Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits shared their photo.
43 mins ·
Clemence Lagauzere from Bordeaux , FRance visits with Noah of Global Imports to taste ' new and current ' vintages of dry reds ( three ), dry white and dry rose Bordeaux with me earlier this Thursday, May 14th, 2015. Clemence works for LUXCO and is the brand manager. We sampled the ... 1) Grand Vins de Gironde, Marquis de Lalande Blanc, 2013 that I found quite pleasing and that we could sell for $14.99 a bottle. ... the ... 2) GRand Vins de Gironde ' Instinct ' dry Rose 2013, $14.99 ... and then the three reds : ... 1) Chateau Mayne Pagarde 2010, $15.49 that was earthy, robust, powerful and a good, classic dry red medium-to-lighter-bodied red Bordeaux... the ... 2) 2012 Baron De Luze Bordeaux, $16.99, that was lighter, brighter, fresher and that I would really enjoy selling and recommending to customers during this hot spell of early summer here in Washington D.C. ... and ... .... 3) the CHATEAU BESEAJOUR 2011, Fronsac red Bordeaux, $18.49 a bottle that had the most pepper and spice and earth, a great classic red Bordeaux food wine once again, tasty, dusty-dry, best with food : my favorite of the bunch. AND to finish we sampled a 1) Saint-Anak 2013 Bordeaux Moelleux, $13.49, that was soft and delicate and so easy to sip and enjoy all by itself, except the finish was a bit short and combining it with food would make a better taste all around. What fun, merci Clemence, thanks Noah. We will have two to three of these wines on our shelves in June, 2015, so stay-tuned. Cheers, sante... et bon voyage a toi Clence et a la prochaine! 5/14/2015
We had Aleks the owner of the Balkan Wine Project here yesterday, Wed. May 13th, 2015 in the afternoon tasting his Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian and now also Albanian red wine, too- pictured here, the Kallmet indigenous dry red grape variety 2011 from ARBERI, $19.99, , 13.9% alcohol by volume - dusty, rustic, lovely medium-bodied food wine, ... and brother and sister David A. Jeffrey and Sarah J. Dullin of their own winery in California's Chalk Hill district called CALLUNA Vineyards - here at the same time. SO : I invited both Jeffrey and Sarah and importer Chris Shore to taste with Aleks his wines, and then Aleks to stay and taste the CALLUNA Vineyard wines, too. This way everyone benefitted and learned and came away hopefully with an enriching experience here at Cleveland Park Wines. I liked both what Aleks tasted me on, the bottles are pictured here and we have many of them already, minus the dry rose wines ... and I really grew to like and appreciate these Chalk Hill AVA wines, the 2010 especially... and we will see for June about bringing some to our store! Cheers, thanks Chris, Aleks, Jeffrey and Sarah... you are all the very best! Thurs. May 14th, 2015
News Feed
This is going to be a great event! Be sure not to miss this on Wednesday.
Dan McBrayer just came by and had in his possesion our last bottle of 2009 VINOTERRA Saperavi dry Georgian red. While he worked for the Peace Corps from 2008-2011 he drank and enjoyed some of the 2009 and 2010 vintages, went to wine festivals, had a great time there and comes here to buy these wines like the VINOTERRA 2009 aged that are fermented in Qvevri ceramic jars burried underground and aged that way, too. Thanks for sharing all this with me earlier Dan. Enjoy the last 2009! TONY The sun is out finally, wow, we need it.
What a wonderful surprise just a few minutes ago! I walk up to Eva and Insley as they are smiling and very excited with the bottle they are holding of the DUCHMAN Family Winery 2010 Viognier Bingham Family Vineyard that we have On Special for $16.99 a bottle. Eva and Insley were so pleased as Eva saw the bottle it looked familiar. That is because she and Insley had just been there tasting in the tasting room, that is perhaps a 30-minute drive from Austin, Texas ( is that where Janis Joplin was born ? ), as they had driven out to SALTLICK Brabecue restaurant that is lierally across the street, or close anyway to DUCHMAM Family Winery. The owner Scott of Driftwood that also makes wine told them to visit DUCHMAN as they enjoyed some there with their barbecue meal! Wow, what a coincidence as I have been recently talking this week a whole lot about both e the DUCHMAN Fanilt Winery and the McPHERSON CELLARS vineyard in Lubbock, Texas with both Mark Smith and also Peter Fulham. This made all three of us smile as we spoke about their great meal and tasting there. They loved both experiences! Insley said they were in Driftwood, Texas. This makes me want to go now! Thanks for sharing all of this with us Eva and Insley. Can't wait to see the pictures you took there of the restaurant and the vineyard! Have a great weekend. Enjoy your bottle of the Viognier 2010, I bet it is drinking beautifully now, fully-developed, fragrant and floral and fleshed-out completely now. Cheers on this official cold 2nd day of Spring. Come taste the Romanian wines here later from 2-6PM with Raz and Gabriella. TONY 3/21/2015
Just speaking earlier about the STONE HILL wines as well, the Norton red grape variety. Our customer grew up close to the winery and remembers going to pick mushrooms when it was not a winery because of Prohibition and before STONE HILL bought it and turned it from mushrooms to grape vines, and she remembers it all, bought this STONE HILL Norton dry red, knew the history, mentioned a book on the Norton grape variety and outlined quickly it's history talking about Thomas Jefferson and Washington D.C., Northwest - Tilden Gardens where vines were once planted here, of the Virginia medical doctor that came along in the 1840's and was interested in finding a grape vine that would survive and produce good wine here in the East coast, of the German immigrants that came along, went to Pennsylvania then down to Louisiana where they started to work with this Norton grape and try and make wine from it.... what a great story! More later, cheers, .... TONY 3/21/2015
Thanks Trace, you are the best to share this with me now on a cold, gray, wet and breezy saturday here in cleveland park, northwest wasington d.c., 20008... this DEFIANT American Whisky, $42.99 is so smooth and silky, with no bite, a delight, and perfect to warm you in this cold, damp, brrrr breeze and rain of Saturday, January 3rd, 2015 ... stay warm, come see us, come taste wines with Chris and Tony from 2-6PM .... no charge, everyone welcome .... TONY Will order more Trace for you and others now. Glad to have ordered it for you and will call Sal for some more.
Danielle that rides a motor-cyle and came ( to Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits ) just now in search of advise on Irish whiskies for her evening tonight with friends at the Irish Inn in Glen Echo bought several to enjoy celebrating. She also bought some BUSHMILLS Irish Honey , On Special for $15.99 a bottle, and shared it with me when I told her I had not tasted it yet : " It is made for sharing. " Danielle told me simply with a smile. I accepted. We both just had a sip and she told me it was too light for her, that she wants more body. I told her I liked how subtle it was, how delicate, how smooth and velvety, and how I think it will please many and that almost everyone can enjoy a glass or more and be friendly and social even though it may not be their favorite, and that they might prefer to drink BUSHMILLS Irish whisky itself, $29.99. I think I could easily enjoy both. I told Danielle that this Irish Honey would be a great way to finish an evening, fall asleep on a nice evening under the stars, not tonight unfortunately unless you move to another location and take it with you on your travels?!? Cheers, we have some, thanks Danielle! TONY Happy New Year. Danielle had her biker jacket on, new, that is heated, you can plug it into her motorcycle, and the jacket and her gloves will stay warm. I like all that, sounds great except for all the rain today. Stay warm and dry Danielle, and thanks for coming to see us when you need something and some advise. We are always here for you. TONY
I heard and saw Baylor pointing to Danny the SHVO Vineyards 2010 Upper Galilee dry red blend, $36.99, 14.5% alcohol by volume, and I immediately said : " That's really great wine , period, it's from Israel, not kosher and I think that it and the dry Chenin Blanc and the dry Sauvignon Blanc are some of the greatest wines we have in the store. I saw Danny reach for it. He smiled as I approached and he said : " You can sell water to the dessert. " He reminded me that I had already helped him before. I said : " Chris, it's time for another photo! " Chris took a picture of the three of us as we got caught-up with our conversation and Danny said that the SHVO Vineyards 2010, $36.99 will be for his father-in-law, smiling , happy .... cheers, happy holidays to you both ... TONY 12/20/2014
Farid and Laela came and we tasted and we spoke of Greek and Sotiris Bafitis and of the Greek winery NOSTOS where Farid went to vacation as he knows Alexandra the daughter of the owner that also owns Bread And Chocolate up the street from us. I showed Farid and Laela the bottle of the FABulous NOSTOS Roussanne 2013 dry white, $23.99 that we have here. Laela said to Farid when she saw it : " That's not the one that we drank. " It is made in really small production, we are thrilled to have it and will bring back the red Rhone blend, too in January. Laela is holding the CIDER SNAP, $8.99 that is ' new ' from James that is the inventor also of the TEAVINE, $13.99 as James grew up here and they know him well. I am holding two wines from Sotiris that he poured today : 1) RED ON BLACH Agiorgitiko, $14.99 dry red ... and the 2) ARGATIA dry and flavorful white Assyrtiko, Malagouzia, Athiri, impressive, $24.99 ... a great choice for this deep cold! Cheers, TONY Happy Holidays all,good to see you both Farid and Laela ...
Guitarist Luke Rile from Columbia Heights stope to play and sing the Beatles' song " Blackbird " off the White Album here at Cleveland Park earlier tonight aroung 9:30PM saying that playing and singing is " a pssion on the side." A great passion Luke, you play and sing beautifully. Thanks for sharing this incredible Beatle's song tonight with us the day school gets out and both students and teachers get a well-deserved two-week break making everyone happy, extremely, over the holiday season. Cheers! TONY 12/ 19 / 2014 Come play again anytime!
James Henry our local Cleveland Park resident and inventor of the TEAVINE, $13.99 just stopped by to taste Santos and me on his ' new ' Cider Snap that we will soon have here for you all : really pleasing, really enjoyable, I liked it, I can still taste it, soothing and perfect for this drab cold and wetness outside, I feel better already! Cheers, TONY
Wow, congrats to Jess for passing the Bar and for getting her diploma at the ceremonies this Tuesday. I knew Jess liked fruity reds and I said : ' I have something for you to taste. " She smiled and we walked up to the tasting table. She asked me what it was and I responded : " I cannot tell you, it's a surprise. " She smiled again, curious , I am sure? I gave her a taste of the fruity Semi Seco red, 12% alcohol, called Tinto de la vina , 2012, Ica Valley from TACAMA, Peru. Jess tasted it, liked it, smiled and said that she liked it , but was leaning more these days towards the dry white blend from TACAMA , the ' Tres Cepas ' of Chenin Blanc 65% , Sauvignon Blanc 43%, and 7% Chardonnay, also from the Ica Valley, 13.5% alcohol by volume. Charles said that they had been in the Ica valley when he read the label as I showed them both wines that they liked. " Really?!? " I said, startled. " Yes. " Charles replied. Then Jess said : " My mother is from Peru. " I said : " How did I miss that? You must have told me, but I forgot. " Anyway, it was great to make this connection. Then Lisa beamed with her bottle of CASA LARGA unoaked Chardonnay, $10.99, from the Finger Lakes, New York.It was our last bottle Lisa, glad you found it. We still have some of the Lilac Hill off-dry white blend, $10.99. Cheers, TONY Pictured above are : Jess, Charles, Phil, Lisa and me. Cesar took the pictures. Thanks.
Fun, yesterday we had Larry Irving here to pick up some of the PH ( Purple Hands ) Oregon Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley 2013, $24.99, written up in the Washington Post Food section this Wednesday. ( we were the only DC store listed for having it ) , and he introduced himself to Theresa Morrison, Pierre Marcelin of Maison Riviere was here pouring fine-quality red Bordeaux wines, and Lisa stopped by : and we all were introduced and we all tasted and it was a great spontaneous moment! WE used Larry's phone to take these pictures as Pierre rushed off to another appointment. Theresa sells us the BUEYES Extra Brut Malbec dry rose, sparkling, that is balanced, fruit-forward, really pleasing : a delight to sip ) ... Pierre tasted the CHATEAU GAUDIN 2010 Pauillac red On Special for $43.99, regularly $48.99 a bottle, and we sold three bottles while he was here! ... it was a fun moment for us all. Thanks everyone, merci Pierre ... TONY Happy weekend, happy Friday all,
Come taste the wines of Peru here tonight with Danielle of Dionysos Imports from 5-8PM : NO CHARGE ...
Here we have Pablo one of my favorite customers from Mexico and he always wears a beaming smile, is always happy, always has something positive to add, comes with his girlfriend ( or are they married? ) and we always speak in an animated, friendly and warm way. I love that. Here he is last night at Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits for the second visit, this time with friends from Spain like Laura that is from Pamplona, and her husband, too : the doctor , and they are visiting Pablo from Chicago and we spoke of that. he doctor was on the phone the whole visit almost so I handed him a glass of the ' grappa-like ' drink from Georgia from Mamuka and Noel and he was much appreciative. I had offered all of them tastes of that as well as of our Delaware gin, and the Spirit from Bolivia called SINGANI " Los Parrales " 'the spirit of altitude ' that we have tasted and sell I believe for $37.99 a bottle,... Pablo liked the Georgian grappa, $16.99 a 500m bottle I believe and bought a bottle. I had to bring over bottles of the LA CETTO Mexican wines that we sell , $10.99 a bottle, as he spoke with excitement to his friends about the Nebbiolo Reserva bottle he first bought from LA CETTO here at the store for $28.99 a bottle or so a year or so ago ... that cemented our friendship I believe, we were both really cool to one another after that, as it should be. Cheers. Feliz Domingo a todos Pablo e Laura e los autros .... gracias Sifredo para los fotos .... TONY 11/30 / 2014
Some visits like when Alexander stopped by, Gaby and Lane seeing him in the store and coming in to say " hello ", and me talking with a ' new ' customer that I tasted the CHATEAU BIANCA 2009 Willamette Riesling from Oregon on, and him saying to me something to the order of : " And you know they make good Riesling in Germany ? " which I smiled and heartily agreed with, and then him repeating this to Gaby when I introduced them, them talking German together, a full-circle of excitement and activity, sounds, tastes and smiles and laughs that no one could quite plan or orchestrate as this one ' happened ' all around us earlier this Tuesday evening, November 25th, 2014 in the early evening at Cleveland Park Wine and Spirits. Magical, thanks all, Happy Thanksgiving all! TONY ... I used to sell wines to Zia and David and often Gaby and Lane would be in the store at the same time so this was our existing link to these fun visits as both David and Zia have sadly passed away and we miss them both dearly. TONY
I STARTED MY DAY here walking in and saying " hello " to Malkit and also "
hello " lo Leon. Leon has been a customer here now for years and it was
great to see him as usual as he schlepes here all the way from across town
to shop with us. SO : here is Leon's story as he just returned from a
glorious two-week trip to both England and Scotland.
LEON TARLANT is a retired U.S. Airforce veteran and he returned recently to
the town of Kings Lynn not far from Cambridge where he was stationed during
the war. So he relates that : " It weighed no my conscious, if I wanted to
go to heaven ... " Leon was referring to the fact that 57 years later her
returns to Kings Lynn to pay a delinquent hotel bill at The Globe hotel (
it is a 400 year-old coaching house with nine bars today. Leon says of the
people there in Kings Lynn : " imbibers in those days. " Leon owed them a
pound and did not pay it because he did not have the money then. He also
did not return to pay it before leaving England 57-58 years ago.
Anyway when Leon returned he said " they thought he was some nut - a Yank
nut, ha , ha. " They called the papers, had someone come and take a picture
that they wrote up and put on the front page.
" I have the copies of it. I'll bring you one. It's funny. Just an old guy
embracing a young lady manager of the Hotel Globe. We didn't kiss. Just
embraced. " I asked Leon what she thought of all of this?
" Oh yeah, she was smiling. It was astounding to her, to them. " Leon
continued to recount. " She called over the manager. The original hotel
bill was $2.50 for the night. They refused my money. I gave them 5 pounds.
I could not pay the interest on a pound after 57 years! "
" Afterwards we went to The Maid's Head and had a pint of delicious ale
avec prawns, very good seafood there. " Leon finished his story with a
smile. Thanks for sharing this Leon. I cannot wait to see the local paper
and the picture of you. That will be fun. You stayed in London and had
current stories about London to share as well. They will all have to wait
till the next store email.
I can see you Leon drinking a pint of the India Ale from SAMUEL SMITH in
the Maid's Head bar afterward, $4.99 a 1 Pt. 2.7 Fl. Oz bottle, 5% alcohol
by volume.
Santos came back from delivering your order that we assembled here together
earlier and Leon showed you the picture. Too bad he did not bring the copy
back with him. I will have to wait till Leon's next visit.
Sven cam in a few minutes ago and came up to me with a smile on his face announcing that I was the man he wanted to see. Turns out that Sven is celebrating with an old friend and needs two bottles of sparkling wine : one French champagne ( I recommended Oscar and Olivia's CLAUDE LANCELOT Proprietaire-Recoltant that is a Blanc de Blancs from Avize, $45.99, that I fell in love with when Oscar tasted me on it ! ), and a bottle of the CHATEAU GAILLARD Cremant de Loire, $17.99, that is biodynamic, with an AB certification, clean, crisp, bright, very dry. When I heard Sven was serving a dozen oysters with these I said : " Start with the Loire Cremant as it is so clean and crisp and almost tart-dry! He siad : " I will follow your advice. " and he left with the two bottles and a smile on his face. I like that. Malkit liked that, it was a good start to our day, a good sale, a happy customer that is from Denmark ... cheers, happy Tuesday all, have you voted yet? I just did before arriving here. TONY
" Esta bueno " says the lady to her husband or boyfriend as she says to us : ' I'm going to take this one. " She meant the GLIA Feteasca Neagra 2011, $14.99, a DOC-CT from Husi, Romania. I said to Gabriela and Razvan : ' Esta bueno! " That's all you need to know, that's all we need to hear. " and I smiled as I said this to them. They smile broadly back at me. WE were all in agreement! Cheers, gracias Magdalena, ... I asked you your name just now so I could include it here. Brendan is her husband's name. Good to meet you both. Cheers, TONY COME TASTE now, ahora, our tasting is in full-swing. Razvan will include something ' new ' in Romanian for us all to enjoy now ... "Speram sa va bucurati si voi de soiurile noastre romanesti foarte delicioase! Am pus dragoste in cautarea lor si dorim sa va bucurati si voi de ele :)))" the tasting is going strongly now, join us, till 8 PM tonight ... 10/28/2014
YESTERDAY, WEDNESDAY afternoon a young lady came by asking if we had any PARADISE SPRINGS Of Clifton, VA. Winery ' Sommet Blanc '? She showed me a picture of it that she had taken of the label. I showed her the Norton dry red that we had, a 2011, $27.99, 13.9 percent alcohol by volume a bottle, as I walked down to see if we had any more of the off/dry Sommet white, 12.5 percent alcohol by volume, that's a blend of 43 percent Vidal Blanc, 31 percent Traminette and 26 percent Riesling : ... I WAS NOT SURE WE HAD ANY LEFT IN STOCK, AND LO AND BEHOLD THERE IT WAS !! LOVE IT, TOLD HER THE OWNERS HAD BEEN HERE, THAT I HAD BEEN THERE, that we love selling some of these fine local selections from both Virginia and Maryland. What a thrill, what a treat, what an honor and a privilege, and right in our own back yards! Love it, happy Thursday to you all ... Go to : www.ParadiseSpringsWinery.com for more info. We have the Norton and the Sommet white in stock for you all to enjoy this summer with the heat and humidity ... Anthony TONY Quinn 8/21/2014
Ben came here earlier and had a magazine in his hands that he was clutching and he said : " this is just on the chance that you might have it. You would be one of the very first. I never have any luck when I ask for the wines that have been written up and are supposed to be in the stores listed. " I asked him : " Which wine is that? " hoping that I would have whatever wine he was looking for. " he Bedell Cellars? " Be continued. I beamed and said immediately : " Yes, we have it. " as I reached for it with my right hand. It was there just by where we were standing. Ben beamed, too. He was thrilled, he was so surprised. I told we had good inventory and that we could sell me whatever he wants. Ben told me that he has to try it first and then decide. I loved this, we sell it for $29.99 a bottle On Special , it has 13 percent alcohol by volume, from North Folk of Long Island, a 2010 vintage, and we tasted it here with customers last weekend when our local rep Andrew Stover was here tasting it and that we sold a number of bottles and the reception of the wine was really positive. Love it, love having the wine here, love this story, and I am thrilled that it had such a positive outcome. Now we just have to wait Ben and find out if you like it or not? Cheers, ... happy thursday everyone, July 31st, 2014 ... ... it's the 21 BEDELL taste red that was reviewed : a blend of 60 percent Merlot, 20 percent Syrah, 12 percent Petite Sirah, 6 percent Cabernet Franc and 2 percent Malbec ... cheers, tony
We are all of us stars ... reads this ... taken from Marilyn Monroe's Facebook page entry today, July 29th, 2014 ...
and my comment ...
