Thinas Boscher Of BOSCHENDAL Tasting 2009 S BL/ Chardonnay Franschoek, South Africa, Here @ Cleveland Park Sat. 10/ 23/2010 1-5PM Tasting His Wines

     This was a great tasting today and I want to post these pictures now and add the text over the weekend. Thanks Danieele, Thinas, Ellie and Andrew for such a great wine class followed by a really exciting wine-tasting of the BOSCHENDAL and the DOUGLAS GREEN wines of South Africa. Cheers, TONY

     P.S. Saty-tuned for much more ...

Oct 2010 FRITZ CA. Wines : The Zins My Father Liked When He Was Alive & Would Talk About/ Send Me - Bring From California W/ Him When Visiting

There are blogs and there are blogs and there are information ones specifically about the subject and there are ones where the subject itself is the launching board to many other subjects and this is one of those.

The launching board being the FRITZ Vineyard Zinfandel wines that we currently stock at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel: 202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com and also on Face Book at : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and on Twitter at : cpwinespirits ) when our wine rep Nolan came with a selection of the wines from the FRITZ Vineyard followed shortly after by his boss Chuck that brought with him another California winery to taste. It was almost a party there was so much wine for Chris Barker and me to taste and I enjoyed it enormously because of the subject that is my father and the fact that I could both remember my father better as I told the story of him and his calls to me as well as wine-clipping sent to me on the FRITZ Vineyard.




My father used to call me from California and talk to me about certain wines. He would tell me the ones that he had tasted and visited and liked and then he would ask me my opinion on them. They were always friendly and enjoyable conversations for me. I must try now and find these clippings as it would be grand to include them here in this blog. I think that my father also sent my wife and I at least a bottle of the FRITZ Zinfandel, He may have brought them when he visited. As hard as try and remember this the recollection is fuzzy and I do not recall the specific details. Too bad - it's always nice to be able to more accurately flesh out a story like this one as possible.




The bottom line is that I remember the FRITZ Vineyard because of my father and because I want to remember and speak of my father I am happy to have the FRITZ Zinfandel now at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and I will ask Nolan on his next visit to tell me what he currently has in stock as I think I may have just sold out of what we had in the store here in our nation's capitol in the beautiful neighborhood of Cleveland Park N.W. with the National Zoo a couple of blocks away on Connecticut Avenue N.W. as one goes toward Dupont Circle from the store ; and the Uptown movie house just across the street from us.



There's Nolan above in this picture smiling. Either he or I was telling a fun story as we like to bounce off on one another and we both get a lot of joy out of it. What were you smiling about here Nolan?

I ended up buying the one Zinfandel here and I liked it for it's power and presence and good delineation of flavors with racy acids and some nice pithy spices and it overall made me cry out for some food to have it with. It was made to be enjoyed with a meal I am sure and to age gracefully and it was simply for me a bit too young yet to fully enjoy. But I am one of a very few today that does not mind waiting and willing to buy a bottle or more of the FRITZ Vineyard Zinfandel and put it away and wait until a few years later to unearth it and pop the cork and taste where it is at at that particular moment in it's life and evolution.

Being now at home here on a glorious afternoon in northern Virginia and away from the store and my notes I will post this blog late as it is and fill in the details of prices and vintages later this week. It's now Sunday at 6:50PM on March 13th, 2011 and I have steaks to go out and grill now while there is still light and while my son is out walking our Terrier-mixed breed dog. I will sip some 2010 dry rose from Austria and Germany I think now that Chris Bartha dropped off for Greg and me to taste ( he had a D.I. on a number of his company's roses - we ordered some ) and I will perhaps tell my wife about this blog and how my father really liked the FRITZ Vineyard Zinfandel.

Too bad that I do not have a bottle now to enjoy later with the steaks : that would be nice. Cheers and stay-tuned for more. This story has just begun. TONY

Jerome D. Smith Of Select Fine Wine, Oct. 2010 BABICH ( Kiwi ) & ARMADOR Chilean Wines : Celebrating 33 Chilean Miners Rescue: You Like Some &

Some You Don't : This Time Kiwi Won & Chile Lost On My Palate That is ... the headline should finish ...


