'S Toffee Cream and vodka liqueur and have recommended it often to our customers. We have in On Sale at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits where I manage the wine department and I think it sells alright but know that they sales could be better on it unfortunately. It may be the packaging : people may look at it and not know what they are getting. It may simply bee to high-tech the packaging of the bottle and all ? It may be just right. I simply do not know except to say that when I have tasted it I have liked very much that it is neither to heavy or syrupy or too strong in alcohol either. It hits a nice balance and more subtle and polished cream flavors that I could easily sip some on the rocks or chilled all by itself.




I have already blogged about it here and have downloaded these pictures and am writing about it once again because I like these pictures very much.




I enjoy trying to capture more interesting / intriguing moments and angles and shots like the picture above to draw you closer - draw you into the story here a bit more. Being an artist I am willing to experiment fully and believe fully that in this manner things will result that I am a part of and that are more interesting I believe because I did not always know the end results.




I like this picture above because it has so many interesting parts and pieces to a puzzle that we have to fill in the blanks and complete the story. Do you agree?




I also love these " motion " shots that I take where I am moving my Canon digital camera as I take the picture. It's so rich and vibrant : shimmering and filled with color sounds and movement and music, too.




In this picture above you actually see the product outside the bottle and it's a bit a more thoughtful/reflective picture that I like as it gives us time now to focus on the product itself and collect ourselves before trying it.




I love this picture above! Talk about a nice candid that tells a great story all in itself between two people caught-up in laughter, with both the product in the glass clearly visible as well as the beautiful lady pouring the DOOLEY'S is actually holding the bottle in her hands, too.




Here she is seen through my cup filled with DOOLEY'S : my " signature " picture of showing the person ( in this case a gorgeous young lady that was as nice as could be, too : and engaging and good at getting people to try the DOOLEY'S ) through the glass/cup and product - a thin veil of the DOOLEY'S coats my glass - what a lovely film/aura it adds.




Love that smile above!




Love those two smiles above even more!




Ronnie Miller of the Robert Kacher portfolio of mostly excellent " value " French wines pours some of them at the same time of this DOOLEY'S Toffee Cream & Vodka tasting.




Ronnie Miller pours the Le Tarique of TARIQUET ( $12.99 ), a dry Cotes Du Gascogne southwest French white ;flavorful and very appealing/smooth and " fleshy " that has been hugely successful with our customers at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com ) for the last five years or so now. We have always sold the excellent Bas Armagnacs that they have sold here in the United States even before these excellent dry white wines were available.




Here's to you Ronnie! It's now Monday August 16th, 2010 here at home in northern Virginia on my last day off of a great two-week vacation at 11:29 AM and all is well. I hear that you have a larger territory with more people and ground to service and so Chris Barker and I wish you well and look forward to seeing you occasionally now as we give more of our orders to Lauren our sales person from Washington Wholesalers.

You also tasted Herve's " Le Clos " of the Domaine Eugenie Corbieres property that we sell both the regular as well as the " Reserve " dry red blends. Here with " Le Clos " we have something a bit different with some Bordeaux grapes blended with some Rhone : two grapes of each and we are now currently selling the excellent 2007 vintage at $9.99 a bottle that is a great deal.

Ronnie, you also poured the dry rose from the Costieres Du Nimes region of France from Dianne's vineyard CHATEAU GRANDE CASSAGNE($9.99). It was perfect for this warmer weather that we were enjoying at the time.




Ronnie, you also poured the ANDRE BRUNEL dry red Cotes du Rhone ( $11.99 ) while Mike Martin was still with us last year in 2009. We miss you Mike and wish you well in New York. The ANDRE BRUNEL showed quite nicely as usual with great balance and flavor and character that keeps the fruit tastes front-and-center as they should be.




Who are you texting here Mike? Anybody that we know?






This was a job well-done by all those involved. Thanks for your help, really.




Looks like we might have also been selling/tasting some of Dianne's " Only Girls " Syrah dry red blend that I enjoy selling so much in Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. Cheers and come and see us at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. TONY

June 2010 CHATEAU D'ANGLES Dry Languedoc Red,Rose & White Blends " Discovered " Recently @ Cleveland Park Wines When Our Local Rep Stopped By To Taste

I should have posted this blog by now. I'm overwhelmed with blogs in the draft form here and waiting some text. This is not a good thing as we in this case here have ordered these fine French wines from the CHATEAU D'ANGLES and sold them well as well as tasted them with our customers at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel : 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com on Facebook at : clevelandparkwines&spirits ) in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of northwest Washington D.C. our nation's capitol.




It's already Sunday evening here at home in northern Virginia at 5:31 PM on November 7th, 2010 and I was just featured on CNN oat 3 PM earlier on the show called " Your Money " on the topic of : " How does a small business compete and stay in business in hard, economic times? "




Well I/ we do it by finding excellent wines like these of France's CHATEAU D'ANGLES and bringing them to the store and selling and tasting them with our customers : either ourselves or with the help of our local wholesaler reps or the owners, wine-makers or the sales managers of the vineyards themselves. Everyone helps, everyone chips in and does their part and holds their own weight. That's how we stay in business us small businesses : we harness the help and the energies and the support of others like us that are all part of the chain that makes it possible to be fruitful, helpful and successful/ It's all tied together and I like to take this approach instead of the other approach which is to sell the points, the scores, the reviews and the hype that is abundantly available out there.