Lovely thing to see after walking through my garden out back and saying to myself : " It's a real garden. " I was beaming inside as I said this before coming inside on another drop-dead- gorgeous day here. My drive up to Winchester yesterday and working in our mother's garden and watering weeding, seeing her, have my brother read her own childhood memoirs out loud to us , having her comment on them, then him starting to read again : wow, what can I possibly say?!? Priceless. With the smell of basil on my hands from earlier working outside, moving a delicate lavender-pink Hydrangea to the front with a sad hanging vine that desperately needed watering, transplanting Yarrow to the front, more dirt stuck between my fingers and my nails, my The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation RACE FOR THE CURE Washington D.C. June 5th, 2004 a bit dirty from the garden work - my badge of hard work - ahhhhh, it was all priceless on a beautiful day and then to return to dinner with wife and daughter, white Burgundy from Saint Veran I believe and a 2010 Grand Cru Saint Emilion red Bordeaux - on still a beautiful evening, and this image of Marilyn : THE Tops! Cheers, Happy Tuesday, 7/29/2014 to you all ... off to work in D.C. soon ... TONY
This was a great Greek wine-tasting tonight with Nassos and we introduced fine Greek wines to many of our customers once again! Cheers, thanks Nassos for all your fine and hard work here ... cheers, happy weekend all! TONY 7/25/2014 We sampled som Xinomavro red, $23.99 OENOS , some Moscofilero dry white, $13.99, some Malagousia dry and floral white, some Agiorgitiko RED ON BLACK pointed, perky and sharper, more unrefined dry red, some Santorini dry white that I said was like Greece's version of France's Sancerre ( Nassos did not like this at all! ) , and more ,,, from dry whites ( 4 ) to a dry 70-year-old-vines Xinomarvo and another grape dry rose, On Special for $11.99, and two fine dry reds, too ... something for everyone. Cheers, this gentlemnan pictured here had some sprigs of fresh thyme in his pocket that he had just picked and which were so very aromatic, and , unfortunately the bottle of Moscofilero I am holding is blocking the view : too bad! Thanks for taking this picture Fernendo! Cheers, TONY
We sure were busy yesterday, Saturday afternoon with Andrew Stover's American Road Trip of states like Colorado, New York State, Michigan and Virginia : as well as a grand recap on our Roadtrip of the wines of Austria as well from TEGERNSEERHOF, ANTON BAUER, GUSTAVE STRAUSS, NETZL, LEO HILLINGER, STIENDORFER, and more ... lots of people, happy to have Chrysalis Sarah's Patio Red VA red blend back, the Charlie's Left Foot Pinot Blanc, too from Michigan that customer, friend and wine-lover Jim Stutsman was nice enough to share with us all yesterday - what fun! Cheers, TONY
Even with the rain and the thunder and the dark and the wet outside people still came and tasted tonight at our Austrian Wine-Tasting with importer of KWSelections Klaus Wittauer, and Andrew Stover of VINO50 selections, and me ( Anthony ) Quinn : we had Victor, Nicole, Jane, Linda, Lisa, Vince, Ze, Erica, Karen, Gary, Liz, Ryan, ... and so many more people show up and taste and buy and appreciate and enjoy and learn. Ze told me it was of his ' all-time favorite " wine-tastings that we have done in quite awhile, according to him. Ze , that is mighty praise indeed, thanks for sharing that with me before leaving tonight. I appreciate hearing things like that. Cheers, thanks Klaus and Andrew for all your hard work and efforts! ... 7/15 / 2014 For those of you that missed this tonight we will taste some more Austrian wines this Saturday with Andrew from 2-6PM. Come then and taste more. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
Breanna came by last night and won me over once again with her bright smile as we started to talk about wine and the neighborhood and I asked her once again what was her name? " Breanna " she smiled back at me. We continued to talk and I asked her some questions wanting to remember how I knew her here and how I had helped her before? I asked her what kind of wine she liked and I got the idea that she liked softer more rounded, floral wines with a touch of sweetness. It reminded me of the FLOWERS that we have open for Brazil with the colorful yellow and red label and I remembered it was still open from the night before when Michael Cavanagh and I poured here the SALTON wines of Serra Gaucha, Brazil. I asked her if she would like to taste it and the sweeter, more sparkling Moscato from SALTON espumante On Special for $11.99 a bottle? She said quizzically and surprised : " Really?! " I said : " yes." When she saw the FLOWERS label she was immediately drawn to it, liking it very much. She also really liked this drier-styled mostly-Moscato based white at $10.99 a bottle. She also liked the espumante sparkling Moscato, but ended up with the FLOWERS! I'm glad we had something for you Breanna. We will have to talk more " All Fired Up " pottery and wines and our fabulous neighborhood in the future. Cheers, happy Thursday Breanna, may it be fabulous for you. 7/10/2014
Marge a good customer from the Finger Lakes of New York State brought her brother Dean's dry 2013 Finger Lakes home-made Riesling to taste yesterday and we shared it with everyone at the store that was there like Lisa from Arizona and Fernando and Jim Stutsman, too. I LOVED it, absolutely LOVED it, a big highlight for me at Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits yesterday , and there were many with many customers and Brazil winning their match in the World Cup as well! Thanks Dean, thanks Marge, : what a fine treat. I would have enjoyed the whole bottle it was so good. I am thrilled, too Dean that we got a chance to share in here on Andrew Stover's " American U.S.A. wine-tasting with wines from New York State ( from Long Island - yours added the Finger Lakes! ), MIssouri, Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico, Michigan , Texas ... wow : impressive, and here pictured we got to meet Lisa that sold the ARIZONA STRONGHOLD Vineyard wines with Andrew for years and has her ' new ' project of wines from the U.S. soon available to us ... so much to digest, so little time, and all before our GRAND 4th of JULY celebration in 2014! Cheers all, Happy Sunday, too ... 6/29/2014
Madalyn Kontgas Payne reviewed Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits.
23 hrs ·
★★★★★ Tony, you and Santos have a great store with fabulous customers! Thanks for all your support!
Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits
Liquor Store
Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits
556 Likes
54 talking about this ... thanks Maddy, appreciate this, was great to have you here two times , first on Friday and then again on Saturday. We did some great work together as a team! TONY 6/28/2014
23 hrs ·
★★★★★ Tony, you and Santos have a great store with fabulous customers! Thanks for all your support!
Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits
Liquor Store
Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits
556 Likes
54 talking about this ... thanks Maddy, appreciate this, was great to have you here two times , first on Friday and then again on Saturday. We did some great work together as a team! TONY 6/28/2014
JOIN US, NO CHARGE tomorrow, Saturday the 28th of July from 2-6 PM ...4th of July USA Road Trip Wine Tasting at Cleveland Park Wines, Washington, DC
Tomorrow at 2:00pm
Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits
1 person is going
Join
Andrew Stover
LikeLike · · Share
Anthony Quinn Can't wait Baby! We're going to rock, make some noise, bring out the big fireworks, light up the store, make the skies rainbow colors and put beads so colorful on and hanging from the sun that they will not melt and the USofA will show it's magic and triumph and diversity and weave a spell on all of us as we get ready to celebrate our Day Of Independence this 4th of July Andrew, with your help and that of all these states like Michigan and Missouri and Idaho and New Mexico and Arizona that people do not expect to be making such grand, such fine wines! TONY 6/27/2014 see you tomorrow be sure and wear your ' celebrating shoes ' Andrew ...
Just now · Like
Tomorrow at 2:00pm
Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits
1 person is going
Join
Andrew Stover
LikeLike · · Share
Anthony Quinn Can't wait Baby! We're going to rock, make some noise, bring out the big fireworks, light up the store, make the skies rainbow colors and put beads so colorful on and hanging from the sun that they will not melt and the USofA will show it's magic and triumph and diversity and weave a spell on all of us as we get ready to celebrate our Day Of Independence this 4th of July Andrew, with your help and that of all these states like Michigan and Missouri and Idaho and New Mexico and Arizona that people do not expect to be making such grand, such fine wines! TONY 6/27/2014 see you tomorrow be sure and wear your ' celebrating shoes ' Andrew ...
Just now · Like
Nick's mother passed away recently and so he and his family have planned now for awhile a celebration of her life, the whole family and friends together tonight and tomorrow I believe and so we at Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits have been aware of this for awhile and working on it, going all the way back to when Domenica the wine-maker of BV Vineyards was here from Napa, California doing an in-store wine-tasting. Her hands were tired by the end as I asked her to sign many of the Carneros Vineyards bottles of the Chardonnay and the Pinot Noir. It was the last thing Dominica did as she walked out of our store and she was a great sport doing this and I/ Nick appreciate this greatly. ... Nick also will be serving Claude Thibaut's N.V. brut Virginia Blanc de Blancs Charlottesville sparkling wine as well. Both we are holding up in this photo that Fernando Valenti took of me, Nick's sister and Nick. There is also some beer on the counter for this event. It is really an honor Nick for us to be a part of this celebration. Our thoughts are with you and your family and your mother, too, of course. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 6/26/2014
As I was helping both Marina and Richard at the register I looked down and saw a copper-colored coin in front of it and picked it up and looked really closely at it. Other said : " It's a token. To an amusement park, for a ride. " I read what it said : 2011 and ' Where a kid can be a kid.' If anyone is missing this and wants it back just come to our office in the back of the store and I have it here for you. Just ask for me, Tony, and I will gladly return it. Anyone know where it works, where it is good? It should work and be good anywhere as a kid should always be able to be a kid, anywhere, anytime as that's so important. Never lose the ability to be a kid, even if for brief moments in time. If you are scared and need this token to help you, let us know and we will loan it to you. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 6/26/2014 Happy Wednesday everyone.
As I was helping both Marina and Richard at the register I looked down and saw a copper-colored coin in front of it and picked it up and looked really closely at it. Other said : " It's a token. To an amusement park, for a ride. " I read what it said : 2011 and ' Where a kid can be a kid.' If anyone is missing this and wants it back just come to our office in the back of the store and I have it here for you. Just ask for me, Tony, and I will gladly return it. Anyone know where it works, where it is good? It should work and be good anywhere as a kid should always be able to be a kid, anywhere, anytime as that's so important. Never lose the ability to be a kid, even if for brief moments in time. If you are scared and need this token to help you, let us know and we will loan it to you. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 6/26/2014 Happy Wednesday everyone.
Chris came into the store and asked : " Where are your Georgian wines? " to Fernando. I was in the office and overheard as I was updating our Facebook page. I saw Fernando walk Chris over to the right of the store by the Italian and Greek wines where the sign for GEORGIAN wines is. I said to Fernando : " They are not there, look over on the other side. We moved them there to be with the other Balkan wines. " Fernando pointed to the sign saying GEORGIAN with a question mark on his face? I responded : " We have not moved the sign yet. They are over with the ' orange ' wines we spoke of earlier. " A smile and a light went off in Fernando and he walked Chris over to them. I got up a few minutes later and went to talk to Chris, explaining we only had some in stock now with more coming. Chris said that he was buying the ' orange ' Kisi wine that I had just written up this week in the store email. he was taking it to a French friend he is visiting in Strasbourg, France, that he wants to give him a gift of something fun and interesting that he might not already know? I said that was great but that he might also want to take a bottle of wine from Brazil as a gift like the SALTON Merlot that we have On Special for $21.99 a bottle, down from $30? He said he could only carry one bottle this time. I said then perhaps the next? All good, cheers, bon voyage Chris! Have fun, be safe and come back with some great pics and stories for us. I also told Chris that while there that he needed to try and to also mention to his French friend the wines of DOMAINE WEINBACH, Alsace that were so fine and not to be missed! Cheers, TONY 6/21/2014
GO BY THE National ZOO quick : at the end of this week because of budget cuts there will no longer be the Invertebrates building and department open! They may be moving to another building and still exist in some form but that was unclear last night as I was leaving the Zoo and I ran into our dear customer Randy ( of Randy and Sandy fame : you might know them already well? ), and he told me this latest news. He volunteers like Les and so many of our customers do. He was going for a training class of birds. He's at the Big Panda building-complex now watching them on the t.v. screens , monitors them and ensuring their safety and well-being, etcetera. Wow, this is devastating news about the Invertebrate Building. I love it. I really do, always have. ... I just talked to another Sandy's friend, a good customer here buying the Ruby Red DEEP EDDY and I told her about this and she and her children know all about the Invertebrates department and the anemones as you walk in and the octopus, ... and she said : " So they just did this quietly? " I do not have the answer.
But talking about Sandy, there's another Sandy that has worked there forever and that used to come and buy the MIONETTO Merlot from us from Italy years ago because they had a wonderful picture of an octopus on it that reminded us all of Sunny the Octopus that reigned supreme for so many years at the Invertebrates building and that I took our children to see and that they loved, too, fed and watched from outside and specially from above at feeding time as Sandy and the other Invertebrates staff that we loved - including Alan the chief - were so nice to us when we visited, and they forged a bond for me that stands the strongest for me with the National Zoo : me and the Invertebrates - and I will always cherish this time and I want here to : MAKE SOME NOISE and get them to keep the building and department open, alive and thriving.
I was just there a couple of Wednesdays' ago and loved what I saw between the anemones that blew me quite literally away when I entered, to my left, and the other magnificent invertebrates including the spiders and their webs, as well as the couple of butterflies as I left flitting around ever so daintily-gracefully from one flower to the next. PLEASE SHARE this and go today and tomorrow and lets' see what we can do, late as it may be, let's all MAKE SOME NOISE! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Thursday morning, June 19th, 2014 ...
But talking about Sandy, there's another Sandy that has worked there forever and that used to come and buy the MIONETTO Merlot from us from Italy years ago because they had a wonderful picture of an octopus on it that reminded us all of Sunny the Octopus that reigned supreme for so many years at the Invertebrates building and that I took our children to see and that they loved, too, fed and watched from outside and specially from above at feeding time as Sandy and the other Invertebrates staff that we loved - including Alan the chief - were so nice to us when we visited, and they forged a bond for me that stands the strongest for me with the National Zoo : me and the Invertebrates - and I will always cherish this time and I want here to : MAKE SOME NOISE and get them to keep the building and department open, alive and thriving.
I was just there a couple of Wednesdays' ago and loved what I saw between the anemones that blew me quite literally away when I entered, to my left, and the other magnificent invertebrates including the spiders and their webs, as well as the couple of butterflies as I left flitting around ever so daintily-gracefully from one flower to the next. PLEASE SHARE this and go today and tomorrow and lets' see what we can do, late as it may be, let's all MAKE SOME NOISE! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Thursday morning, June 19th, 2014 ...
" He needs some help with French wines. " Jagir motions to me with his eyes as he walks from the office up front and I walk back and see Jonathan looking at the French wines. I ask him :
" May I help you? "
We get into a quick conversation about the bottle of JO PITHON Loire Valley dry Chenin Blanc that he is holding in his hands. Jonathan is gushing with energy and emotion, and his face is is animated as he exclaims that he is both so happy and surprised to find this wine, that usually, and that for years he has just come to Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits for beer and had no idea that we had the JO PITHON wines for sale here.
I told him that Jo Pithon ( I have great pictures with Jo and his braod smile that covered his whole face and lit up the store each and every time! ) had been in the store many times before with Laurent Givry and that we had sold his wines for years. Jonathan asked me if there were any more bottles of the JO PITHON wines besides the one her was holding?
I said maybe one or two more, that they had not been available for awhile, that Jo had signed some of them on his visits. I scanned the shelves and showed him the half-bottles of the Quartes De Chaume sweet Chenin Blanc ( we have three or four of those ) and I finally spotted one more : we had the 2004 and the 2005, a bottle of each, and Jonathan said he was buying those immediately. He had visited the winery with his father.
His father John took him there. he thinks it may have been in 2007 or so? Anyway, right up to the register when we took this picture we talked excitedly about Jo and his wines and their trip there to the vineyard and that Jonathan was going to give the one signed bottle we found here to his father as a gift to him. Jonathan was so excited.
We had a customer take this pic with Jonathan's phone and Jonathan was nice enough to send it immediately to me. It's great when stories like this occur, and they happen frequently. It's what Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits is all about. Cheers, thanks Jonathan, John et merci Jo. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Jonathan will probably be back for some of the half bottles of the JO PITHON Chaume at around $40 a bottle? Happy Wednesday to you all ... a hot day in Washington D.C. ....
" May I help you? "
We get into a quick conversation about the bottle of JO PITHON Loire Valley dry Chenin Blanc that he is holding in his hands. Jonathan is gushing with energy and emotion, and his face is is animated as he exclaims that he is both so happy and surprised to find this wine, that usually, and that for years he has just come to Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits for beer and had no idea that we had the JO PITHON wines for sale here.
I told him that Jo Pithon ( I have great pictures with Jo and his braod smile that covered his whole face and lit up the store each and every time! ) had been in the store many times before with Laurent Givry and that we had sold his wines for years. Jonathan asked me if there were any more bottles of the JO PITHON wines besides the one her was holding?
I said maybe one or two more, that they had not been available for awhile, that Jo had signed some of them on his visits. I scanned the shelves and showed him the half-bottles of the Quartes De Chaume sweet Chenin Blanc ( we have three or four of those ) and I finally spotted one more : we had the 2004 and the 2005, a bottle of each, and Jonathan said he was buying those immediately. He had visited the winery with his father.
His father John took him there. he thinks it may have been in 2007 or so? Anyway, right up to the register when we took this picture we talked excitedly about Jo and his wines and their trip there to the vineyard and that Jonathan was going to give the one signed bottle we found here to his father as a gift to him. Jonathan was so excited.
We had a customer take this pic with Jonathan's phone and Jonathan was nice enough to send it immediately to me. It's great when stories like this occur, and they happen frequently. It's what Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits is all about. Cheers, thanks Jonathan, John et merci Jo. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Jonathan will probably be back for some of the half bottles of the JO PITHON Chaume at around $40 a bottle? Happy Wednesday to you all ... a hot day in Washington D.C. ....