Jerome D. Smith, CSW, CS / Partner/ Director of Sales visits 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 : clevelandparkwine& spirits ) in October of 2010. He had with him the BABICH wines of New Zealand to taste along with the Chilean wines of ARMADOR. He also represents the wines of BODEGA Del DESIERTO, MOLTOL , ODFJELL Vineyards and of BODEGAS DIEZ LLORENTE.




Jerome and I had quite the in-depth conversation with one thing leading into another. It was stimulating and fun. This is what he wrote in our guest book after our tasting and I will explain it after I write his comments :

" October 2010 Hey guys - Great to meet you two at Cleveland Park Liquors - new home of " Sex " from Suttons Bay, Michigan and Larry Mawby. Man ( and woman ) does not live on sex alone. Sometimes he ( and she ) needs some Sauvignon Blanc and Carmenere! " Cheers, signed Jerome Smith He finishes by saying that " Odfjen's winemaker is a great Bordelais guy named Arnaud Heneu ". I think that's what you wrote Jerome, but I am having trouble reading your beautiful hand-writing here.




Jerome, I should have finished this and posted this months ago! Sorry! Here it is now already Sunday, January 9th, 2011 here at home in northern Virginia at 5:14AM and it's really gray and cold and breezy outside now as the sun sets behind the thick blanket of clouds up above.

I have just got my chicken thighs all marinated and soaking and slathered and spiced and they are still a bit solid with the frost of our freezer just hours ago and that needs to go away before I fire-up our grill outside on our deck out back. It will unfortunately be in the dark when the dancing flames flame upwards and hit the under or oversides , depending , of the chicken thighs at that point and I may have to resort to a flashlight to see what I have cooked and where exactly as I go along with this basic, primitive grilling process that is so primal and which I relish so much as a guy getting out there in the elements in all their stark-bark-brrrrr-ness!!! I like it, what can I say ?!? And I think that some of these wines might taste quite nice with this meal - even the BABICH Pinot Noir from New Zealand would be nice even though it would be a bit light perhaps for the cold of outside it should match nicely the flavors of these chicken thighs and the warmth inside.

I learned something from you Jerome about the BABICH Kiwi Pinot Noir : I really did now know anything about it before I tasted it with you and Al that works for DOPS Imports and was smart and nice enough to bring you by to meet Chris Barker and me. That was a good move because Les Sunderland never does any of this and so for me in my humble opinion is not as good a salesperson as Al is even though Al might be so many years older. Thanks Al, that was nice of you to think of us and to bring Jerome by and introduce him to us.






I really did hit it off well with you Jerome. There was a whole lot of sparring back and forth between the two of us : mostly by me as I would often challenge you Jerome. I loved all of your European background and understanding of those wines and the market here in the United States to sell them . That really caught my attention and I was curious to know more of what you knew and have gleaned over the years and I wanted you to share it with me then and there!


I love these pictures I took of you with the Canon Power Shot camera pointed up at you and your gesturing hands Jerome : I think I got some revealing shots of both them and your face, Jerome.




Funny, I did not really like your series of ARMADOR wines and I told you as much and you really were taken back and put on the defensive and you had to try the wines to be sure that they were tasting as they should. I am sorry for having put you into this uncomfortable situation of having to defend these wines but for me they were not very interesting at all : as a matter of fact it's funny how well I remember and recollect all of this now so many months later : but they actually did nothing for me. As a matter of fact they were both for me bland and a bit too-overworked and manipulated by man and machine and for me as a result to my tastes they failed. However, having said this I am able now to see that these types of wines that my palate rejects are still quite well respected and appreciated by a large part of the modern palate that tastes, drinks and orders/wants more of them. It pains me , this : however, I find it as my job description to further educate the drinkers out there of their choices and that wines can also be so much more than that and may, with time, as they taste a wider range of wine styles appeal to them with time as well as this " new " style that I find too manipulated by both man, machine and chemical.