I want to sell the wines themselves and the people and the personalities behind them. That's what is real and what counts for me. It's hard work, it's the old-fashioned way of doing business. It's putting ourselves, our names, our reputations on the line each and every moment and everyday : falling and building on that - sink or swim, taking the responsibility ourselves and not on relying on the words and hype and the points of others. It's risky, it's scary, so be it.




I liked these wines : they are food wines to be enjoyed with meals. Come to the store and check them out. We still have some of the dry red and the dry white though we have sold through on the dry rose. We will get more of that later.




I hope that you all like my more artsy photos here. I am an artist and want to get you all inspired in a more visual/colorful way. I will include more notes soon on the pricing and the grape blends of these wines. Being home I cannot do it now.




I enjoyed this meeting/tasting/moment : we had fun, we had lots of fun - we connected. That means a whole lot to me.




The segment that we were on earlier today on CNN's show : " Your Money " was on our wine-classes that we offer and which I conduct myself. I could very easily have included one of these CHATEAU D'ANGLES French dry wines and may still as I conduct them on Saturday's from 11:30-AM-1PM in the back of the store : 6 wines and $10 a person, Call : 202-363-4265 or email at : anthonyquinn@clevelandparkwine.com to sign up for the. Read more about them on my recent blog of today : Sunday, November 7th, 2010.

Cheers and stay-tuned for more later here, TONY

Sat. June 4th, 2010 Mark Congdon ( Tastes PINUAGA & JOSEPH PFISTER ) Et Eddie Ofori( Tastes JEFFERSON'S Bourbon ) Soccer World Cup & More

Eddie Ofori tasted the JEFFERSON'S Bourbons ( 3 types : the regular 6-9 years ON SALE for $39.99 , the Reserve aged 10-16 years ON SALE for $54.99, and the 17-Year-Old Pappy Van Winkle batch ON SALE for $90 a bottle I believe.

Andrew our customer from South Africa is all excited naturally about the World Cup Soccer games going on at this time and being hosted just outside Cape Town in South Africa.




Mark Conglon was tasting two dry red LA PINUAGA Spanish La Mancha ( Toledo, town and home of El Greco and the Man Of LaMancha ) : a Merlot/Tempranillo dry red blend On Special for $11.49, as well as the Tempranillo dry red ( $13.49 ) that was both heartier and more robust and definitely needing food.

He brought the owner Esther here by to taste he on her full range perhaps a couple of months before this tasting? I have already posted that blog on Esther and her La Mancha Spanish wines and you should check that out here at chatwine for more info on all of that.




This I believe is Eddie Ofori's third time tasting these excellent three JEFFERSON'S Bourbons with our customers. They have sold really well ever since Eddie tasted me and Chris Barker on them and Trey Zoeller Master-Distiller came to our store to taste them himself with our lucky customers that day. I've also blogged about that already here at : chatwine so check it out, too.




Mark Congdon also tasted out Jean-Baptiste Adam's sparkling organic Alsace bubbly that he produces under his grandfather's name JOSEPH PFISTER and not the ADAM name as there is already an excellent sparkling non-organic ADAM Alsace bubbly that I buy and sell for $20 I believe that is available through Winebow Imports and our local rep Jody Jackman.




Luke tastes above as he is always on the look-out for both a dry white that he and Mary-Shannon will like. It's a project that keeps him vigilant and constantly on his toes so-t0-speak.





We are always courting " new " customers as people come-and-go from Washington D.C. all the time. She's already a regular with her parents' visits to us, more from the dad than the mom and yet sometimes like this all three come to see us. We like that, like that a lot. Have a good weekend guys.




I have known Eddie now for years and we always have a great time together. On this evening I hardly spent any time with you Eddie, please forgive me. The store was busy and we were all bust schmoozing and selling, tasting, talking and hopefully relaxing and enjoying one an other's company, too.







What do you think Luke of that Alsace French JOSEPH PFISTER organic bubbly from Ammerschwihr, Alsace? I like it : quite smooth and dry with some nice subtle complexities, too. It's a " keeper " for us ( be basically sol out at this tasting with our customers, everyone treated themselves ) and I know that I need to buy some more as we are currently out of it or at least were at the end of July when I went on my two-week vacation which I am still on and enjoying here-and-now at 12:11 PM in northern Virginia at home on Thursday, August 12th, 2010.




What a smile you have Eddie! I like it.




Great action/candid photo above of you Mark. What did you say? What did you do?!? You sure did get a reaction whatever it was ....





Two of our favorite customers and one has tightly-clasped in her hands a bottle of the LEO HILLINGER dry sparkling Pinot Noir Austrian rose ( $16.49 ) from the Burgenland that we buy from Jean Gagliolo and importer Klaus Wittauer. It's a favorite with many of our regulars.








Look at the great blurred colors above in this picture : it all speaks of excitement and gold and wealth and feeling like a million dollars to me.





Here's one of our regular customers from Uruguay and he buys his country's wines as often as he can afford them. In this case he got the BODEGAS CARRAU Tannat dry red I believe to support his country's excellent showings at he Soccer World Cup matches going on. We buy this from Brennan Downey.





It was a great Saturday here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits on June 4th, 2010. Thanks Eddie and Mark for helping to make it the big success that it has been. Cheers, and enjoy the rest of your weekend. TONY