The thunder of motorcycles did roar, did escort me to and from work yesterday : I followed a couple to work yesterday morning and crossed the Teddy Roosevelt bridge from Virginia to Washington D.C. and loved the sight crossing over the Potomac River with the sights all before me, the small American flag fluttering rapidly in the wind on the back seat of the motorcycle, the lady's blond hair blowing everywhere, too, the picture was perfect and I felt connected in a big way just then with that veteran in front of me with the gentle thunder of his Harley growling, letting everyone know it was very much there, alive and still able ... and I felt proud, I felt good, I felt connected as I said and as if it was an honor to be escorted like this, if only in my mind, into Washington to start Memorial Day weekend on a breezy, glorious May 23rd, 2014 morn ... and then again later, at night, many vets escorted me home, all different , all roaring to some extent or another, all thundering to some level or another, in the dark , the lights, the flags ruffling and fluttering, all ages, some alone, some couples ... so many silent, untold stories wrapped up in each of them, so many experiences ... making me happy to see them here, to be gathered together like this, inspiring, really special, I felt to honored and special, glad to have been a slight part of all of this , happy to tell about it, to speak something for them, to recognize them, to say THANKS to them, for what they did for all of us, keeping us safe ,,, merci, gracias, grazie, obregado, .... TONY 5/24/2014 on a glorious baby-blue skied morn with a breeze now and bright sunshine everywhere on Saturday ... come celebrate here with us, we have some great Spanish Cava open now from Fernando and Estebe of Tradewinds Specialty Imports for you all to taste, and just sold a bottle of the MAWBY Michigan sparkling wine to a young lady that had been on a run and thrilled to see it here! Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
SAD NEWS again : Susie Taylor was just here and told me that one of our regulars and council members for the ANC Richard Stacey passed away recently. He will be missed. Richard was a good and concerned neighbor and an integral part of our community here. From Canada he loved supporting Canadian wines and products where and when he could. He loved the CAVE SPRING and the PELEE ISLAND winery wines and supported them here. Our recent conversation was on getting more of the CAVE SPRING Pinot Noir here from John and Theresa Morrison. I saw Richard recently at the Firehook Bakery as I was coming to work and walking through the grape-arbor garden and fountain area in the back. he called out to me and thanked me for the store email where I talked about Bobby Abbo recently passing away, saying he did not know Bobby personally but appreciated what I wrote. Life is ironic, here I am now writing about Richard just two weeks later. Scary, really life is a precious gift!
Richard, you will be missed. I know that when we first met my cheery disposition seemed to bother him : I do not think he thought I was being genuine perhaps?!? Anyway, he warmed up to my constant cheery requests to help him and we have had some nice conversations about wine and Cleveland Park and Canada over the years! Cheers Richard ... Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 5/15/2014
SAD NEWS : Senora Taylor was here in the store yesterday as I was tasting some Italian sparkling wines we will be tasting / sharing here with you all at our NEXT ' Big-Theme " Monthly Sparkling Wine-Tasting on Tuesday , May 27th, 2014 from 5-8PM ...
I asked Isabelle how Senor Taylor was doing? She said that it had been a very hard week, that Senor Taylor had passed away recently.
This was shocking to me, I immediately approached her and hugged her.
Senor Taylor and Isabelle had just been here recently and I had spoken to both and he looked great, really he did, ever that soft and kind smile of his. Nice.
I asked if he had suffered. Isabelle said : " No. I played " Alleluia " and he raised his arms up , she showed me, ... and she said, and he passed away then, Beautiful, really a lovely couple, two fine individuals that we have enjoyed knowing here now for years. So sad, what a loss.
Our thoughts are with you Isabelle and your family. Let us know if there is anything that we can do?
Senor Taylor will be missed. I drank some hearty Portuguese rose yesterday and today with those strong and distinct flavors still firmly in my my mind and recollected now on my taste-buds I toast Senor Taylor. TONY Thursday, May 1st, 2014
Come and taste with us soon Isabelle, we will toast him together here... TONY
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
Remembering With Jerry Humphrey's Help The Life Of Bobby Abbo Of Our Once Very Popular Italian Restaurant Roma Here In Cleveland Park That Is Now The Firehook Bakery
Posted on our Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits' Facebook page yesterday, Wednesday, April 23rd, 2014 , enjoy ... Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 4/24/2014
ONE OF THE Cleveland Park neighborhood ' icon ' figures here Santos Rivera told me last night passed away : Bobby the owner of the Firehook Bakery location here as well as a couple of others, Bobby passed away losing his fight with cancer. This is sad news indeed as he has been a welcome fixture here with his parents before him. They owned, ran and managed with love, care and passion the Italian restaurant, Roma. Many of you may not know about this restaurant that used to greet it's customers with the two parents and some large stuffed animals of a leaping tiger and a bear was it? I cannot remember now. It was a respite, a lively and active oasis for customers to go and enjoy a tasty, comfort-Italian-casual-food meal without pretense and attitude.
Many of you have seen the mural that's painted on the wall in the garden out in the back of the Firehood Bakery with the fountain and the old-vines grape arbor, too.
My last glorious memory of Bobby was him last year up over the vine arbor perched rather precariously clipping them! LOVE that, GO BOBBY, thanks for all the great memories. The vines are just starting to grow this year now ... cheers, you will be missed Bobby. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Wednesday morning on a bright, cool, breezy late morning here. TONY
Many of you have seen the mural that's painted on the wall in the garden out in the back of the Firehood Bakery with the fountain and the old-vines grape arbor, too.
My last glorious memory of Bobby was him last year up over the vine arbor perched rather precariously clipping them! LOVE that, GO BOBBY, thanks for all the great memories. The vines are just starting to grow this year now ... cheers, you will be missed Bobby. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Wednesday morning on a bright, cool, breezy late morning here. TONY
Jerry Humphreys likes this.
1 share
Jerry Humphreys I called on Bobby & his mother many years ago for a long time up until his moms death and later when he sold. We became close friends over business & later personal. He was a very giving man!!.
1 hr · Like
Anthony Quinn Jerry, thanks for sharing all of this as I only knew him through Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and I did enjoy seeing him from time to time in the store and outside and around Cleveland Park. I started my story sitting in the Firehook Bakery grape ourbor like this : " Sitting here bathed in sunshine's gentle late afternoon spotlight tempered in constant variations of a theme of hot on my left side of my face and cooler on my right side that is shaded and more susceptible to the varying breeze now, lulling me to almost fall asleep as I yawn largely and enjoy the big old grape vine to my right side that's reined here now for many long and fruitful years under the constant supervision of occasionally chirping, constantly busy and vigilant sparrows just by my feet enjoying the many bread or cookie crumbs that the last occupant of this plastic brown table must have left in Bobby's grape-arbored garden/courtyard outside in the back of the ' now ' Firehook Bakery that used to be the Roma Restaurant. ... " TONY
Jerry Humphreys Poor Roberts was a bar between The Roma & The Raw Bar. It was the local "Cheers" of the Cleveland Park neighborhood. It was quite a mix of people every night. From judges to patent atty to telephone repairman, to salespeople. it was dark and was a head of it's time as Bobby had a Satellite installed for sports on the few TV's he had. Keep in mind this was in the 80's & early 90's. I think it all closed in 1997??
3 hours ago · Like
Anthony Quinn Thanks Jerry! TONY
I appreciate all of this info as it tells a story about Cleveland Park and another piece of our history here! TONY
Go To The Racing Biz online site for the rest of this story that Jerry shared with me to read more about Bobby Abbo's life ...
Copied just now from another source that was passed onto me by Jerry Humphreys. Thanks Jerry : ...
by Frank Vespe
Bobby Abbo, owner of Immortal Eyes, became very emotional following his horse's De Francis Dash win. Photo by Vas.
Bobby Abbo, owner of Immortal Eyes, became very emotional following his horse’s De Francis Dash win. Photo by Vas.
Robert “Bobby” Abbo presented a face to the world — di...See More cheers and thanks Jerry, TONY
by Frank Vespe
Bobby Abbo, owner of Immortal Eyes, became very emotional following his horse's De Francis Dash win. Photo by Vas.
Bobby Abbo, owner of Immortal Eyes, became very emotional following his horse’s De Francis Dash win. Photo by Vas.
Robert “Bobby” Abbo presented a face to the world — di...See More cheers and thanks Jerry, TONY
Let's all drink some Italian wine or Italian spirits and celebrate the life of Bobby Abbo that just passed away that was a real fixture for Cleveland Park for so many years. Cheers Bobby, TONY 4/23/2014
I will finish this as I am able. In the meantime enjoy this as it is. Cheers, thanks Jerry, TONY
JUST HELPED Cristian with a difficult wine choice : she was going to see picky people about their wines that travel extensively and always push her wines back to the side on the counter and never open them when she visits. I told her that that makes me feel really bad and that we had to do something about it. " Where are you from ? " I ask Crustina . " Brazil. " she responds. " What?!? Then you have to take them a wine from Brazil! " " Noooooo! " she groans. " They are no good. We buy the wines from Argentina. " I said : " That's not true! They are good. You must take them a wine from Brazil! Blame me, Anthony Quinn, have them come see me if there's any problem! " She smiles, hesitates, as I reach for the SALTON Volpi Pinot Noir, $17.99, 13.5% alcohol by volume, Campanha Gaucha. She says out loud as I hand her the bottle : " Campanha Gaucha. " I ask her where she's from? Belo Horizante she says. My face lights up : " That's where I bought my mother a dress when I was a child and we were driving from Rio to Cristallina to buy Yopaz and other semi-precious stones ... I was only 6-7 years old then ... " It was a great serendipitous conversation and I can't wait to hear from Cristina that bought the Petit Chablis DOMAINE JEAN CLAUDE COURTAULT 2011, $18.99, 12.5% alcohol by volume, and the " Intenso " espumante-likeProsecco , $14.99 from SALTON, and the SALTON Pinot Noir, too ... cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 4/19/2014 Happy Easter all, and it's the last day of Passover week, too ... cheers all ... TONY a beautiful Saturday here in Cleveland Park Northwest, Washington D.C., 20008, baby blue skies, breezy, bright, clear skies, lovely - nice to be alive ...
" I'm looking for a particular red? Do you sell BOXWOOD? " asks WEndy. " Yes! " I respond immediately . " I've called five other s and you're the only one, you're number six on the web site . No one carries it anymore. " " That's our gain and their loss! " " oh wonderful ... " responds Wendy. " Which one do you want? " I ask. " The BOXWOOD. " I told her that they make three reds and one dry rose and that I would see what I have for her. It was the 2009 BOXWOOD, $29.99 a bottle. She was thrilled explaining to me that she had gone to the BOXWOOD web page and that we were #6 listed that carried it, that we were the only one to have any as she called down the list. Wendy told me also that she's a real estate agent and that some did her a huge favor and that person LOVES BOXWOOD, and usually drives down to the vineyard to buy it. I explained that I know Rachel Martin and that I have carried it now for quite some time as I believe in what BOXWOOD is doing with their wines and will continue to carry them. I also explained that Wendy will be giving the very best that BOXWOOD Vineyards' makes , and that it has the bottle-age that the wine needs as they are designed to age gracefully and not be drunk immediately upon release, much like a fine Bordeaux wine that is their inspiration. Everyone wins! Cheers Wendy, cheers, BOXWOOD, cheers Rachel, and cheers CP Wine & Spirits, too. Have a great Tuesday Wendy, see you later. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 4/15/2014
By the way, Olivia bought the CHATEAU JULIEN Chardonnay and she and Karen enjoyed it thoroughly later last night. I know because they sent me this picture I took using Olivia's phone and they mentioned enjoying the CHATEAU JULIEN when they did! Cheers, happy Saturday everyone, it's nice here now in northern Virginia at my home as I get ready for work selling more CHATEAU JULIEN Moneterey County Chardonnay to our Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits customers, along with the Merlot, too that we carry : both of which have sold very well at the store for five or more years, ever since Delores a regular and fine customer asked if we could get any for her, that she had enjoyed it in a restaurant and wanted some for home? We did get it, and as this picture and the following entry I put onto our Facebook page - please LIKE us as we have Liked you - attests! Sun's out, the birds are chirping, the red Cardinal birds outside look magnificent in their deep, rich reds ... grand feeling, grand time ...
Last night was great at Cleveland Park Wines with people like Olivia and Karen and Jody Jackman pouring some fine wines from her Winebow portfolio and making this man laugh so contentedly! What fun! Thanks Jody, the CHATEAU JULIEN Monterey County Chardonnay that was buttery and oaky sure was a great treat On Special at only $9.99 a bottle, that will become a regular as so many of our customers still want that oak with butter taste! Cheers, 4/12/2014 Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
I do love ADAMI Italian Valdobbiadene Prosecco ( cute half-bottle that Brennan Downey sells us at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and that tastes so silky, so polished, so bright - SO FINE ! Here Kimberly in the starts and stripes shoes with her mother Lulu that makes her own jewelry that she's waering - necklace and earrings - and that is visiting from Palm Springs had the half bottle at the register when I spotted Kimberly's FABulous shoes and ADAMI Prosecco and asked if we could take a picture for our Facebook page? They both agreed, approved of the pictures - and VOILA, here we are on Thursday late afternoon at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits in Cleveland Park , Northwest Washington D.C., 20008, a ' happenin' place ' - together : Kimberly has been shopping with us now for about a year - thanks Kimberly and Lulu, and thanks -gracias Sifredo for taking these pictures with your phone and sending them to me on this Thursday - a drop-dead gorgeous warm, breezy, bright, sunny baby-blue-skies, some puffy whites, too ... a wonderful day! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 4/10/2014
And Giuseppecarlo, ... the Daffodils did open, driving home last night on Rock Creek Parkway early last night I saw a large clump of them on my right on the banks that were open wide and frilly and round and cupped and festive : smiled broadly seeing these intense Cadmium yellow daffodils like this on the first official day of spring ! AND : speaking of yellow - a more subtle version of it - the DOMAINE WEINBACH 20120 dry Alsace Riesling, 13.5% alcohol by volume, the " Cuvee Theo from Laurence Faller and her family was everything I wanted last night when enjoying the peace and comfort - and yet animation of our home with my daughter and wife! Cheers, thanks Danny Haas, Sal Furfari, Laurence Faller. It was special indeed. More on that soon! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 3/21/2014
Pictured above from left to right : Danny Haas with the bottle of the 2012 " Cuvee Theo " from DOMAINE WEINBACH Alsace dry Riesling on his head,
( pictured above is Laurence Faller the owner and winemaker of the DOMAINE WEINBACH in Alsace, France, Kaysersberg, she was tasting in our store on Monday, March 21st, 2005 ... grand tasting indeed ! Merci Laurence et Danny pour ca )
.... Meaghan Frank of KONSTANTIN FRANK New York State Finger Lakes wines, holding a bottle, and me holding a bottle of her father's, Willi Frank's sparkling dry wines - one of five that they make told me Meaghan. Cheers, what fun that was to see them both on this official first day of spring, Thursday, March 20th, 2014 when Dmitri Curbet brought her by from Nice Legs Imports and, as I was tasting with Danny Haas and Sal Furfari a selection of perhaps twenty-five or so wines from Vineyard Brands they started to walk out and wave to me ' bye bye ', and I quickly went over to them to say ' hello ' and find out who the young lady with Dmitri was? I had to initiate this and I discovered that she was a family member of the DR. KONSTANTIN FRANK New York State wines and I immediately turned things around, saying to Danny and Sal, and also Oscar Losama one of the owners of VOILA Collection imports that I had to try Meaghan's wines before they left! ... It was whirlwind of activity and I felt super-charged at the moment and Meaghan that was holding a bottle of the LEUWIN Western Australian dry Riesling in her hands - the one with a green frog on the label and some bottle-age now - as she had just returned from living in Australia for awhile - Meaghan smiled and we moved quickly over to our tasting table as Danny and Sal packed and I realized I still had to try Danny's red french Crozes hermitage Syrah ,- I split it in two and offered half to Meaghan , half for me, Danny joined us - and we were off after Sal took this picture above of the three of us! Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Friday now, March 21st, 2014 ...
" You're Tony, right? " Diane asked me as she approached me. I said : " Yes. " smiling at her, recognizing her : both of us smiling now at one another. Diane went on to tell me that she had met Nelson the son of Santos that had worked here awhile and that was now in charge of the wine department in another D.C. liquor-wine store over in Adams Morgan I believe. She told me that she had met him at the store and that he had made a really good recommendation to her. She said that she was surprised and pleased to know that someone so young would know so much about wine. They got to talking and she told Nelson that she shopped here and that I usually helped her. Nelson said that he had learned a lot while working here from me. I said to Diane that Nelson was quite interested in learning about wine and that he had really applied himself to the task here. She said that I had taught him well. All great things to hear. I told Diane that I would tell Santos about this, that Santos would be happy and proud to hear this. Cheers Diane. Thanks for sharing this. I appreciate that. Nice to share. I sold Diane a bottle of the RED TREE California Pinot Noir, $9.99 to try? I told her it was balanced and light-bodied. Now I have to wait and see how Diane liked it? Take care, Happy Saint Patty's Day all! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 3/15/2014
Fatima knows hot to get people's attention like that of Kate and her mother Bonnie! TONY 2/28/2014 Brazil's Carnaval!
Mike Cavanagh pictured above also tastes the wines of SALTON HARMONIZA, Serra Gaucha , Brazil on Carnaval night, Feb. 28th, 2014 @ Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits from 5-8PM with Fatima of LEBLON Cachaca pictured, too.
Elisabeth Heflin likes this.
Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits It sure was fun Elizabeth. I enjoyed our conversation and our mini wine-tasting and between Fatima and myself we got you to try some ' new ' things. Hope you had a great weekend and I look forward to our next visit together. You both are the best and it was a delight to bounce ideas off of you both, speak of Kevin Bacon, of James Spader, of the movie " White Palace with him and Susan Sarandon, ... of Italian wines like Chianti, of the SALTON Tannat dry red , $11.99 from Serra Gaucha to try ( have you yet? ) that was just featured this morning in today's Washington Post Food section wine article by writer Dave McIntyre. Dave used to shop and buy wine from me at Cleveland Park Wines and he saw it on our shelves and said he had samples to taste. I told him then how good it was. That was a couple of weeks' ago before he dined at Ripple with John-Paul. Small world as John Paul came by soon after and said he was headed to Ripple to meet and dine with Dave. Love it, cheers Elizabeth. See you both soon. TONY 3/5/2014
Beautiful colors here that I post above on Wednesday morning March 5th, 2014 on a snowy-white morning here in northern Virginia with the sun shining off the snow's surface, beautiful! Cheers, TONY
Liz and Ryan brought Matt and Carol-Ann from North Carolina to the store after 8 PM and said : " You're still tasting wine, right?!? ", and I, with my coat on and ready to head out the door said : " No. That's over. " Ryan persisted with : " We brought our good friends visiting us to meet you. " Turns out that Ryan and Matt and Carol-Ann go way back, growing up together and that this was their first visit to Washington D.C. to visit Ryan and Liz. I pulled out the wine that was left from Amy Troutmiller's selections : a delicious dry Veneto Riesling Italico from Italy, $13.99 and we started there and proceeded to the Bardolino dry red from Veneto, Italy and the Spanish red Bobal and with these two reds I said : " Looks like you guys are screwed because it's always ' Ladies first ' and there's just enough for Liz and Carol-Ann. " They sighed, and Carol-Ann said : " Suck it up! " , and I responded : " Wow, I like Carol-Ann! " and smiled. I did have some of the ' aged ' LEBLON Cacacha from Brazil to pour them all and spoke about Fatima's tasting and Brazil's Carnaval last night and the tasting. Ryan said : " I told you so! We should have come last night! " I tasted them also on the ALEXANDRE Pedro Ximenez sherry, $32.99, they loved it and bought a bottle for Carol-Ann's father I think? Then I said : " Wait Liz, I have something special for you and I went to get the green LEBLON shiny beads' necklace for her and Carol-Ann amd both Ryan and Matt put them over the necks of Liz and Carol-Ann. Matt took this ' selfie ' of us all. We had a blast. Chatted, bonded, enjoyed. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 3/12014
Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits
Posted by Anthony Quinn · 2 seconds ago
Are you all Bobalians?!? WELL : Her'es your chance , JOIN Amy Troutmiller of the Diamond District Wines portfolio later today, Saturday, March 1st, 2014 from 2-6PM and Amy and I will explain.
There are TWO WAYS to become a Bobalian, or part of the exclusive Bobalian Society :
1) Study Bobal academically for two years and take the test,
OR :
2) Drink only Bobal for two weeks straight and then automatically qualify to become a Bobalian.