Can I defend myself exactly here? Am I a wine-maker? Have I spent time in a winery and a lab and a vineyard and a chais, cellar, underground grotto were wines are stored? No, but does that mean that I am completely wrong in my analysis? I don't think so : I do have almost thirty-five years of tasting experiences strapped under and over and around my tongue and palate.






I don't want to get into a wrestling match here. I don't want to have to be only negative about these wines from ARMADOR. They are only one now of many that I have tried in South America in both Argentina and in Chile where I have this same general reaction of thinking that I am drinking wines that taste more of wet cardboard and alcohol and astringency and columns of solid tastes that I can't penetrate with my tongue and palate and this bothers me enormously.

It sounds funny but being an artist I see things in images and words and it's like I want to get inside the wines that I try and get my whole body inside them and move around and stretch my tongue out, hold my breath, move my tongue between my lips and my teeth and shake my head and swallow in steps always keeping some in my mouth for the reaction that I will want to revisit as as I swallow I experience some more highs and some lows and not just the safe middles. It's all so organic and visceral for me and I revel in this ultimate experience when the wine allows it and does not cut me off or sell me short.

So much wine today is selling the many of us short.




Funny, the wines of BABICH were tasted to us as a second-thought I think I recollect by you and Al , Jerome and yet I think that they impressed me more than the ARMADOR wines. Oh well, so be it : maybe next time I will amend this opinion and like them better. I don't think so but I always allow for that possibility and eventuality. I am not closed-minded about wines : in fact I love them and very inspired by them all of the time. I am still inspired by them even now after thirty-five years or more of being so wonderfully exposed to so many of them - mostly here in Washington D.C. and northern Virginia as well as in France, Austria, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, Argentina, Mexico and Australia where I have vacationed and also visited many of the vineyards themselves over all these years.




Anyway Jerome I look forward to trying these wines again with you on your next visit. Come again anytime. It was great to meet you and I feel that I really did connect with you.




I loved all of your conversation about your home state of Michigan and the sparkling wines " Sex " . " Wet " and the " Lawrence " one, too that we sold and still sell at Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits. I love those three sparkling wines and it was great to hear you speak about Larry the owner that makes them. I have a case of each now on the floor by where we tasted open and priced and ready for sale right there were we tasted your wines Jerome. Thanks for sharing all that info with us Jerome.




There's Al pictured above that does such an excellent job for DOPS distributors. Again in my humble opinion they should reward and promote him as he really is on the ball and knows how to take care of all those wine-makers and wine owners that visit Washington D.C.

Al, you always bring us all the wine-makers and wine owners when they visit even though this is not his store Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com www.clevelandparkwine.com, also on Twitter and Facebook now at : cleveland park wines & spirits, too ) and he does not get any commission for doing this when we order the wines. He knows that we will take good care of his guests and treat them with the time and the respect that they deserve having traveled so far to be here with us in our own capitol Washington D.C.




It's also a great complement to me Al that you bring us all these visiting wine-makers and wine owners : it makes me think that you think that I/ we are doing something right at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. Thanks for your trust and your faith in me/us Al : I notice and appreciate that and am happy to finally have a chance to repay this kindness of yours. You started so long ago doing this even way back when Mike Martin worked with us : you believed in the both of us.

I liked the BABICH Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc this time better than most as I found it has less of that " gooseberry " flavor that I often find too strong and overpowering so that I get less of the natural Sauvignon Blanc character itself. In this case it was more in balance to my palate. I also realize that with age this " gooseberry " component gets stronger and more pervasive in a wine so the lesson may be to drink it younger when there is less of it if , in fact like me and my wife and daughter you do not like it.




So Jerome, it's time to put this blog to rest and to post it as I go outside to face the raw elements and cook my chicken thighs for my wife and my son with a small bite of course for our mixed Terrier breed dog that will undoubtedly be the only one assisting me while I grill in a few minutes.