DO YOU KNOW which most people choose? Come and find out. We promise that you will be pleased/delighted/amused/ educated / enlightened. Cheers, NO CHARGE, JOIN US, get what you need before the storm. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 3/1/2014
What a really fun moment with Farida when she came in search of the ANTON BAUER Rosenberg Gruner Veltliner, $17.99 from Austria and I got it for her after much discussion about Austrian wines ( she also bought a liter bottle of the HUGL Austrian Gruner Veltliner, $10.99 - both that she is holding in her hands ), and she stopped at our tasting table where Enrico was waiting patiently for me to return - I had just gone into conniptions over his 2007 Amarone red that had the whole field, the whole barn, all the vineyards and the dried grapes and whatever else in the bouquet that turned into a lush and lulling lullaby of sounds in tastes and textures and patterns woven and burned and melted and draped and dangled and teased and pleased over my palate in a three-ring circus format of tastes - WOW! I was at heaven-on-earth! - ... and Farida asked what we were tasting? I told her and asked Enrico if he could share them with Farida? he quickly responded and said if it was alright with me? Fardida also LOVED the Amarone and also LOVED the Vin Santo. The Barbaresco was leaner and more closed and in need of a meal to make it totally blossom. It was such a wonderful serendipitous moment the three of us shared : thanks - grazie Enrico and Farida. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Friday, February 21st, 2014 ... TONY
I went to the Hula Girl/Pulpo restaurant a couple of night's ago and met Kyra the bartender and ordered some takeout to enjoy while watching the Olympics and American Idol. Still have not seen the last Downton Abbey episode! Anyway, the whole chicken and the spam appetizer were both savory, delicious, and in the case of the chicken, finger-licking delicious as I had to ' dive in ' and saturate my palate and senses in all the secret flavors, herbs and spices! I saw Dave Hansen the general manager and he and I walked down Cleveland Park, he heading to CVS, me to my car with my bag of enticing smells and aromas wafting up and out on this cool evening. Saw and talked with Steven and his girlfriend. They decided to try it that night smelling the flavors of the chicken drifting up and surrounding us as we chatted. I said : " Ask for Sean the waiter, meet Kyra the bartender and try her Mango soda and Passion-fruit drink. " They did, too, I saw them both here last night. They enjoyed enormously the experience. said Sean was excellent and said they enjoyed meeting the " hula girl " herself that came out to introduce herself. They said that they pretty much closed the restaurant down. A good experience had by all I would venture. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 2/20/14
Sal Furfari comes by to taste the SEGHESIO Barbera and the PERRIN Cotes-Du-Rhone, as I start with the PERRON our customers from yesterday, Daniel from Bogota, Columbi and Maria from Juiz de Fora, a 2-hour drive from Rio de Janeiro come by. I ask them : " How are you today? How was the wine? " Daniel said that they were both fine. Maria said that they had just seen the newborn baby Panda at our National Zoo up the street. All smiles. I notice her metallic silver and bronze earrings that remind me of the holidays and Christmas trees. Daniel then says about the wine from last night that I recommended : " You know, i was good but it could have been thicker. Maria said immediately : " I liked it. " That's when Daniel said again that the wine was good, he just wanted a bigger mouth-feel. I understand. I had recommended the VAVARRO CORREAS Mendoza, Argentinian Cabernet Sauvignon " Colleccion Privada". Then I went back to taste with Sal , picked up my glass of PERRON and said : " Excuse me. " I had to tell Maria I liked her earrings. I did, too. But first I asked Daniel his name, then Maria's? Then I invited them to taste the two wines of Sal. " You have enough wine Sal, you don't mind?! " " Not at all. " said Sal as they approached the table and we tasted together, Maria liked better the PERRIN, both Daniel and I preferred better the SEGHESIO. Daniel told me that he had worked in Toronto, Ontario at a liquor, beer and wins shop called LCTSO for less than a year, that both he and Maria were living there and going to school there now . Nice, I showed Maria the SALTON Tannat dry red from Barsil, $11.9. My face lit up when she told me she was from Brasil. She knew the wine, had not tasted it. It was a great serendipitous ' moment ' for the four of us. Thanks Sal, gracias Daniel, obregado Maria. I loved it all! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Wednesday, Feb. 19th, 2014 here in Cleveland Park, Northwest Washington D.C., 20008, 202-363-4265 ... nice all around. TONY
LOVE this movie ... " I'm just a girl ... asking a boy ... to love her " sez Julia Roberts, could also be : " I'm just a boy ... asking a girl ... to love him. " And,to be accurate it can also be : " I'm just a girl ... asking a girl ... to love her. ", or : " I'm just a boy ... asking a boy ... to love him. " It all works for me, cheers all, Happy Valentine's Day! TONY 2/14/14
" I'd like to place a delivery order . " said Carphik. " Okay. " I said. " What can I get you? " " I'd like a bottle of EFFEN vodka. " Carphik replied. " I think that's enough. " he added , knowing that we had a $30 dollar minimum to make deliveries. I had to check the bottle price. It was On Special for $29.99! I returned. I said : " It's Valentine's Day so we will let you slide on the one cent! " He liked that. Then I mentioned that he might want to order some sparkling wine or some port or anything. He thought about it, thanked me but said finally : " I might be in the dog house but that's all I want. " Okay Carphik, I did try. Cheers, Happy Valentines' Day to you. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 2/14/14
" It's a sign . " I just went over an hour or so ago to introduce myself to Mikala Brennan the ' Hula Girl ' and we got to talking about the significance of February 11th, 2014 being the 50-year anniversary of the Beatles' singing here for the very first time : " I Want To Hold Your Hand " ' live ' in the United States. Mikala said she knew all about it as her mother hand flown on the same Pan Am transcontinental flight when the Beatles came into New York a couple of days earlier. I need to hear more about that. I will have time as Mikala will be cooking her authentic Hawaiian food in the Pulpo space starting on Friday for the next six weeks! That's a sign, more time to get to know her, taste and enjoy her food, and find out more about that fateful, wonderful flight of her mother's that must have been FAB4ulous! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Tuesday, Feb. 11th, 2014 ...
" May I help you? " I asked Laure. " Yes. " she said with a smile and relief as she looked at our American white wine selections. " I need something for tonight for a Chinese New Year's celebration. A white wine. " " Okay. What do you want to spend? What do you not want to spend over? " Laure pauses, a slight pain in her expression. " Certainly not more than $20, $15 would be really nice. But definitely not a Riesling! " "I pause a couple of seconds and say : " They make dry Riesling that you would like, and would go really well with your celebration tonight. " " Really?! " answers Laure with surprise. " Really. " I say. " I've got a New Zealand FORREST Estate 2004 Dry Riesling On Special for $14.99 that was normally $28.99 a bottle. " I walk over to show here. " I don't want to argue with the expert. You're the expert. " I smile and reach for the bottle and say : " This is a discussion, no need to argue. " I explain more and Laure says : " This won't me look bad? " I said : " Certainly not. It will make you look great. Trust me, why would I want to sell you a bottle that did anything but that? " I continued : " This is a really important occasion and I want you to shine. " I smiled. Laure seemed okay with this and went to pay. I had thought whether we had a bottle with an image or reference to a horse on it for $15 but could not think of anything quickly enough. I told her about John Forrest the owner and said that horses were quite comfortable in the forrest! Now we just have to wait and see : will Laure start a new lore about herself and this evening when she brings this FORREST Estate 2004 Riesling from Marlborough, New Zealand to her evening celebration tonight, Saturday February 1st, 20014 ... the Year of The Horse ... cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 2/1/14
" Tony! " Jagir at the register calls out to me as I type here. " I come out of the office and see Nan holding a copy of the Washington Post Food Wednesday newspaper and she points to a spot and says : " Do you have this? " She's got the wine column of Dave McIntyre open to that page that he wrote about Bordeaux wines. She's pointing to the CHATEAU LA COUDRAIE Bordeaux 2010 Vignobles Jolivet Mis en bouteille au chateau, $13.99, 13.5% alcohol that Dave mentions. I say : " Yes! " Nan perks up, happy with my answer. I walk to the display by our tasting table and hand her a bottle. I tell her it's really good. She smiles again and asks : " Do you have more? " I say " Yes " again and tell her that we are running low but have more on order. She tells me that if she likes it she will be back for more. I feel sure that we will see Nan again asking for more LA COUDRAIE Bordeaux red that we get from our salesperson Mark Congdon of J.W. Sieg that brought it around about two months ago for us to try. Thanks Mark, thanks Dave, thanks Nan! Cheers on this brisk, bright, cold and refreshing Thursday morning here in Cleveland Park, Northwest Washington D.C. 20008 on January 30th, 2014. TONY ... and later after Nan leaves Jagir shouts out to me : " Tony, the coffee's ready! " Thanks Jagir, I am looking forward to that.
" You're my hero! " the long, wavy haired blond just smiled back at me as she walked to the front of the store. It all stated a second earlier : " Tony! Someone here to see you. " said Michel. Then the blond said to me : " Were you ever able to get me a champagne bucket?!? " I said : Yes. But where have you been? " as I reached into the office for the CODORNIU clear plastic , transparent buckets I got from CODORNIU Spanish Cava haouse especially for her and other in late December 2013. She said : " I've been sick. " Well, at last she has here sparkling wine bucket. " It's free, Tell them at the register that ' Tony gave it to you' ". Cheers. Have a great day on this ' heat-wave afternoon ' here! TONY 1/31/14
Cinzano? " Doug responded when I asked him if he needed any help. I said : " Over here, we usually have it. " He said : " The red, good, and a bottle of the white. " He smiled, Doug was happy. he wanted to browse to see what he would blend with the Cinzano, $9.99 a bottle, the Rosso, established 1757! That's some time! He came by the tasting table a few minutes later holding also a bottle of the RANSOM Old Tom Gin Alambic Pot Distillation, Heart Cuts, Batch No. 39 Bottle # 0875 ... and said : " This is hard to find. Happy to find it . " He was happy , Doug was, big smile. " Brandy? " he said. I walked him up and I showed him the section and the GAUTIER VS Cognac, $23.99 , and he grabbed a bottle after some more discussion. He said : " This is about what I can carry. " He walked to the register and we said ' bye bye'. Cheers Doug! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/31/14
As I walked into the store just a few minutes ago to start my day I passed Sue and asked her if I could help her? She said : " Where are your Riojas? " I go to the rack and look for the buff,red-labelled Rioja we get and charge $11-$12 a bottle for and do not find it. I say that some of the fancier Rioja wines are on the left wall with the other Spanish reds. Sue takes a look and says that she is looking for something more " everyday. " I walk up to the front display and tell her I have a Temranillo from Ribera Del Duero that is heartier and more flavorful for this cold weather for $9.99? I also say we have, as she catches up to me, a Tempranillo from Spain On Special for $6.99 that drinks more like an everyday Rioja? I also mention the MARQUES DE ZENETE with the classic Rioja mesh wrap in gold, but that's from Valencia for $9.99 a bottle. " I'll take two of those. " says Sue. At the register we exchange names and I tell her more about the Tempranillo being the key grape in Rioja. Sue responds : ' That's why I come here. I learn something each time. " She smiles as she says this. Then adds : " I love the Loire sparkling wines I get here. " I say that I love those as well. We both grin. I ask her where she's from? Sue says : " You'll never guess? ...the UK. " I respond : " I thought so. Where in the UK? " " The south she responds. " I quickly add; " That's where they are making such fine sparkling wines, a French-Anglo effort, quite expensive. You have to pay about fifty a bottle or more I say. " " I've heard. " Sue responds. We both have not tried them yet. I tell her she needs to try them sometime, to spurge on one when she gets the chance. That was a great way to start this cold, bright, blue skies, cold and windy Thursday morning here in Cleveland Park, January 30th, 2014! Cheers, TONY
" I'm looking for some sour beer, what do you have? " said Rob to me. Santos at the register overheard him when I turned to ask Santos what was currently in stock. " There Tony, by your knees, see the case? " said Santos. he was pointing to the case of DUCHESE DE BOURGOGNE 750ml , On Special for $10.99 a 750ml bottle. " It just came back. The supplier has been out for awhile. " said Santos. When Rob and Jennifer saw this their eyes lit up and they smiled, cried for joy! They were both so happy! " I'll take four bottles " Rob said, and I said : " And they are cold enough for you to enjoy now. " I said as they had just arrived and it's really still cold outside. Jennifer said : " I'll be back to buy more for Rob's birthday. " I asked if she would come for them? " I am! I have to! He likes them so much. I have to support neighborhood business. " I like that, I like that a lot. Thanks Rob and Jennifer. Glad we could help you on this cold Wednesday afternoon here in our fabulous Cleveland Park neighborhood, 20008! Cheers, TONY 1/29/14
" Lorraine?! " I heard Andrew the manager of Firehook Bakery shout out. I passed him, stopped and smiled as he was looking down at the counter working on an order I suppose was for Lorraine? I say " Quiche. " Andrew looks puzzled and says : " Quiche? " I say after a pause , with a big smile on my face : " Lorraine. " He smiles, and says : " A wise guy! " as he looks down again at what we was working on, and I move along to get here to work! Cheers Andrew, see you soon! TONY 1/29/14
FUNNY! Sue, I just arranged the AIRLIE 2011 Riesling, $16.99, Estate Bottled Willamette Valley, and the dry 2012 Willamette Valley, $16.99, 13.5% alcohol by volume Gewurztraminer on our tasting table as they are ideal to fight this cutting-freezing-breaking cold and wind of this week. We even have a bottle or two of the Estate-Bottled 2009 Muller Thurgau Willamette Valley, Oregon dry white, $16.99, as well here : all available now for sale! Why don't we set up a tasting of Mary's wines for Thursday, April 3rd, 2014 from 5-8PM? That works for us. Let me know if that is still okay with you all? What a great surprise for today!
35 minutes ago Sue K Shay
Hi Tony! Mary Olson, owner of Airlie Winery, will be in DC for Pinot in the City on April 2nd. She will be working with Oscar Mar 31, Apr 1 and 3 and would love to do a tasting in your shop. Would there be an opening for her on any of the above dates? Cheers!
Katarina just came by and we kidded about being brave enough to be out tonight and brave the elements. I congratulated her. We both smiled. She asked me if we still had any of the Chianti that we tasted a couple of weeks ago? She and Paul loved it, so did their friends. I went back and showed her the BUCCIA NERA Guarniente Chianti 2011? She said before that : " It cost around $13 a bottle? " She saw the bottle and was happy as it was the one. She asked me how much I had? I said three more bottles.
Will you save them for me. I'm going to dinner and do not want to carry them with me? " I said : " Sure". All good. Good to see you and we will see Paul later. Cheers, TONY 1/28/14
Lee just came by for his Monkey Shoulder Mixes Scotch Whiskey and his Saint Germain Elderflower and was off to have a burger at the DINO bar hearing how good it was. I said that it was, and that the bacon burger was supposed to be even better! I need to try it myself. Enjoy your burger at DINO Lee! Have a great weekend! It was our second request for Monkey Shoulder in an hour here! That's good, it's good. All is good when you have good customers like Lee that come to see us and say " hello ." TONY 1/25/14
Message for Peter Anastopolos : Hello Peter! An old customer of yours, Sandy was just in talking to Santos and asking for you. He called me over and I invited Sandy, her daughter Alex, and her friend Mark to come taste some of the TABLAS CREEK Vineyard 2011 " Patelin de Tablas " dry red Paso Robles blend, $24.99, 13.7% alcohol that they loved! Sandy lived on Porter Street and used to have you mix her up cases of wine. She asked all about you, wanted to know how you were, if you are still in the wine business? It was nice to talk to her and to taste the TABLAS CREEK Vineyard's red and then the PALA Sardinian dry red made from the Monica grape, $18.99 that they did not like at all! Sandy asked about Vace? Is Vace still around? Yes I said! They had a lovely dinner just now at Ripple restaurant. All good. Smiles all around, shaking hands, and Mark loved our selection, first time he's been here. Sandy said leaving : " So glad to see you are still here! " YOU BET, Sandy we're still here, and HERE TO STAY! Cheers, happy weekend, happy Saturday, happy New Year, nice meeting you three and thinking of you, too Peter. Cheers, best to Jim. TONY
" I wasn't trying to cheat on you guys, I promise! This is it when I arrived! " said Jen with a smile and a broad sweep of her hands in the front of the store. " You've got the vodka I want! " That's the ALASKA DISTILLERY " Buzz " Honey vodka, $35.99 a bottle. " I could not remember where I got it. I've been to four other stores! " continued Jen. " Do you sell soda water? " she asked me. I said : " Yes " and showed her where it was. " Jen replied : " Vodka, Saint Germain Elderflower and soda water! " with a big smile on her face as she approached our register. " Success" we say with a broad smile on our faces. Cheers Jen, thanks for shopping here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. Have a great day and weekend. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/25/14
We have been selling the semi-dry and the dry Riesling from KEUKA LAKE Vineyards as well, which we like very much the Leon Millot, and the older bottle of the Merlot BLEW ME AWAY, and wrote glowingly about it. When will Dionysos Imports order more? They should, I would buy more as we have customers THRILLED to have the New York State wines here. Cheers, TONY
We have been selling the semi-dry and the dry Riesling from KEUKA LAKE Vineyards as well, which we like very much the Leon Millot, and the older bottle of the Merlot BLEW ME AWAY, and wrote glowingly about it. When will Dionysos Imports order more? They should, I would buy more as we have customers THRILLED to have the New York State wines here. Cheers, TONY
" I'm making a Cin-Cin : says Margaret as she asks me where our vermouths are? That's pronounced " chin Chin " and it comes from her friends introducing her to the Cinzano dry and sweet vermouth from Italy, $9.99 a 750ml bottle. Nancy likes to blend the tow , the dry and the sweet together and add a splash of lemon and that's her drink that she and her husband introduced Margaret to. Margaret lives here, Nancy and her husband live in Maryland. Margaret prefers mixing half-and-half the MARTINI and ROSSI dry and sweet vermouth, $8.99 a 750ml bottle together with a splash of lemon! FUN. I like this. Margaret does not know if anyone else likes it, has tried it? She just knows that she likes it. Margarte also tried our VILLA DOLUCA Turkish red and white dry wines when Danielle Davidowitz was here earlier from Dionysos Imports and she liked the dry white Semillon white blend, both costing $9.99, and bought a bottle of it. Thanks Margaret. Cheers to you, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/22/14 PS : It sure is cold here now in Washington D.C. Northwest, 20008 in Cleveland Park! Brrrrrrrr!!!!!
I was answering an email when I looked up from the computer in our office earlier and noticed Rafael and asked him if he needed any help as he stood in the aisle between the French and the Italian wines. He said : " No. " I told him my name was Tony ans that if he had any questions to let me know? I went back to typing a response and around the corner from the keft comes Beca with a big smile on her face saying that she did not know I was in the store and that sh was so happy to see me. I smiled and said the same and asked her to wait a second and I would come out to greet her. She said that she did not want to disturb me from what I was doing. I said that I was almost done and that besides I wanted to say " hello " as I had not seen her in quite some time and wanted to catch up. I stood up and came out seconds later and she smiled broadly as is her fashion and gave me a big hug which I returned. We chatted as I put my lunch away and we talked about our respective jobs before she introduced me to Rafael her colleague and friend and I got the idea to offer them some of the two gins we have open and for sampling : the VIR from Rick Wasmund in Sperryville, Virginia and the FEW from Evanston, Illinois that is atypical and golden in color and that provides quite a contrast to the VIR. Before doing this, however I ragged on Rafael and said : " So this is the gentleman that when I offered at first did not need my help?!? " And then the three of us were off on our adventures of wine and liquor just as if we had known each other already for years. In the case of Beca this was indeed true. In the case of Rafael he just fit right in. It was a fine and serendipitous moment that I greatly enjoyed. Cheers thanks for stopping by you two, happy New Year 2014 on this snowy white day that found you both off from work and thus able to come and see us. I thanks the white snow for this! Tuesday, January 21st, 2014 here now at home at 11:56PM... getting late .... TONY
As a wine retailer i agree with The Wine Coach and ill add : it matters to you, should matter to you, it's your palate, your taste, it's all you have and we should all learn to trust, love and understand, and not fight it. Best to understand that just as the wine is constantly changing as a living thing, so is our palate and taste and the wine and we are all influenced by the temperature, the place, the time, the setting and what is served with and how it is served, and what it is served in? Many variables, many factors. Good to try and understand them, take them in, see and taste the bigger picture if possible. Never fight, work with and maximize the pleasure and the experience. Cheers. I do trust my taste. My greatest pleasure and the greatest complement I get is that I have helped others to do the same. Now that's an admirable goal and achievement. Bravo The Wine Coach! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/19/14
Thanks for sharing this Ana Paula! Drink some CASA VALDUGA, some LIDIO CARRARO, some MIOLO and some SALTON wines from Brazil that we sell. Tell your friends that we sell the wines and the Cachaca like LEBLON, too ... remember that Jody, Krista and Fatima , as well as Mike, and way back Flavius have all tasted these Brazilian products here with you? Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/15/14 , I love the cartoon below. It says so much and is important to share widely! Where did you find it Ana Paula? I would like to know? Are there more? Let's get the ball rolling here on Brazil and all that makes it the great and vibrant country that it is. I want to go back. My trip in late June of 2012 just got me more interested and I am now in contact with Barry and others that want to pursue this quest of ours further. I would like someday to work together closely with all those that have been involved so far : Gustavo, Roberta, Ana Paula, Barbara, Francine, Fernanda, Roberto, Mr. Paris, Michele, Jaqueline, Ruiz, Clovis, Anna, Bruno, Fatima, Krista ... and so many more of you. These are exciting times and , unfortunately to date so few know about it yet. Let's all MAKE SOME NOISE, then some more noise, and then more, and more, until more people do, in fact know! Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn on this Wednesday late morning here in northern Virginia as I get ready to go to work and promote more Brazilian wine and Cachaca and more : AGORA - OLA, BOM DIA a tudos ... TONY 11:07AM
Thanks for stopping by yesterday afternoon Klaus ( Wittauer ) . It was great to talk with you and to catch up on Austrian wines and to talk about the future and doing some local D.C. dinners and wine-tastings in 2014 together with Andrew Stover with your wines of ANTON BAUER and LEO HILLINGER, STRAUSS and more. I want to take this time to thanks Jean Gagliolo our rep of old for these fine wines. Jean has done an excellent job representing them here at Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits and we will buy them from you Jean as long as you have any to sell us. Thanks- merci for all your help with the KLAUS WITTAUER portfolio of Austrian wines. Cheers, sante, prost! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/15/14
Here's a SHOUT-OUT to Lise and her dog called Augie, how was the Peking Duck from the City Lights of China that you like so much? This goes back to December 24th, 2013 : " in another lifetime ... : sang Bob Dylan, or so it seems! Life rushes on ... must keep up! TONY 1/1/4/14
Recently for Bill there was some SILVERADO Chardonnay, $19.99 from California, and some Bobal for Cynthia, a dry red TEMPERAMENTO 2010, $17.99, 13.5% alcohol from Spain's Utiel Requena region, a favorite of mine. That was on December 26th, 2013 : seems so long ago! Happy New Year to you both Cynthia and Bill. How were the two wines? Everybody like them? Cheers, TONY 1/14/14
Thanks Maggie for your call. I always talk to Celia your sister so it's nice to hear another voice, and we did deliver some great " grower French champagne " to your mother as we do annually for you now. Love the fact that she took French and seems to pretty much love " everything French! " Cheers, Happy New Year to you all. What did your mother think? 1/14/14 PS : usually we send six half-bottles of the VEUVE-CLICQUOT Non-Vintage Brut French champagne, this year we did " something different. " Salut! Sante a tous! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
Allison, when you bought the " Original " French Malbec from Limoux, France, $13.99, and the ALBERTI 154 Malbec 2011 from Mendoza, Argentina, $17.99, 14% alcohol by volume, for your Argentinian friends coming for dinner on December 28th, 2013 - what did they think? Was there a " favorite ", or were they both equally appreciated? What did you think personally?!? Take care, Happy New Year 2014, TONY 1/14/14
The other evening Nicolas from France that lives in Cleveland Park brought his visiting parents during the holidays by, Moniqueet et Jean Masson from Saint Rafaele close to Nice, France and I ended up selling Jean an assortment of wines as we spoke French together and got to know one another a bit better. It started to gel between us when I showed him the Fournier Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc On Special for $12.99 that is made by a Sancerre producer. From then on the sales were easier as Jean began to trust me. I have to ask Nicolas about the assortment that I sold them the next time I see him. I hope they had a great holiday together. Sante Moniqueet, Jean et Nicolas ... Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/13/14
" I have a date " said Samantha as we spoke with her and her two friends on the weekend before our Monday Big-Theme 26 types Wine-Tasting that included 21 sparkling wines and five still-non-sparkling wines. She was with Brian and Liz , she had a bottle of the ALEXANDER VINEYARD'S Sangiovese dry rose, $16.99 a bottle in her hands, and Brian had a bottle of the TOCCO sparkling Veneto Prosecco, $16.99 in his that was relatively " new " for us that we had recently started selling after tasting it with our local rep, Regis Scheithauer from Roanoke Imports in Virginia. I don't know if Brian you or Liz made it to our Part-Two BUBBLY 26-wines tasting that Monday, Dec. 30th, 2013 - did you? Hope you did. We had a great time and tasted many " new " sparkling wines as well as the Still wines from Brazil's SALTON winery and South Africa's 7 Vineyard's OVER THE MOUNTAIN winery. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn It's now Monday night, January 13th, 2014 and I can still recall many of those twenty-six wines we sampled - what fun!
" Can you say Chablis? " Christine asked Avery her young daughter. They were both walking down the aisle with the magnums and lox wines on our left wall if you are looking into the store from the front. They were here with Christine's husband was shopping up front and after a very successful trip to our National Zoo on a beautiful Saturday. Christine went on to explain to Avery : " They call this white wine though it's yellow, see that? " It was in Fact Saturday December 28th, 2013 and I was over on the other side of the store with the barrier of French and American wines and so I had spoken with all of them on a couple of occasions already and I was enjoying now immensely listening to Christine being such a good mother, so patient and soft-spoken. I loved this and wish that I had had a chance to write down more of the conversation just then between a loving mother and daughter, as well as with Christine's husband as he had been with them earlier and I overheard them speaking, too. Cheers to all three! It's now Monday evening on January 13th, 2014, and earlier at lunch with my son at Panera we had a great, meaningful conversation. Oh, Christine was pushing a stroller as she followed close to Avery! Talent folks, real talent on display here. Mothers deserve much more credit for all of this.
Tammy and Ike came by this past weekend when John and Theresa Morrison were tasting their selection of South African wines of LAIBACH, DE MEYE, and BEAUMONT, Tammy tasted with them, Ike did not but seemed curious enough. I had already talked with Tammy that was going to be going later to a birthday party celebration for one of her female friends. I wonder if Ike was invited? There was no mention of Ike in any of this, none at all. Tammy's task was to get a wine from Portland, Oregon as her friend had been there, Everyone had to bring a wine from a region that their friend had gone to. I told Tammy that it would be a great gift the bottle of Gamay red we sell from BRICKHOUSE for $39.99 bottle, that it would be fun and unique and really tasty, too. Tammy was okay with that. When Tammy and Ike left I first said to John Morrison : " What did you think of Ike? " John did not know who Ike was, of Ike and Tina Turner? I smiled and then said I would ask Theresa. " Theresa, what did you think of Ike? " She squinted her eyes and said : " Ike who? " I smiled and looked at both of them and responded : " Ike the dog that was with Tammy just now? " They smiled and said that Ike was really tiny and quite cute, and being a chihuahua that he was probably pretty easy to take around, and that because he was so small and only 4-years old that he still had many great years left in him! Gotta love that, I do. Thanks for shopping with us Tammy and Ike. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/13/14 That was on Saturday, 1/11/13... TONY
" I have a ritual, every time I'm in the neighborhood I have to stop in and say ' hello ' to you and to the store. That's Lars Solem, he came came by this past Saturday. He was back in the neighborhood. He breezes in-and-out as he lives on the streets of Washington D.C. He's from Norway originally, Solem means " sun " in Norwegian. He's a nice man, lived in Austria and France growing up. He's always pleasant even when he's had more to drink than he should. He loves wine and has tasted with us from time-to-time, He has some better days than others like most of us. We've known him now for many years. He has rangy long graying salt-pepper hair, has led a hard life and yet never complains. I like that. I have learned from talking to him, and as hard as it is sometimes there's still something really nice about Lars, and like his name says, he often brings a bit of sun into Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. Here's to you Lars. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/13/14 Lars usually buys beer from us, up front from the silver cooler across from the cashier.
Met and spoke for the first time in some depth ( Saturday, January 11th, 2014 ) with Al that has his own bar here in Washington D.C. , that's his own private bar, mostly for he and his fiancee, sometimes some lucky friends, too! This Saturday he was out of most everything and knew that we could help him restock as we started with the LUXARDO Maraschino cherry liqueur, $29.99 , then the CYNAR artichoke liqueur, $27.99 ;some OLD OVERHOLT - an original - rye whiskey, $15.99 ; some green Chartreuse ( $59.99 a bottle, he hesitated at that as it's gone up recently ), some DOLLIN red French vermouth, $13.99; and more. Young, energetic and articulate is Al and it was a great pleasure for me to get to know him some this past weekend as he discussed he had moved fom Nashville ( the bars there are quite good and he learned a lot from them ) as he worked on his Master's degree at Vanderbilt. He now lives around China Town I believe and makes the trek up here because we have such a tremendous variety according to him. He's right, too : we concur! He still has to present his dissertation here in D.C. and so is working hard on preparing now. Good luck All! Thanks for continuing to shop with us. We greatly appreciate your business and wish you and your fiancee the very best! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/1/3/14
Ruth called me this past Saturday January 12th, 2014 at the store wanting some dry Provence French pale and delicate rose for her bouillabaisse recipe for this weekend with friends. I put her on hold while I went to see what I had? We both were in luck as I had three bottles of a Tom Calder selection dry rose that had just the right pale color and was $16.99 a bottle I believe that I got through Potomac Wine Selections. Tom was a writer and moved to Paris, France to continue that as well as to enjoy being in France. He left his job as the wine-buyer at Wagshalls here in Washington D.C. where Pam The Butcher moved to work at once leaving Brookville Market. This should work really well Ruth. You will have to let me know? You have shopped with us now for many years. You know Sidney Moore Margolis the old owner of the Mayflower Wines & Spirits where I worked once with Sidney. I miss her. She, too was a customer at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. Let me know how the wine worked from Tom so that I may pass it on to Tom. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Happy New Year Ruth and Tom! It's now a nice , warmer , drier, half clouds and blue skies day here in northern Virginia on my day-off, 1/13/14
Pictured above back in May 201 at Cleveland Park Wines from left-to-right : Tom, Caissie, Tony 1/13/14
Met Jen for the very first time and could tell she knew her wines and so she got my attention as we walked around the store the other day as we went from the SULIN red Piemonte Malvasia ( that we had the last five bottles of as they are not making it anymore ) to the Michael Broadbent Madeiras! I learned at the register that Jen may be working at Phylo restaurant soon? I told her to have them call me, that I would be pleased to put in a good word for her. Good luck Jen, it was great meeting you the other day. Cheers.
" Est ce que je peux Vous aider? " I inquired of the young lady as she passed me at the tasting table. She paused, then stopped and said to me that she was not French. " Do I look French? " I said that she did. She told me that she was Austrian. Then I asked her if it was okay with her that she looked French? She smiled and said that it was okay as she moved on down to the back of the store. I cannot remember now what I helped her with. That will have to wait till another time. I am happy that I was able to record what I did as so often I break away to help another customer as they often show up at the same time and are all deserving of our help. As a result I am quickly dashing down one thing or another as I start talking to them. I like it. All about balance and not getting flustered. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/12/14
The same afternoon that I helped Eladio I was later helping Nina and Megan , and they, too were having " Thai " for their meal. I smiled and mentioned to them that I had just helped Eladio and asked them if they were dining with dining with him? They said " no." I told them about Eladio and they were sorry not to be dining with him! Then I asked them what they wanted , what type of wine and what price would be good? They thought for awhile and one of them responded " ten-ish ". I thought a second and then walked over to our " ten-and-under " section up front and reached for a bottle of the MONTEVENTO Montepulciano D'Abruzzo red that we get from Roanoke Imports that Regis Scheithauer sells to us. It's been such a grand success and I often bring a bottle home. I had just enjoyed some here at home and told them so. That cheered them as they took the bottle from me, smiled, thanked me and walked up to our register to pay. Enjoy Nina and Magan! That was a week or so ago, time flies, it's now Sunday evening at home as I type this on January 12th, 2014. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
" Doing Thai " Eladio said to me. " Not going to be fancy, a friend of a friend ... " he continues. Eladio said : " Around twenty." Eladio answered when I asked him what he wanted to spend. I already knew that with " a friend of a friend " that it had to be more about tasty and flavorful to match the flavors of the Thai food. I sold Eladio a bottle of our 2007 Merlot from the CASA VALDUGA winery in the Valle Dos Vinhedos, $19.99 just south of the wine capitol of Bento Goncalves. I told him that it was flavorful and dry like a good bottle of French Bordeaux or even an Italian Friuli or Veneto dry red, as the ancestors of CASA VALDUGA are either from Trentino or Veneto, Italy. Eladio seemed pleased and he mentioned the World Soccer Cup in Brazil. So, now all I have to do is wait to hear from Eladio. Cheers, Happy New Year Eladio. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/12/14
" I'm not allowed to touch the latte machine " Marisa shared with me quietly, with a smile on her face. She was referring
to her recent visit to her parents' book store where she stacked books and helped then in Seattle, Washington this past holiday vacation . It's an old and used bookstore that's happily growing in our newer culture when most bookstores' are dying because so many books are being purchased online through Amazon among others. I LOVE hearing this success story from you Marisa. Marisa needed some vodka to infuse with other things and so I sold her some FRIS, a 1.75ml plastic imported bottle - an old " classic " that's a great deal at $18.99 a bottle. Marisa also needed some bitters to make Old-Fashions and we have the " new " called FEE BROTHERS I believe at $7.99, These are aromatic bitters and it was yesterday, Saturday 11th, 2011 in the afternoon. Good to have you Marisa. Cheers, happy New Year 2014!
To my photographer friends that shop here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits : Ralph , Karen, Paul, Michael : I was blown away quite literally a few minutes ago crossing from Virginia into Washington D.C. to come to work going over the Teddy Roosevelt Bridge that was like passing through a thick vail of fog and drizzle that covered everything, like a shroud, like gossamer, so many transparent " mille feuilles " to gently conceal and airily mask so much that our eyes would normally be greeted with! I loved it. I wish that I had had my camera with me. Please go there and cross the bridge and snap away and then post here and share your photos : how wonderful that would be. It was such an unexpected treat for once to see so little, perhaps only a third of what we would normally see. Like in a dream, a lovely, mysterious dream, to concentrate on less and perhaps to come away with more of the true essence of that space and view from over the Potomac River looking at all our national monuments and the Kennedy Center, the Vietnam Memorial, The Washington Monument, The Jefferson memorial, The Capitol, the Albert Einstein Center, the State Department and some of the Navy Yards, and so very much more. I missed my favorite this time, too : what I call the miniature living green-to-yellow-to-orange-to-b
" The only reason I'm on Facebook is because of you! " Dan proudly said with a bright smile to me when he greeted me here by the Italian wines last night. He said that he did not like Facebook but since his visit for our Part Two BUBBLY Tasting of 21 sparkling wines and French champagnes of Monday night, December 30th, 2013 he decided to LIKE us on Facebook and see what we were up to here on a daily basis. Thanks Dan, we appreciate that, we really do. It was great to see you last night here again. When you came on the 30th of December you liked the Champagne DUMANGIN and had a half-bottle of the NV Brut dry rose that you bought, $29.99 as well as another one or two which I cannot remember now. Oh well, too much to keep track of. On that night you and Jane and Michael our local amateur photographer all had lengthy conversations here. As a matter of fact Michael wanted to know Jane's name as he and she both shop here and taste often together at our tasting table. Cheers Dan, Jane and Michael! Come TODAY and taste with John and Theresa Morrison " new " arrivals from South Africa from 2-6PM! Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/11/14
" I know, I own my own business. " said Carmen to me as we discussed business. " My New Year's resolution " continued Carmen " ... is to drink more and to enjoy life a little bit and not to be worried about anything else. Enjoy good company. " I agree, I love this, I perked up immediately when you said this Carmen and scrambled for something to write it all down on as not to forget it. You had a bottle of the NADIA Santa Barbara California Cabernet Sauvignon in your hands, $19.99 as we approached the register and I told you that, if you did not mind that I would share this on our Cleveland Park Wines and Spirits' Facebook page? You said : " Not at all. " Let me know what you think of the NADIA Cab, Sauv. Carmen? Great to talk to you, feel we have a lot in common. I sure did like your message and I look forward to many more conversations in the future. Happy New Year to you. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/10/14
Tom travels all the time, all around the country : he's only here for short times before he's on an airplane again headed for the Midwest or the West Coast and when he visits us it's always friendly as he searches for a dry red or a dry white. One of his favorite : " go-to's " is the Fran Kysela HUGL Austrian dry Gruner Veltliner bottles that we sell in liter-size bottles as the very fair price of $10.99 a bottle. Tom loves this, so does Franceen and many of our other customers here in Cleveland Park Northwest, Washington D.C. 20008. It's a fantastic dry white, Jeremy Sutton our Kysela rep brought the owner to the store in 2013 and so, after selling this wine for years, including the dry-fruity Zweigelt red in liters as well we finally got to meet someone from HUGL. I liked that very much. Thanks Jeremy! Cheers, Happy Friday and start-to-the-weekend, January 10th, 2014! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn By the way, Tom loves sports ( he often has a jacket or a cap with some sports emblem on it that he's wearing, or both at the same time - you can't miss him, that, and his gentle smile, warming ... ) , and one of the first bits of conversations between Michel Dumas and Tom is about a game or another! he used to talk about sports with Mike Martin, too when Mike worked here before returning home to Rochester, New York. Cheers Mike, Happy New Year to you, to Joey and to the rest of your family! TONY Nice to finally meet you Martin Hugl! We like your wines here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and have sold them now for many years!
" What's that all about? " Adam asked me. " Talking about the weather? " The weather has been a great topic of conversation recently in the store. Adam was with Lindsey and they bought a bottle of the current vintage of the JED STEELE Old Vine Pacini Zinfandel, $19.99. Cheers Adam and Lindsey, this Zin will be great in this cold and damp weather. TONY 1/10/14 Cheers Jed! TONY Getting low on Shooting Star Sauvignon Blanc and on the Blue Franc, too : will have to call Andrew our local NDC rep! TONY @ Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits recently ....