Cheers to you Jerome and your impressive spirit ...




and to you Al, too and your persistence and steady hand and pace selling and well-representing both the wines as well as their owners and wine-makers, too.




Look at that hand! Impressive Jerome! What were you going on about in this picture above?!?




Look at the color of the red wine above : like a lagoon, steady and quiet on the surface and yet very colorful and flavorful below the surface.




As I said I am an artist and I like to take lots of artsy pictures as I listen and taste and absorb as much as I possibly, humanly can balancing so much and doing it all so willingly and eagerly and with fire and zest and wanting to jump into the fire and the fray all at once without reservation ...




I love the blur above - like light shining through, like light being diffused/infused and flooding and reaching out all around ... with the Reidel wine glass serving as something that contains and holds and also off of which to bounce, dance, stream and alight - ignite ...




Love this picture above Jerome. You were saying ?!? ...




I like to take lots of pictures through my Reidel wine glasses : you never quite know what you will get as you trust / as I trust to Canon Power Shot digital camer and my hand, my brain, my soul and impulses measured and spontaneous - sometimes where I can actually see and other times when I must simply trust to my " aiming and shooting-clicking " each and every image in many thousands of splits of seconds ...




Okay, time to leave you Jerome and Al!




This BABICH Pinot Noir from BABICH sure was a revelation of sorts to me. Bring me some more to taste again. We need to order it again Al.




Look at the color of the Pinot Noir BABICH Kiwi Marlborough dry red caught in the lower stem-bowl of the Reidel glass above : it almost glows with bright cherry-strawberry-cranberry reflected sun-fused lights!




You do have a great way with your hands Jermome. What are you counting : what are you emphasizing above?!?




We were all thrilled when the 33 Chilean miners were rescued and that's when you came to visit Jerome : just around that marvelous date if not in fact on that excat date? I cannot remember just now but I do remember talking about it and the Chilean Ambassador selling the VALDIVIESO brut N.V. Chilean bubbly that was one of the very first ever to get to us here in the Unites States back in the mid eighties so long ago. We sold it then and had it available for purchase during that impressive rescue effort.

We are out now and will order more soon.





Look at the deep color of the red wine above, the reflections on the surface and also the deep shiny green of the wine bottle reflected, too in this picture above.




Thanks again and come again soon. Cheers, TONY




For more info on Jerome Smith and his portfolio go to : 1200 W. Eleventh St. Suite @12 Traverse City, MI 49684 Office : 231-932-9057 , Fax : 231-346-5936 Jerome@selectionfinewine.com and www.selectionfinewine.com. Cheers ... TONY

October 2010 / Tasting" Tresor " Red & Chardonnay From FERRARI-CARANNO Winery In Sonoma, CA. @ Cleveland Park Wines/ Remembering My Visit In 1996

I liked this man : he was honest and sincere and that resounded really well with me. The more that I think about this the more I like it and the more that I respect this. He's got some bottle-age, just like me and just like a bottle of good wine. I think that I might even be able to trust him : wow, what a revelation today. What a welcome and comforting observation as opposed to the one : he's just trying to sell me another bill of worthless wine goods. I know , I know : I sound so very harsh and unappreciative and perhaps even a bit out of touch. Well, I may be out of touch with some but I am think that I am hitting a solid chord and the core with some, too. I have to believe that some people know where I am coming from , that I cannot be the last one out in the the wine world to hold some of my firm beliefs.




Look at the red color of the Tresor red FERRARI-CARANO winery above. It's so brilliant, so bright and vivid and bright. I love it.

Anyway I enjoyed the company of this gentleman and I need to find his card and his information. I am remiss to be typing like this without all of that first but the fact that I may be able to both believe and trust him will not change with that extra information. I was very happy to listen to him talk about the history of the " Sienna " red of FERRARI-CARANO. He did not gloss-over or varnish it : he told it as he saw it and how he believed it to be true and the case at the particular place and time through the history.