This is so coincidental that as we were tasting some " old " and some " new " wines with Jim Reeves ( pictured here on my left ) of Comete Wine Selections, Oscar Losama of Voila Wine Selections, and Regis Scheithauer of Roanoke Imports that our friend, customer and local amateur photographer, Michael Robinson would walk in and see us tasting and using his gift of his calendar with his color pictures taken in France, Italy and here in Washington D.C. to sign them up for weekend wine-tasting! What are the chances?!? I only wish that I had not thought to take a picture with you Michael here. We will do it the next time you come. In the meantime enjoy this picture of February I believe with Michael's picture of Paris' Place de la Concorde and the fountain! Jim and I are holding bottles of the Bourgogne Rouge 2012 dry red from the DOMAINE BALLORIN & F that's organic, along with the great vintage of 2009 Marsannay rouge from BALLORIN & F ( he must have a daughter and not a son, bravo! ) : BOTH were amazing, fruit-forward, balanced and delights to enjoy now. The Marsannay will be On Special fop $22.99 a bottle - regularly $39.99 a bottle, ... and the CLOTHILDE DAVENNE Chablis 2012 that was razor-sharp-brisk-bright-fruid and frisky DRY, brrrrr, loverly, really loveLOVEloverly! Really classic red and white burgundies, a real treat for us. Cheers, thanks Jim and Michael, merci a vous deux. here I am at home and enjoying both as I type and share this. Enjoyed them both earlier with my wife homemade vegetable soup and a grilled Swiss cheese sandwich : so comforting, so very right! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Thursday night now in northern Virginia at 8:37PM, just before the show : Millionaire Matchmaker " with Patty that my daughter, son and wife love! I LOVE my French burgundies here, and the three of them, I am not so sure about Patty or her show. Oh well, always room for growth and improvement! TONY
Already starting to fill up, telling the Michael Robinson story, one picture at a time Michael, the colors, the compositions, the places in time, Italy, France, Washington D.C. ... did you include a Cleveland Park photo? I will have to look again? Cheers, thanks for sharing and adding to our lives ... good neighbors are so important ... happy Thursday, still under the freezing mark here this morning, the sun's beautiful and I like seeing it cover things outside as I look out our window now. And, as Jerry another of our customers responded to me last night in the store about the cold : " Ugh, it's okay, as long as you stay in the sun . " Yes, Jerry, the sun is primo and whether it really warms us or not it is psychologically essential. Cheers to you both : have a great Thursday and come on by. Micheal, don't forget the Marselan red, $13.99 from southern France next time, and Jerry you have to give us an update on how the 2011 SEGRIES Cotes-Du-Rhone is drinking. By your very own definition these 2011 may be too old as you like your wines young! TONY 1/9/14
I had lots of great conversations today on the coldest day of the year 2014 so far! Daniel came in to the store earlier carrying a beautiful bouquet of vibrant and colorful and loud, festive flowers of all kinds that shouted to be seen-heard! I loved them! Daniel and I spoke for awhile in the sparkling wine-French champagne section as he held a bottle of the inexpensive Sacy French champagne, $30.99. He asked me if that was the only French champagne we had chilled? I said : " No " and proceeded to show him one after another and he remarked that he and his wife drank a lot of champagne and he was pleased to see that we had a number of small-grower French champagnes like our 1er Cru VOIRIN-JUMEL, $43.99 a bottle that he eventually bought after we looked at the AGRIPART 7-Crus, $49.99, another dry Grand Cru rose, and more. Turns out he fessed-up to me just before leaving as he was paying ( I had mentioned that it must be an important celebration? ) and he said that he was making up for the fact that his wife had to put up with his family for two days and that they are trying, much more so than her family! That's nice Daniel. I hope this evening with the flowers and the Champagne VOIRIN-JUMEL 1er Cru have been a grand success. Cheers and Happy New Year to you both. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn, Wednesday AM just now as I finish typing this from yesterday's really COLD day. What will later today hold for us all?!?
Love olive oil when it's good! Like Bill Sanders that he makes in California called FIRST FRESH, that we sell here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits in Northwest Washington D.C., 20008 for $19.99 a bottle. Bill was a resident here in Cleveland Park for many years and still returns to visit to say " Hello " to us, " Bonjour " to Florence at Lavandou and " Caio " to Pietro at Sorriso ristorante, too! Happy New Year Bill! See you soon ... Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/7/14
COME IN from the COLD, the WIND she be mighty, she be relentless, she be howling, SO : COME INSIDE, here, to the warmth and comfort and good and great cheer that we offer. Go get some bread at Firehook Bakery and then get some of Bill's FRESH FIRST extra virgin California olive oil made with Spanish olive varietals, it's kosher, too, and then dip the bread into it and feel the instant warmth of the sunshine as it saturates you thoroughly and puts ONE BIG Sunshine-Smile-A-Mile-Long On your faces! Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Tuesday here in our vibrant Cleveland Park neighborhood of Northwest, Washington D.C., 20008 at 10:55AM ... cheers, TONY
Thanks Jason ( of TABLAS CREEK Vineyard, Paso Robles, CA. ) , it's been awhile since you came and tasted here and that was a great tasting we did together. We are happy to pour your wine here today on a really cold with the unforgiving, relentless winds that are GUSTING through our region now and which PUSH ASIDE, too the faint but beautiful sunlight that valiantly is trying to do what it can in these severe weather moments here now! LOVE this picture, it's a " classic ", and Olivier keeps us abreast of you all with all the photos he shares from your page and I have LIKED your page, will you please LIKE ours so that we can all be in better contact and do better business in 2014! Cheers, best to Robert and your family. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/4/14 LOVE the 2011 Patelin de Tablas!
The red from TABLAS CREEK, $24.99 from Paso Robles that's a blend of the Rhone grape varietals gets a HUGE - HUMONGOUS " Shout Out " from me because it is so fresh, so bright, so fruit-driven, and defies gravity as it is perhaps the lightest on my palate, like the tread of a newborn baby's bare feet on my palate. I LOVED that, I enjoyed and noticed that immediately and it made me smile like I rarely smile when I try California wine. I thought suddenly : wow, impressive, can this be?!? Did they, do they, does someone from California get it that you don't have to come at our palates with sledge hammers, and columns of a liquid that is almost like a solid, a SOLID WALL that does not permit us entrance into the flavors inside? I want to be able to get inside the wine I drink, to become a part of it through my palate, no matter what it offers, to feel like I have access into it and am not stopped at it's gates and hit repeatedly over the head as I try and gain a foot-hold, a place, a relationship with it. SO : Bravo TABLAS CREEK for this airy and fruit-driven, balanced dry red that will be great for spring and summer drinking. Michel Dumas and I are thrilled to have it to offer to you. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/5/14 Happy New Year 2014! The Patelin 2011 de Tablas is the wine, $24.99! TONY
This Part 2 BUBBLY Big-Theme Wine-Tasting of 21 Sparkling wines and French Champagnes was inspired by The visit of customers Gay and Mark that love bubbly but were unable to attend the Part 1 BUBBLY Big-Theme Wine-Tasting of Wednesday, December 4th, 2013 from 5-8PM @ Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. Part 2 was a big success and here are some of the photos featuring Mike Cavanagh and Robert Loggia pouring the SALTON and the OVER THE MOUNTAIN Brazilian and South African wines - both sparkling and still wines, ( 21 sparkling wines, 5 still wines ), and Robert Loggia ( with his Spanish Cava CODORNIU, Andrew Stover with STONE HILL,, Missouri; owner James Henry of the TEAVINE Green Tea, honey and sparkling wine blend, Mark Congdon pouring the NATHALIE FALMET Brut Nature French Champagne and Marcie Weinstein pouring some of THE CHOCK sparkling Aussie Shiraz, the ESTANDON French Provence sparkling rose and so many more! WOW, what a sparkling spectacle this all was! Cheers! ENJOY! Thank you Kevin Gleeson for letting me use your i-phone to take these pictures to " capture " this wonderful, special moment of ours! You are the best Kevin! Cheers, Happy New Year 2014 to everyone! TONY 1/4/14
Just saw Heather here and I asked her again to tell me her name? " Heather. " she responded. And I said : " Heather in any weather! " It's what I said after giving her a taste of the SALTON Brut " Intenso " sparkling Brazilian wines from Serra Gaucha, $14.99. To was tasting it with me at the time so the three of us tasted and chatted some. I said to Heather that told me she had been exercising : " You've been giving everything a spark now for the last two hours, now it's our time to return some spark to you." Heather smiled broadly and said : " The women must love you? " Thanks Heather, I appreciate that. Cheers, TONY 1/4/14
Kevin, it was so good to see you just a little while ago! You look great , so dapper, great smile as usual, you don not look as if you have aged at all even though you tell me you've just had an important birthday-milestone! Congrats on that. I'm also glad we were here for you just now with some good wine and beer, liquor, too to enjoy in the New Year! I hear that you are off to dinner tonight to Teddy's restaurant that you tell me is an American Tapas theme? I have not been yet so report back to me and let me know if this second visit of yours is as special as the first? It should be. After all you are off to dinner with both Miss Democrat and Miss Republican, two of my favorite customers here over the years! Here's a Big SHOUT-OUT to the three of you. Thanks for all your business over the years. May this 2014 be great for the three of you. Come by together like the old times and maybe I can get another portrait sketch in of the three of you as I have done in the past? Cheers, TONY 1/4/14
Karen, thanks for sharing this photo that you took of the bottle of 1962 Chateau Brane-Cantenac , Margaux, Bordeaux red that you enjoyed recently with your friends at the end of 2013. You said it was perfectly stored in a temperature-controlled cellar and it sure looks that way from the label. This was an opportunity of a lifetime to enjoy a bottle that was 52 years old! I wish I had been with you. What a treat! What did you eat with it? I will have to ask you what the meal was as that is always good to hear as together the food and the wine create a taste that did not exist alone in either of them. Again, thanks for sharing this special treat with us. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/4/14
Voila, ce que j'ai ecris et mit sur notre page de Facebook pour nos autres clienteles du magasin Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits, Va la-bas, LIKE nous s'il vous plait! Merci, bonne annee a vous! Et a la prochaine ... Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn3423 Connecticut Avenue Northwest, Washington D.C. 20008, Tel : 202-363-4265,, anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwines.com. Sante! TONY ...
You bet Karen, an experience of a lifetime, especially considering it was so well-cellared for so many years in Paris, France, not far from where it was made in Margaux, Haut-Medoc, Bordeaux, France by CHATEAU BRANE-CANTENAC! WOW, WOW! WOW! Too Bad I was not there! Cheers, thanks for sharing this, TONY 1/3/14
You bet Karen, an experience of a lifetime, especially considering it was so well-cellared for so many years in Paris, France, not far from where it was made in Margaux, Haut-Medoc, Bordeaux, France by CHATEAU BRANE-CANTENAC! WOW, WOW! WOW! Too Bad I was not there! Cheers, thanks for sharing this, TONY 1/3/14
The drive to work today was absolutely beautiful with everything covered in white, the roads clear enough to navigate, even the smaller ones, just have to be careful not to slip like out in our alley way out back here in Cleveland Park. The winds and the many white flakes that it carries in quick, constant and rapid-fire sweeps that melt WET and COLD on contact, even bathed in bright late morning sunshine is intense, refreshing, bristling brrrrrr, run for cover, find refuge, COME INSIDE our store and warm yourselves! You are always welcome here, YES, you are. Cheers, Friday, January 3rd, 2014
Amy came to the store yesterday. She and her husband shop with us, have for years, even though they moved out of the Cleveland Park Northwest, 20008 neighborhood. Thanks for that Amy. Anyway, Amy came by on December 21st, 2013 and remembers that well as she came looking for a gift for her father and remembers tasting the Reserva Rioja from Estebe Salgado of Tradewinds Specialty Imports and liking it very much. I got Estebe to sign two of the bottles for Amy to give as gifts. When she came yesterday she could not remember the name of the Rioja from Spain or Estebe's name but she said that she tasted it and she remembered the date so I went to find our calendar to see who was tasting on 12/21/13 and discovered that it was Estebe! I will include the name soon, it was the Crianza that she bought, not the Reserva. Yesterday Amy also bought the three-pack of the Prosecco 187ml bottles for $11.99. She likes to be able to have a glass when she wants to and not have to open a full bottle. May of our customers feel this way and so it sells really well. Amy came holding a bouquet of beautiful flowers - Astramarias ( spelling? ) , a lovely rich purple outside with a white and orange center - nice. They will brighten any room Amy. Thanks for coming by yesterday. It was great to see you. Happy New Year to you and your family! Cheers, TONY 1/3/14
Hello Norbert, this is the story I just wrote on Facebook about the Montebruna that you sold us when you visited Washington D.C. in 2013 : cheers, Happy New Year to you all at BRAIDA : Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/2/14 ...
Mari-K just celebrated her birthday as I did, my daughter, too : and many of you that have been through the store recently. Meri-K needed something, a good red to go with her pasta as her musician son was coming home from Washington State and they would be celebrating the New Year together. I thought about it and said that for the $25 she wanted to spend that the BRAIDA Montebruna Barbera d'Asti 2011, 15.5% alcohol should do the trick in real style , polish and finesse! Hello Henry! WE spoke for awhile and I loved looking at Meri-K's smile and into her eyes that sparkle always! We are friends and I love seeing you Meri-K, you always make me feel good, always, anytime we meet! ... SO : Just now, a half an hour ago Meri-K, you are back as I hear someone beyond the office walls and I go to investigate and you exclaim : " So happy you are here! " Meri-K tells me that the Barbera from BRAIDA was a huge success and that she wants more. At first it's only going to be two bottles that goes to three, as another relative is coming and she wants to share it with him, too and does not want us to be out of it when he comes. Smart thinking Meri-K! So henry loved it, too. I said : " It was for a pasta dish wasn't it? " Meri-K, at the front door and poised to leave , pauses, smiles again and announces : " This would go with Cheerios! " and she was gone. I think I'll enjoy it with a pasta dish, but I get your point Meri-K! Say " Caio " to Henry for me when you see him. Cheers, Happy New Year 2014 to you both. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/2/14
Part Two of meeting both Darcy and Chris at the Part Two Bubbly-Sparkling Wine-French Champagne Tasting this Monday Night 5-8PM, December 30th, 2013 ... I convinced them to let me put their 6-pack of cold HARPOON beer up on our front counter while they tasted from the six tasting stations of both bubbly and still,non-sparkling wines. They must have stayed an hour and their beer was warm by that time so Darcy had to go back and get another cold 6-pack of HARPOON! That's okay. Chris and Darcy bought the Ca' Bea Sangue Di Giuda off-dry slightly-sparkling red, $10.99, 2012, 7.5% alcohol that Andrew Stover poured that is a blend of the rare Uva Rara, 45%, the Barbera 30% and the Croatina 25% . You either love it or not, for some it's just too fruity, for others it's just right! They also bought a bottle of the Brazilian Serra Gaucha SALTON Brut " Intenso " that's mostly a blend of Chardonnay with some Riesling, $14.99 a bottle : and the trusty Johnnie Walker Red 750ml, $21.99 a bottle. I will have to ask the price of HARPOON, I cannot remember! ANYWAY, I said to Chris : " You have to take care of Darcy! " I said this to get him to try the sparkling wines so that he would learn and be able to keep up with her when she enjoys them. He did learn , too, and to enjoy them as well. He thanked me with a big smile at the end. You are welcome Chris. I loved Chris' response : " I am nothing without her. " I liked that a lot, a whole lot! Cheers and Happy New Year to you both. Can't wait until we see each other again and catch up on New Year's Eve celebrations. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/2/14
Chris Bartha pours sparkling wines for our customers all the way back to 2010! We'll invite him back again and may do this in January to get things started really well! Cheers, thanks Chris, thanks for all your excellent help over the years, we appreciate it all, we really do, cannot do it without the help of professionals like you in our business that also know how to talk to customers, make them feel comfortable and relaxed, and help them with their needs at the time. You're good at that. Cheers, TONY
Cleveland Park Wine & Spirits
43 minutes ago
Met for the first time a couple of days ago Jasmine that is a pastry chef and that is taking some time off now but that worked with the chef at Ripple restaurant and enjoyed that. I loved Jasmine's dark curly hair and her face simply radiated with emotion, energy, brightness and mystery, too. I am an artist after all and I paint pictures with words and I hope to see you again now Jasmine in 2014. Hope the sparkling wines went well? I cannot remember now what you decided to go with and I did not write it down. There were simply too many people in the store at the end of the year as we put to bed 2013 so that we could all wake up fresh and bright and bushy-tailed in 2014! Cheers everyone, TONY 1/2/14
I take one of our cats outside and hold him as he wants to be outside some but is an indoor cat as so we both share a moment of peace and zen that way as I cannot do anything else but hold my daughter's cat when outside : so peaceful. You Michele are the Brazilian Catwoman that I know. You might have to go into movies and make an appropriate costume and have some fun, too as clearly you love " all-things cats! " 1/2/14 It's nice now outside, snow is coming! TONY
We all miss you three, too and love keeping up through all your photos and comments! What fun, what a great period of your lives, we've shared so many grand moment we have Michael here at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits over the years with Nadia and all those that you would invite and encourage to come and get to know us, taste with us, shop with us. That's invaluable and I take this opportunity here on Wednesday, January 1st, 2014 to thank you for that, and to say here : ... " and to many more! " I'm off upstairs now to start grilling our dinner outside on our back deck on my day-off today that I have LOVED and to get ready to enjoy with my daughter and wife some fine LAURENT PERRIER Non-Vintage Brut French champagne that we sell , and sold well, this past holiday season for $43.99. I will report more on that soon. Cheers, the very best to you three! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/1/14 this will be bottle #2 we enjoy the three of us, as we started on Christmas Eve I believe with the first? or was it my Birthday Eve we started?!? I does not matter, it was FABulous whenever! TONY
Matt Loftin our " new " LEOPOLD BROS rep came by with the Michigan Cherry Flavored Whiskey to taste that we will sell here in a few days as it's really pretty decadently delicious and full-flavored, warming and tasty and distinct and pleasing! I had Patricia try it and she said : " 'F " in Loftin , as in fabulous! . I think she liked your looks Matt! Nice complement to you. Then Patricia went on to say : " Need to loosen-up a little bit. Right Tony?! " I think you are right Patricia. Good to see you. Happy New Year Matt and Patricia. Great to see you both here today, Tuesday, New Year's Eve 2003 : and the countdown starts soon! We are still open, closing soon at 9PM, it's just 8:23 PM now ... cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/31/13 ... BY THE WAY, we miss you Lindsay! Happy New Year Lindsay! TONY
We will usher in the Washington D.C. Cherry Blossom Festival with our " new " Cherry Blossom Kir Royale variation at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits in early 2014 with Matt Loftin! TONY ....
Thanks Matt Loftin, it was great to see you in the store yesterday and to taste the " new " LEOPOLD BROS. Michigan Cherry Whiskey with you that we will be able to sell soon for under $40 a bottle. I predict that with certain customers of ours like Patricia that asked immediately upon tasting it if we had it and what it cost that it will become a staple item for them year-round. What's not to like?!? I still do not have the pictures we took Matt? Have you just sent them? I will add them here soon as I get them. Matt was holding the LEOPOLD BROS. Michigan Cherry Whiskey and I was holding a bottle of the " Intenso " Brut espumante sparkling wine from Serra Gaucha ( that I enjoyed on new Year's Eve with my family and our neighbors. $14.99, ... and I proposed that together we would blend the two and make our our Michigan-Colorado-Serra Gaucha Brazilian Kir-Royale. Matt will come and we will make some in the store for you all to try : fun and festive an BUBBLY CHERRY BRIGHT! Cheers, happy New Year 2014 one and all! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 1/1/14
Not every story is a success story and it's disappointing to have to say that an old customer of ours , Dave, that many of you know and love, came by last night and was looking at the selection across from the wine-tasting table and I said : Hello Dave! How are you? I haven't seen you lately? " he paused and responded : " The beer I like to drink is two dollars cheaper across the street at Wallgreens. " I did not say anything to that specifically though Michel said something I did not hear. Dave went on to talk positively about his experience at Wallgreens and I listened, trying to glean what I could, to understand and to counter with a possible offer from us? But Dave did not give me the impression that he was looking for us to drop our price by two dollars? He did not seem to care one way or another, he was just stating a fact. He never accused us of being too expensive, he never blamed us or asked us for anything. Having known him for as long as I have I do have to admit that even so his words stung me. I will talk to Santos and Malkit and Jagir about this. Santos knows what beer that Dave likes to drink just as I know what wine Dave enjoys occasionally as we have discussed that wine as , from where he stood and how he saw things, maybe jesting - maybe not - keeping us in business. Dave's pretty matter-of-fact and he sticks to his guns. We will see what we can do Dave. We - I take everything that I hear like this seriously. We are here for you and everyone else in Cleveland Park and want to keep as many of you as possible happy going any business with us that you choose to do. Cheers and Happy New Year 2014 Dave. ... and I will tell Ravi that you say " hello " as chatted about that till a customer wanted to try some of the sparkling wines we had for tasting and I got distracted and you walked towards our selections of beer in the back cooler. Take care, be healthy and prosperous! TONY
A cause de Regis de importations Roanoke en Virginie du Nord on vends vos champagnes excellents, tout la gamme ici a Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits a Washington D.C., 20008 202-363-4265 dans le quartier Cleveland Park ... et on va gouter cette apres-misi avec nos clientele le 1er Cru, $43.99 entre 2-6PM avec Regis Sheithauer! Venez nous joindre! Le suivre c'est bien ce que j'ai poste a notre page de Facebook : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits, va la-bas et LIKE us s'il vous plait ... Bonne Annee a vous 2014! ...TODAY : Saturday, December 28th, 2013 0n this drop-dead gorgeous day here in Cleveland Park Northwest, Washington D.C. 20008, our local and excellent rep for Roanoke Imports, Regis Sheithauer will be here from 2-6PM pouring the TOCCO Extra Dry Veneto, Prosecco D.O.C., $16.99, AS WELL AS the VOIRIN-JUMEL French Blanc de Blancs 1er Cru Brur non-vintage champagne from the champagne region called Cramant. It's a " recoltant-manipulant - grapes grown and harvested and produced into champagne " by the owners themselves so that they have complete control from start-to-finish on what they produce and only Nature and accidents can effect the eventual results of their fine champagne! This one's a beauty, we love it and enjoy having it here for you, quite complex and flavorful and yet quite bright and fresh, lively, and cheerful, too : balanced from start-to-long-finish! Come taste some, BUY SOME for New Year's eve! COME ALSO : on Monday, Dec. 30th, 2013 for our Part-Two BUBBLY Win-Tasting of 25 sparkling & still wines from 5-8PM, no charge, everyone welcome! Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/28/13 ....
Scott Calvert of Manument Selections brought the CENYTH 2009 47% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 8% Petit Verdot and 7% Malbec by for us to try on my birthday tonight that we shared with our customres here, $65.99 a bottle when we get it, from Sonoma County, 14.5% alcohol by volume, and EVERYONE liked it, there were requests to buy it, and we explained. We will get some for January 2014 to start off the new year really well! it's smooth, flavorful, bright and firm and balanced and with great emphasis on the purity of the fruit, never heavy, very drinkable, best with a meal, and worth the price. It's a good bottle of California " Meritage-Bordeaux-style red that Michel Dumas and Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn - me, can recommend to you all. I'm glad we could share it with some of you. Thanks Scott Calvert, thanks Monument and Andrew and Elyse, and , OF COURSE, thanks Cenyth! You all are the best. Cheers, Happy New Year 2014 to you all! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/27/
I just asked Uri how he was? He said " I'm alright. " and almost sighed, no energy to his voice. I probed, : " Just alright?!? " And Uri said : " I could have used another day or two off. I smiled and burst out : " That's just what Michel and I have been talking about Uri! You make my day. Thanks for sharing that with us. " I pat Uri on the back, smile again , and tell him that it makes us feel good that we are not alone. The " brotherhood- sisterhood " of those that had to work the day after Christmas, it's hard, feeling a bit sorry for ourselves I think we are, but that's okay. Cheers to everyone that had to go back to work the day after Christmas, you have our sympathies. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Happy Thursday, it's almost over for those working and almost time to go home and relax and enjoy the true spirit of the holidays... TONY
Abel just brought his daughter Ellie that's tall and beautiful for her two-year's -of-age now, she's wearing Elmo gloves today! Anyway Abel's wife and he like the MONTELLIANA Sparkling Prosecco and the sweeter Moscato, too : BOTH sell for $11.99. he saw me, holding both bottles in his hands, smiled and thanked me for the recommendation of last week. Michel said to me : " How old do you think she is? " I looked a minute, studied her face and said Ellie was two-and-a-half? Abel smiled, said I was right. I like that. She sure is cute! Thanks for stopping by Abel and Ellie,... and Abel bring your wife to our bubbly-champagne-sparkling wine tasting this Monday night, the 30th 2013 from 5-8PM, no charge, we'd love to see you come - we can thank you in this was as you sip, enjoy and learn, too! Cheers, Happy holidays everyone, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/26/13
It's almost Christmas! Got home to enjoy a lovely meal with my family and opened a bottle of the BODEGAS CARRAU : S " SUST Brut Nature 2009 Vintage sparkling wine from Uruguay that is produced with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes , in homage to Juan Carrau that must have started the winery back in 1930? It's really full and round and lush on the first taste, creamy and bright and fills the palate nicely and with little bite at all - very, VERY pleasing. It gets a bit more intense as it fills out more - develops more, and a bit more focused as well. Really nice to sip, very pleasing all by itself. It went great with the herbed- spiced oyster crackers that my wife baked as we sat and chatted and relaxed before the meal. Our Michael Downey rep, Brennan Downey the son brought me as a gift this bottle : my eyes lit up when he said it was a sparkling wine from Uruguay : " I know what you like Tony " Brennan said. he was right, too. I asked him : " Can we buy it, do you have some in stock? " " Yes, we just received some. " Brennan answered. Merry Christmas Brennan, Peggy, Shannon, Guilaume, Bill and all the rest that work today at Michael Downey Selections. merry Christmas Michael! Thinking of you all now as I get ready for bed as Christmas is always a special time as it is also the birthday of someone really special in our family and we will be celebrating that, too : with family friends and family - a very special time. This was a great start. The bottle of SUST had a label on it : TONY Happy Holidays ... Downey Selections ... Cheers, sante, merry, merry Christmas and happy holidays all! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn I will buy some of this BODEGAS CARRAU ... I like it, fun and " new " and exciting ... TONY Feliz Navidad todos, gracias e hast luego amigos ... TONY
Too bad so many of ....
It was great to have Estebe come and pour the ALEXANDRO Spanish sherries : the TWO " Top-Of-The-Line " : 1) Palo Cortado made from the Palomino grape and the 2) Pedro Ximenez made with the Pedro Ximenez grape variety that's like liquid pecan pie for me : the Palo Cortado is like smooth, elegant liquid nuts and subtle honey and so silky and three-dimensional - like a thick satin sheet spread over one's tongue, whereas the Pedro Ximenez is like a satin thick luxurious and saturated sheet that penetrates deep into the fibers and the molecules on one's plate so that the two become one and you can no longer separate one from the other : TWO amazing experiences Estebe. Look at the joy in this man's face and you start to understand some of what I type here! Feliz Navidad a todos! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Gracias Estebe a ustedes, your wife and new child, too! TONY 12/23/13
... your pictures Estebe are in restaurants and not in fine wine establishments! That pains me some. TONY 12/23/13 ....
It was great to have Estebe come and pour the ALEXANDRO Spanish sherries : the TWO " Top-Of-The-Line " : 1) Palo Cortado made from the Palomino grape and the 2) Pedro Ximenez made with the Pedro Ximenez grape variety that's like liquid pecan pie for me : the Palo Cortado is like smooth, elegant liquid nuts and subtle honey and so silky and three-dimensional - like a thick satin sheet spread over one's tongue, whereas the Pedro Ximenez is like a satin thick luxurious and saturated sheet that penetrates deep into the fibers and the molecules on one's plate so that the two become one and you can no longer separate one from the other : TWO amazing experiences Estebe. Look at the joy in this man's face and you start to understand some of what I type here! Feliz Navidad a todos! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Gracias Estebe a ustedes, your wife and new child, too! TONY 12/23/13
... your pictures Estebe are in restaurants and not in fine wine establishments! That pains me some. TONY 12/23/13 ....
The lady speaking to Estebe is also in the wine business, but over in Europe and knows many of the owners and winemakers of the wines we have, she told me so, she gets so excited when she recognizes one and starts to tell me about how, when and where she met them and what the circumstances were! She smiles and comes alive and it's so much fun to witness and be a part of : the two continents, the two hemispheres coming together like this - the sharing between us of our experiences, nice. I like it, just as it should be. We learn from one another and grow ... cheers, TONY
It's all about family and community and trying to work together. We have worked with Melanie and Aunt Rosa going back many years : I cannot remember, was it 2006 or 2007 that we started to promote MACCHO PISCO? I think so : I have photos from back then I believe. We did some holiday tastings and I have pictures of that, too. I will find and post them as they are priceless, really wonderful memories of times that we worked to teach our customers about what Peruvian Pisco is and how it is different from brandy and Armagnac and Cognac. We have spoken about the grapes, the ones that give and add more flavor and character. We have also shown how great the taste can be of the Pisco in making a really fine Pisco Sour. I remember years ago having Melanie or Aunt Rosa give me my first to try that they made in our office with their blender. Wow, it amazed and so pleased me so completely, I was hooked, line and sinker - hooked! I believe it was Aunt Rosa that offered me my first Pisco and then Melanie that handed me my second. I accepted it readily, Just like In Cassablanca : it was the start of a beautiful relationship that continues to grow. Cheers, happy New Year 2014, happy holidays everyone : GO PERU! Our good friend Kim and her group of ladies went recently and climbed four four days and nights stopping to sleep and drink and eat : beer and Pisco I believe, and good food, too! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/22/13
This was a great moment with lunch before at PULPO and then Estebe Salgado with his Spanish Tradewinds Specialty products and then here with Jacqui our local rep for DISTILLERY LANE CIDERWORKS in Jefferson, Maryland ... we all liked the " Jefferson " hard cider and I bought one to bring home as a gift, too! Cheers. Thanks Ron Miller and Jacqui : this was a great event even thought it was a bit quiet as it was so warm in the seventies outside and not as many people shopping inside until later on! Cheers, thanks and happy holidays all! TONY Saturday, December 21st, 2013 @ Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits
My son and his friend that is visiting from the Big Apple had lunch with me at PULPO restaurant and loved it : they kept talking about it, how Alex the fine young waiter kept bringing us one appetizer after another, one delectable " food bite " after the other , and that meant different textures in what we bit down onto, different levels of dry-to-sweetness assailed our nostrils, what colors, what levels of herbs and spices, ... it was a visual, sensory and taste experience that just kept us happy and teased - pleased - and thoroughly entertained. Alex kept asking us if we liked what we were eating? We said we did. He kept asking us what our favorites were so that he could bring us more of the same. My son's friend said : " No, we like the variety and being surprised, we're never bored this way ", and so earlier today they kept talking about how things just kept coming, and how much they enjoyed the experience. I enjoyed it, too. For me it was just a little more than a half-an-hour but that was enough for me. Dave Hansen the general manager of course came to greet us and make us feel thoroughly welcome, different people brought us food and drink, I loved my orange juice - and Alex our waiter took really great care of us. Thanks Alex, thanks Dave, and THANKS to you all at PULPO for making our dining experience so memorable and fulfilling. Cheers, happy holidays all, keep on enjoying this unseasonably delightful and warm weather that's here now in the seventies just three-four days before Christmas! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
 |
|
Always a great visit when you come as Regis you always bring such great wines for Michel Dumas and me to sample such as these that we are both holding in our hands here. It's great to try them in the store. So often after you are done tasting them you return and leave them with us and then we take them home and enjoy them with our meals and see how they complement or not what we are eating, and that's invaluable. Thanks for being so generous with us, it really does make a great big difference. It's also nice for us to have such great wines to share with our two families. Thanks to you from all of us, and Happy Holidays, merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family! TONY 12/21/13
Michael the photographer that is a friend of Sharron that cam in search of a present for her friend Michael that's the same photographer came by earlier and said : " Tony my friend Sharron gave me the bottle you helped her pick and I love it! : Gotta love that, more on that soon. Time to enjoy time with my family now that just returned from shopping for groceries. Cheers, happy great weather : the Zoo light lights were amazing as I drove past : a constant pilgrimage of people to and fro, little boys and girls with swords that lit up with beautiful deep blue sky BRIGHT lights that flashed constantly on their parent shoulders, slow traffic, a sight worth seeing : magnificent on this beautifully unseasonably warm day and night and EVERYONE OUT ... cheers, TONY 12/21/13 Saturday night at 9:38PM ...
It was such a great surprise to see Melanie Asher and her Aunt Rosa that came by earlier and poked their heads into our office at the same time and surprised and overwhelmed me with joy that just erupted up and out of me as I quickly rose from my seat to embrace them both and welcome them to the store! Wow, what a treat, what a pleasure! They cam bearing a beautiful cake of some kind all beautifully packaged and adorned in holidays shiny colors and paper that reflected all the light around it. Thanks - gracias Melanie e Aunt Rosa, muchas gracias lindas senoritas! It's so good - it was so good to see you and spend some time with you, to have you taste with Estebe earlier his Spanish wines, cavas and sherries, too. We love your LA DIABLADA and MACCHU PISCO piscos that we sell, and I am glad to have given you an order to send to us this Monday as I could see we were getting low and need to have plenty to sell through the holidays. I also hope that we can set up a last tasting with you both of the year to ring in the " New Year " in a great way? What days are you both free? let us know and we will MAKE SOME NOISE for your excellent Peruvian piscos! And MAKE EVEN MORE NOISE for the Pisco Sours that the two of you make and share with all our customers, those are a frothy wonderland of cream and confection and your special pisco and the lemon juice and that accented splash of Angostura of Bitters from Trinidad that makes us all rise up and bubble up and over with joy just like I did earlier when I saw you both! Feliz Navidad los dos lindas chicas! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn e hasta luego ... TONY 12/21/13
Pictured above yesterday late afternoon at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits on Saturday, December 21st, 2013 are , from left-to-right : Santos Rivera, Aunt Rosa, Anthony Quinn and Melanie Asher. Cheers, happy holidays all! TONY
Pictured above yesterday late afternoon at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits on Saturday, December 21st, 2013 are , from left-to-right : Santos Rivera, Aunt Rosa, Anthony Quinn and Melanie Asher. Cheers, happy holidays all! TONY
Elaine that knows Antoine that lives in the same apartment building here that enjoyed some pretty special high-end French wines together with him recently called asking if we had any Petit Cassagne French Costieres de Nimes wine from the Robert Kacher selection portfolio. I said : " No but to come by and that I would have some great Kacher selections for her chose from for her Asian meal she was attending or preparing. I showed her the CAZE " Le Canon Du Marechal BIO dry red French blend of Syrah and Merlot, $12.99, a bottle, and the Herve Gantier " La Reserve " 2011 dry red blend from the DOMAINE Du SAINTE-EUGENIE, $16.99, ... and we chatted, had a great visit, and I think Elaine you will be happy and that I will see you again soon. Cheers, say : : Bonjour " for me to Antoine : Happy & Merry Christmas and New Year et Joyeux Noel et Bonne Annee a vous deux! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/21/13 Saturday and it's been unseasonably warm all day! LOVE it, bad for business, great for the heart and soul!! Enjoy!! TONY
Part ONE of a Part TWO conversation with Carmelia. Cheers, TONY 12/20/13
I met Carmelia two days ago as she came shopping for two bottles of Chardonnay and asked me if we had KENDALL JACKSON? I said " No ". but that I had an assortment of other California chardonnays depending on her needs? I said, too that we had carried the KENDALL JACKSON Chardonnay but were out and that we had not had many requests for it. She probed a bit deeper about this and I said that we wer trying to keep many of the smaller vineyards alive in California and not the biggest or most successful as KENDALL JACKSON. I said : " We're a small store, we support small wineries. ". She smiled her gentle smile where her eyes beam brightly - boy, there's a light inside you Carmelia, and I love it! Oh, before I go on I have to say that as we approached our American chardonnay section Carmelia told me that she was not the average customer that perhaps did not know their wines well. She continued with that she was a bartender for the Marriott Hotel and she was implying that she knew her stuff and that not just anything would fly with her. I LOVED that, too. I loved her subtle fire ; a force to be reckoned with! So I showed her the SILVERADO 2010 Carneros Chardonnay, $19.99, 14.2% alcohol and told her the story of how it was Walt Disney's widow that owned it. I was implying that there was not a money problem and that there was more than enough for SILVERADO Vineyards to do their job well. Carmelia also wanted to know if we had any Napa Valley Chardonnays? It is nice now that I think of the connection of SILVERADO Vineyards and the " new " Disney movie about Mr. Banks and Mary Poppins with Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson in it that is just out! I will post this and continue my conversation with Carmelia in the Second Part that will follow next. Cheers Happy Holidays to you Carmelia, what a pleasure it has been to help you! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn December 18th, 2013, Wednesday afternoon.
I am sorry to report I just heard that co-founder Diane Disney Miller pictured above of the SILVERADO Vineyards just passed away. We are so sorry to hear that. TONY 12/20/13
Part Two Of selling two bottles to Carmelia of Chardonnay:
Carmelia and I had much conversation back and forth. Besides the SILVERADO Vineyards Chardonnay 2010 from Careneros, $19.99, 14.2% alcohol, I also showed her the MOLNAR FAMILY Vineyard , On Special for $29.99 a bottle, the EDNA VALLEY Chardonnay, $12.99 - telling her it was one of the very first to really make California chardonnays popular, she did not know it. I showed her a couple of others, too; and there was much going back-and-forth and she did ask me which I would pick? After ten minutes or more Carmelia finally decided to take two bottles of the SLIVERADO Vineyards' 2010 Chardonnay, saying she knew where to find me and would be back. ... This was not Carmelia's first visit to Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. She has shopped with us for years, buying Johhnie Walker Black for many of them as gifts. She told me she was in the banquet department of the Marriot Hotel in Georgetown did she say? She remembers coming thirty-three years ago and walking to work and past the Hilton Hotel on the day that John Hinkley shot President Reagan! That memory has stayed with her all this time. She has an Ethiopian friend that works with her at the Marriot, I think she said the Johhnie Walker was for him? I liked Carmelia. At the register I complemented her on her hat. She liked that, said I was not alone. She told me she was 80 years old. I asked her where she was from as I liked the sound of her voice. I said : " Trinidad? " She looked quizzically at me and asked me why I said Trinidad? I then said : " South Africa? " At that point she was saying : " Now all across an ocean?!? " And she added : " Go back, I;m from an island, up north, closer to Florida. " That's when the bell finally went off and I said : " Jamaica! ". I was right. Sorry Carmelia. We spoke of " The Voice " and the current winner being from Jamaica. She did not know this, did not watch the show. I said that all of Jamaica was proud of Tess-Anne is it? Cheers Carmelia, I loved helping you. You are some woman, love your fire and spirit. Keep coming to see us. I want to hear what you think of the wine of co-founder of SILVERADO Vineyard's - Diane Disney Miller that sadly recently passed away? Come back and share more often. We need people like you, good conversation. Cheers, TONY 12/20/13
Kira and her dog " Blue ", a antique-white colored lab I think came to the store earlier tonight. I asked Kira if she needed any help? She said she needed a bottle of red and a bottle of white for a gift. Then she asked me : " Do you have any La Crema ? " I responded that we did not. She asked me what else I had? So I said : : La Crema sells for around $20 a bottle doesn't it? " She smiled an quickly responded that at Costco she could buy it for around $15. I then quickly responded that it's big companies like Costco that are putting smaller like us out of business and that if people did not support smaller businesses like ours that the whole landscape would be a lot of Costcos and not much else. " She obviously felt the sting of my comment and said : " Well, that's why I am here now. " I could tell she was feeling a bit guilty. That was not my point at all. I appreciated Kira's business and yet I do feel frustrated by the larger businesses not respecting any boundaries anymore. I told her : " We have plenty of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines at around $15 a bottle. I said : " Why don't you buy a bottle of the Clothilde white burgundy made jsut outside of Chablis On Special for $15 a bottle. We also have a $15 bottle of Pinot Noir from Burgundy , the NAUDIN- 2011 On Special for $15 - they are both the original inspiration for wines like La Crema. " She immediately agreed to try them both. We chatted at the register for a few minutes as we waited to check her out. It's the holiday season now and we were busy I am very happy to say. I said I liked Blue's blue collar and then I asked : " We here welcome all dogs and are happy to have Blue here with you. Are you able to take Blue to Costco to shop with you? " Kira smiled and simply said : " No. " I guess we have that going for us, among other things. Happy holidays to you Kira and your family. I can't wait to hear what your reaction to the two french burgundies is?!? Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Thursday night, December 18th, 2013 Thanks for your business Kira, we appreciate it. TONY
It's a perfect night for a Michigan Traverse City Spiced Cherry-Cheery Glog-Style red concoction from Andrew - JOIN US, cheers, TONYAndrew is here now and we are so pleased to have him here with these INSANE " Values "- what a deal, what a treasure trove : Michigan, Calabria and Alto Adige, with a bottle of the Purcellville Cabernet Franc from BREAU Vineyards on the counter, too! What excitement, what entertainment, what drama and theater and stage presence - everyone acting together for " the Great Good ! " Come be a part of all this excitement! Andrew is going to take another picture that shows all the fun we are having here as this one just shows the labels and nothing more - the Traverse Bay spiced cherry wine is $12.99, and the other two are $10.99 a bottle, the BREAUX Vineyards' Cabernet Franc is $21.99! Cheers, come by, no charge, we only charge you when you buy a bottle! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/18/13
I remember years ago drinking and loving the : no dosage LEGRAS Brut Integral that cost a whopping 53 francs I believe in Paris in the early seventies when I lived there with my family ( my father was a career diplomat with the American Embassy - Foreign Service there at the time, the Consul of Visas, then of Passports, then back again to the Consul of Visas in the Talleyrand building ), and we discovered it at the Caves de la Madeleine owned by Steven Spurrier. ... And on the night before my now wife and I left Paris, France to return to the United States in late August 1980 we drank a bottle of the LEGRAS Brut Integral : what great times and memories, and Nathalie's Brut Nature is in the very same league : extraordinary, challenges the limits! Cheers, sante all, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/18/13 the sun's out on this cold December morning and the skies are a dash milky-baby blue! TONY
Je viens de voir ce matin Nathalie que dans le Washington Post " Food " section que vous-etes le premier sur la liste de Dave McIntyre qui ecrit au sujet des vins, et en cette article de le Washington Post newspapier , Mercredi le 18 Decembre : There's more to champagne than the bubbles " ... que vous-avez recu trois etoiles ( exceptional ) : et Dave a ecrit : " Nathalie Falmet is the epitome of a small grower. She owns just three hectares ( about 7.5 acres ) of vines and produces her wines in a bare-bones warehouse. Her brut nature , from 100 percent pinot noir and made with no dosage of sugar, is electrifying in it focus and intensity. Alcohol by volume : 12 percent. " ... J.W. SIEG Available in the district at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits; on the list at Degrees Bistro. Felicitations pour ca, pour ton grand travail Nathalie! Nous sommes tres contents de vendre ton Brut Nature, $66 la bouteille cez notre magasin Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits a 3423 Connecticut Avenue Northwest, Washington D.C. 20008, Tel : 202-363-4265 , anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwines.com. Viens nous voir la prochaine fois que tu viens a Washington D.C. Notre quartier de Cleveland Park est bien magnifique avec LAVANDOU ou tu peut bien manger et parler avec le proprietaire Florence qui vins de Normandie, ou peut-etre de Bretagne? Bons fetes de 2013! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/18/13
This is the father of Katarina our Swedish neighbor that LOVED the Pacini Old Vines Zinfandel when she had here at home with my family in northern Virginia that she asked me to buy her some bottles ( along with the Shooting Star " Sauvignon Blanc to take back home to Sweden to share with her family Jed! She said that she could not find any STEELE wines available for purchase there in Sweden while she was there? SO : this might be the first STEELE wines enjoyed in Sweden? Could it be A FIRST!?! Nice either way. Cheers. We always have it for sale at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits in Northwest, Washington D.C. 20008 ... cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/16/13
Roberta stopped by a couple of days ago and told me she's off to see her mother in Porto Allegre soon and she bought a bottle of the CASA VALDUGA 2007 Reserva Merlot, $19.99, and a bottle of the SALTON Pinot Noir as well. Can't wait to see what she thinks of both of them? Both are dry with good balance and complexity, and both are better with food than alone. Cheers and enjoy Roberta! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/15/13
THEN THERE WAS NICKIE that came in visiting her friend that lives here with her
this visit as well as the last three weeks ago when Nickie asked me : " Do you
have any of the dry red Schiava Alto Adige Auslese Italian wine from KALTERN? "
Actually what really happened was that Kickie showed me the picture of the label
on her phone and I saw it and said : " No, we are out. " This was, of course not
what Nickie wanted to hear again today.