By the way the gentleman's name is Randy and Randy I want to take this moment to thank you for your welcome honesty. As you can see it pretty much blew me away. So unexpected today.




Of course we were trying it as Randy spoke about it and of course he spoke almost as much with his hands and his arms - full extensions - as he did with his voice and his words. I liked all of this : genuine and believable. I captured a whole lot of this here in these photos and I think that they tell as much of a story as Randy's words do.




I really like this picture above : it's a statement about the man speaking with his hands as well as a statement of art : both are important in their own ways.





I spoke a lot of my experiences with the FERRARI-CARANO wines and how back in 1996 or so I visited the vineyard with the Forman Brothers wine-sales teams of divisions " Estates - for which I worked specifically - as well as with the " Vintage " division. We were perhaps ten or so. Funny, I can't remember exactly now, less than ten actually.

We were not scheduled to visit FERRARI-CARANO and yet we did on Sunday I believe drive up to see the grounds and the winery. It was in the morning and after breakfast that we left to drive up to the winery without an appointment. Too bad, they lost out on the chance to meet us : an energetic and dedicated group of salesmen and women that really did sell and represent their wines more than one hundred percent. FERRARI-CARANO back then generated so much enthusiasm and " buzz " and it was always a sure bet to place either the Fume-Blanc or the Chardonnay. They always sold really well and so even for me that did not think first of selling FERRARI-CARANO because it was in the " Vintage " division it was always an easy sell when I represented both divisions in some of my smaller stores back then like Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits that I know manage the wine department. What a small world it is! I sold FERRARI-CARON back then in the mid nineties to Peter Anastopolos who managed the wine department.




I liked the Tresor much better now than I ever did before. It has come a really long was as have all the FERRARI-CARANO dry red wines. I think that now they are becoming more of a real strength along with the whites. That's great news and I will speak to our local rep Chris Lanning for National Republic ( used to be called Forman Brothers that I worked for with John Linette, Jeff Adamson, Kristin Maisch, Chris Blethen and others. Oh, I forgot, John Pollis, too ) and ask him about the current pricing and perhaps get some of the Tresor back onto our shelves once again.




By writing these blogs it makes me dig down deep into my past and my memories of these wines and their origins and my relationship to them over the thirty-plus years that I have been selling wine here in Washington D.C. either wholesale or retail : more retail as I have always loved it so much more than wholesale. I always think back and as I do memories trickle forth into my conscious thoughts and I start to piece things together. I often am sorry that I did not pay more attention at the time that things happened, sorry that I did not write more down or take more pictures at the time.





Thinking about being at FERRARI-CARANO for that brief bit of time thirteen or so years ago I remember being sad that we were not able to go inside and really meet anyone. But I also being struck by our surroundings and enjoying the grounds. We were I believe very close to one of the gardens and then as I walked through it and enjoyed it that there was another very different garden for me see as well. They were both impressive and I am glad that I saw them. I don't think that I had a lot of time for this : I think we were eager to get onto the rest of our trip sightseeing around the area.

So, that's what I saw of FERRARI-CARANO back in 1996 and I am happy for that memory. It may be a small one, but it is mine none the same and it's always better to have a memory or connection that none at all. I'm only sorry that I did not get to walk through the vines. I like walking through the vineyards when I can.





Anyway, this tasting was nice and I enjoyed the exchange of ideas that took place. As I said I felt that we were communicating and that we were having fun and sharing and telling each other the truth and not things simply that we thought the other might want to hear. That's as good as it gets.




I will find the notes that I took and hopefully include them here really soon as I would like to post this before too long. It's already been a long time since we met in October 2010 and I don't like to take this long to post things. Oh well, the problem is that we meet and taste with people all through each week and I like to include them all.

Cheers and Happy Holidays 2010 and Happy New Year 2011. Thanks again for stopping by Chris and Randy : it was a good, honest moment. TONY