So I sold her some of the 2012 DAL MASO Del Veneto dry red , $11.99, 13%
alcohol by volume to try, telling her the difference between the tow. Nickie
needed another bottle so we decided on the 2012 MARQUES DE ZENETE Valencia
Spanish Tempranillo, On Special for $8.99, 13.5% alcohol by volume. Then I got
our local rep Andrew on the phone, ordered the wine, put Nickie on the phone to
tell him the story and say : " I want your job " after I told her Andrew had
been in Oregon buying " new " wines to sell.
BEFORE TOM I WAS HELPING Caroline Baculund ( spelling ? ) that's 93 years , went
first to buy a vacuum-cleaner down the street, passed our store with her friend,
needed two " smooth " reds for $12 approximately to enjoy while she read, said
she enjoyed the combination. I found her two reds. I found out that Caroline was
the librarian at the National Gallery of Art for twenty-five years : all so
impressive! She also has a bottle of the DAL MASO Cabernet Veneto red, $11.99 to
try and see what she thinks? I asked her as she walked away from the store down
the street : " You still read books and not from a Kindle? " That's when she
said : " Of course. " and told me what she did for a living. Impressive!
AFTER THAT CAROL approached me and said : " The man that knows so much ", thanks
Carol. I appreciate that. We spoke and I helped you Carol and you said you
wanted to buy a lottery ticket so you could buy our store and put the other
store down the street out of business because they never treated you well or
made you feel appreciated, you always felt like they were talking down at you.
Thanks Carol for all the complements - we appreciate them all. And I have not
included the name of the store here even though you have clearly said it more
than once. We are not about talking down or bad about our competition, but we do
like and appreciate complements. Happy holidays to you and your family! ...
Carol, you did not win the lottery! We will have to try all over again! Cheers, TONY 12/18/13 Wednesday night here at home in northern Virginia...
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2013
I'm AMAZED Tonight @ The 2010 D & N Primitivo Dry Puglian Italian Red From Andrea Fossi For Only $10.99 A Bottle @ Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits In Northwest, Washington D.C., 20008! WOW, I'm Blown Quite Literally Away Tonight, Sunday, December 15th, 2013 Here In Northern Virginia @ Home!
This has been quite the experience! What can I say? Where do I start?!? I took the just-opened bottle over to my Swedish blond neighbor that likes dry red wine that was making a Swedish vodka version of their mulled wine with herbs and spices and her youngest daughter opens the door and has an orange in her hands that she's already pushed some cloves into for mulling the wine and vodka that has to sit for quite some time before consumption. She was just helping her mother prepare this Swedish concoction.
She had been out earlier as the sun had finally broken through the thick clouds above and the skies were blue and there were very few clouds as I raked the leaves from our lawn and we spoke. Lights had been just restrung on our azaleas out front and they were " ON " and working, with " new : ones having been just strung by my wife. Go to : chatmayflower.blogspot.com for the rest of this, cheers, TPNY 12/15/13
Franceen our customer that we have known for quite some time and that's an organist on the weekends here in Washington D.C. at church has come to like very much the D & N Primitivo that we buy from the Michael Downey portfolio that Michael's son Brennan sells to us and that Andrea Fossi of FOSSI Chianti and FOSSI Vino Nobile. The other day she came by and asked me for some more. I said that we were out and at that moment " a light went ON " in my brain, I smiled and said to Franceen : " Wait a minute " as I rushed to the magnum section to retrieve a bottle from our shelves. I showed it to her, she smiled and said : " Okay . " Franceen took the bottle from me and walked to the check-out counter and all was well. She bought a couple of magnums till the fifths of it came back and all has been fine since. I like that. I just shared the story with Andrea through email. I hope it brings a smile to his face as it does now to mine as I type this on Saturday afternoon after getting some of our outdoor lights on our azaleas lit for the holidays. I also raked : it's been the perfect day for being outside and so I maximized on this opportunity. Cheers,happy holidays Franceen, Andrea, Brennan and extended families... Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/15/13 I just put a leg-of-lamb into the oven and it's from Australia so here's another SHOUT OUT to WEST CAPE HOWE, VINACEOUS, LONGVIEW, PICARDY, HAY SHED HILLS, LOOSE END and GIBSON, HUGH HAMILTON and so many " other " fine Aussie wines like GOTHAM ... TONY @ Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits, Washington D.C. 20008, Tel : 202-363-4265, anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwines.com in our FABulous Cleveland Park neighborhood selling FABulous Italian wines like those of Andrea Fossi and Alessandro Furlan! Caio Andrea, caio Alessandro, caio Miriam, caio Salvatore ...
Sarah of Sarah and Jacob came by on Friday night looking like a million dollars and wearing her beautiful smile, too as I greeted her warmly having not seen her for awhile. They loved out of the neighborhood to the Mount Pleasant area. They still come back to see us and Santos and I love that. Anyway, Sarah already had a couple of bottles when I saw her and I immediately said : " I have something to show you! You will love this!! " I walked over to the wine-tasting table and reached down to find a bottle of the LAIBACH : Ladybird " dry red Bordeaux classic blend that their son loved because he loves ladybugs and the British call ladybugs " ladybirds!" When I told John Morrison this story yesterday he said : " You can thank the British " for naming the ladybugs : " ladybirds". Sarah smiled when she saw it and said that her son would love seeing it and she immediately bought a bottle as we moved to the register and I introduced her to Jagir and told her that Jagir was the " new " Ravi of the store. I can't wait to say what Sarah says on her return visit after her son sees the bottle. He's way to young to drink any of it but I am hoping that he still responds favorably to the label. Cheers to you all Sarah. Say " hello " to them as well as to your mother and father that also knew Sidney Moore so well of the old Mayflower and Spirits so many wonderful moons ago. This 2011 red blend is drinking quite well and with a bit of food will be really enjoyable now during this holiday season and will not overpower any of the white meats like turkey or goose, and will quite shine with duck and lamb as it is a traditional style, nicely-balanced red that let's the fruit shine ... with duck and lamb as it is a traditional style, nicely-balanced red that let's the fruit of the grapes shine and be center-stage from start-to-finish. Cheers everyone as we say a " final bye-bye " to Nelson Mandela on this Sunday, December 15th, 2013 as his casket is buried and placed in the ground. What an inspiration he is to us all. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
As people say a final Bye-Bye today to Nelson Mandela ... yesterday with John and Theresa Morrison we tasted some really fine wines from South Africa that showed really well. John was really pleased with how well they were showing. He said so. I tasted through them, too and was quite pleased myself. It was a treat the dry white Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon Blanc blend - like a Bordeaux wine : good medium-body, lively, fresh, an active and engaging taste that was like a bit of music, a piece of dance on my ears and palate! I forgot to mention in yesterday's posts that we were tasting it : the NICOLAS Van Der Merwe from Stellenbosch, South Africa. The others also showed beautifully. ALL are in stock at the store and we are thrilled to have them. Theresa and JOhn just received this fresh shipment from South Africa and Theresa will be showing me showing Michel Dumas and Anthony Quinn ( me ) some of the " value " wines of DE MEYE and BEAUMONT : can't wait to see what she has! Cheers, Happy Sunday everyone, December 15th, 2013 Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn ...
We greeted and tasted with David ( from South Africa ) and his wife Beth and tried these fine South African wines of TRIZANNE, BEAUMONT, DE MEYE and NICOLAS Van Der Merwe with them and spoke of Nelson Mandela, of Ginger Baker the drummer for the group Cream that now lives in South Africa, of the port-style wines of South Africa, too. David mentioned one that I had never heard of and cannot pronounce and that's too bad. I should have had him write it down for me. They both LOVED the DE MEYE 2011 ( all the reds we tasted yesterday were from the 2011 vintage ) " Trutina ". They are off to South Africa for the holidays and will be back in mid January 2014 to stock up on wines for the new year. At that point I will ask them the name of the vineyard that makes the port-style that David likes so much. Cheers, happy holidays David and Beth, Thanks for stopping by. It was our first visit together and Michel Dumas and I look forward to many more. Bye Nelson, you will be missed. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Sunday, December 15th, 2013 ... listen to Barbra Streisand sing " In Trutina ", so beautiful, so haunting ... I also asked David if he knew the Peter, Paul and Mary song : " The Great Mandela? " He did, but did not think it was written about Nelson Mandela. I agree. What do you all know? Cheers. TONY
Yesterday I met Sharron that bought a bottle of the AN/2 magnum 2009 Mallorcan red at my recommendation, $39.99 , as a gift for her photographer friend Michael. She loved the small pamphlet book that they made and that I showed her, and said she would tell Michael about it, for him to come around and see it, to enjoy his AN/2 dry red marvelously-smooth and elegant wine ... and to chat some with me. Thanks Sharron. Thanks for stopping by, happy holidays to you and to your family! Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/14/13
Stan rushed by the wine-tasting table last night with a bottle of the Claret from Francis Ford COPPOLA winery, and a Spanish red, too - a Rioja in his arms. I asked him if he wanted to taste after I complemented him on his selections. he said : " Sure ", that he liked Spanish wines, that he had spent time there and fell in love with them for their flavor and their values. he also told me that wanted on his next visit to look at our Greek wines. I told him that it was a specialty of the store and we had a good collection. As we tasted the AN/2 dry red Mallorcan magnum blend 2009 ( $39.99, he tasted it , LOVED it, decided to buy it! ), then he tasted the Ernesto Catena dry red Argentina Mendoza blend of Bonarda, Syrah and Malbec and loved that, too and decided to buy that as well! He left with what he tasted with me and said he would come back for the others later. It was fun to talk to Stan. he said he could live in Greece! he did say that a lot of Russian " nouveau riche " were moving to Greece and that he was upset when he heard from a Greek restaurant that some of them had ordered everything on the menu to show they could and that they had not eaten any of it. Sounds a bit odd. I said I hope that the owners of the Greek restaurant had invited all their friends over quickly afterward to enjoy this bounty of untouched greek food - pity for it all to go to waste to prove a point. Cheers Stan, happy holidays, thanks for chatting and sharing your stories with me. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/14/13 Saturday morning before rushing off to work ... to sell more ... TONY
A smiling yet attentive man came by last night with his wife from Pennsylvania needing lots of holiday gifts and so we started immediately with the bubbly and he bought and later tried with Jody Jackman some of the decadently delicious smooth-creamy-sparkling souffle-like French Savoie made from a lotta of Gamay grapes BUGEY-CERDON, $25.99 I believe? We then moved onto some of the L. HILLINGER sparkling rose 100% Pinot Noir that helps support breast cancer research and is a delight to sip along side of the Pais grape bone-dry Chilean TORRES sparkling wine, $22 I believe ... and this led to the PASAGEMS Tawny port we now sell for $21.99 and some of the Orange Curacao from PIERRE FERRAND and so many more items! Wow, it sure was a fun sale, we tyhree had a blast together for almost an hour! Cheers, happy holidays ... Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/14/13
Time is now of the essence ! Going by so quickly! Gotta act - gotta MOVE fast as there's not time to waste! Last night in the store had that kind of vibe : we had a GREAT wine-tasting with Jody Jackman of Winebow Imports - I LOVED the BUGEY-CERDON Savoie creamy-soft-frothy-mellow-mild-NO BITE Or BURN rose sparkling cream-souffle-like .... I also LOVED the AN/2 dry red magnum 2009 Mallorcan blend of 4 grapes : Callet, Fogoneu, 15% Syrah and Mantro Negre is it ( ? ) : it was showing like a smooth velvery red dream-come-true and only $39.99 - what a steal, two 750ml bottles of the 201 will cost you all $50, so buy the magnum - 1.5ml bottle and save $10! ... : TWO GREAT beer-tastings with : 1) PEAK Organic and Brendan Gangl our Mid-Atlantic manager, Maine pouring four flavors my favorite was the " Fresh Cut " this go-round ; and 2) OLD DOMINION Brewing from Washington D.C. originally, with Becca Knutsen pouring three flavors ( my favorite was the " Candi " Belgian Triple that was so creamy and smooth ... and a GREAT TITO'S Texas Vodka tasting, too with Marlene ( knows her CORONA beer really well, too - impressive ) making a mix of TITO'S with a hard spiced apple cider that was smooth and tasty and hit the spot with all this cold. The place was hopping! Really hopping - lots of good cheer to go around everywhere, smiles on everyone's faces, lots of merriment on Friday night at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits last night! Cheers and thanks all for helping and being with us to make it such a fine moment. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/14/13
I asked our customer Amanda last night if she needed any help? She said : " Do you have any of the Bourbon County Ale? " I said that I would check with Santos. He said that he did , and he pointed to behind our register counter. I then said to Amanda : " That means we only have some and have to share it equally with those that ask for it. " I then asked her more about her request for it? I wanted to know more about this GOOSE ISLAND ale and what it meant to her. Amanda explained that two Thanksgiving's ago she had bought and given some to her father Karl from Alabama and that he had loved it. The one thing that he had asked her this year is to buy some more as it is a seasonal release. So she smiled broadly when she heard we had some for her. What a great story Amanda, you will make Karl your dad really happy and we are really pleased to have been a part of this story that ends with success. Cheers, happy holidays to you, your dad Karl and your family! Come back soon. Take care, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/13/13 ... Friday morning here and it's breezy and sunny with clear baby-blue skies ... nice. Time for some GOOSE ISLAND purchasing to enjoy later tonight and through this weekend and the holidays. We can help. TONY
Katie and Mike came by the store yesterday and I saw Katie holding two bottles of the THIBAUT-JANISSON Virginia sparkling wine in her arms, $32.99 a bottle. I asked her if I could help her? She smiled and said that she had found what she was looking for. She had a very pleased-with-herself look on her face. She went on to explain that she and Mike had recently tried the THIBAUT-JANISSON sparkling Virginia wine at a local restaurant that had been recommended to them and that they had liked it very much indeed. I later discovered that the restaurant was the " newly-reopened " Iron Gate " across from the Tabard Inn : said Katie. I knew it. I had lunch there before and enjoyed the experience. I had also just read about how it had opened again and that it looked very promising indeed. According to Katie and Mike they had thoroughly enjoyed their dining experience, the food , the setting, the service and the wine. That their waiter and the staff had been quite informed and alerted them to the French champagne connection of Claude Thibaut and Manu Janisson. I told them that Claude Thibaut often stopped by himself to our store and that we had been one of the very first stores in D.C. to start selling it years ago in 2007 was it? Mike said that it might have been served to them with Rockfish? I also mentioned to Katie the half bottles and showed her one and she said she would take one! What a great visit, what a fun story, glad to share it with you all. We all have gained from it. Cheers, we have more in stock, come on and try some. Top-flight sparkling wine, local, go green, go Virginia, TOO! anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/13/13
Tapping into this magnum bottle of Callet, Manto Negre and Fogoneu tonight, a 2009 vintage from AN/2 from Mallorca should be a whole experience all in itself and reveal a treasure of tastes and expressions unique to these grapes when combined with 15% Syrah! Cheers, join us at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits if you have the time, $39.99 a magnum : what a steal, perfect for this bristling cold wind and weather and a piping-hot meal. Walk on down and see my friend Dave Hansen at PULPO a few store-fronts down and ask him if you can bring a bottle to enjoy there afterward with their fine food fare? There might be a corkage fee, but it would be worth it with some friends this weekend! Check it out. Cheers, TONY
This is such a treat : we welcome you all to join us later tonight in Northwest Washington D.C. 20008. Call us at : 202-363-4265, or write at : anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwines.com. This is what I wrote and posted already on our Facebook page at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits. Check us out there as I update that daily. Cheers, Happy Holidays everyone, see you later tonight. What a special moment this will be with also a dry white Viognier from VERGET in France, a Bougey sparkling French off-dry rose , and some Argentina dry red blend of Malbec and other grapes , too from Ernesto Catena that also produces a sparkling wine as well.
With Jody tonight from 5-8PM we have ANIMA NEGRA and we continue the excitement as we taste the 2009 dry red blend they make proudly on this island Mallorca from three indigenous grape varieties that produces a distinct, flavorful, charismatic dry earthy, spicy, herbal red that speaks volumes of the soil, the weather, the roots that dig deep for sustenance in the soil, the relationship of darks and lights and highs and lows, of the necessity of food to often " flesh-out " the spaces and levels and states and degrees in a wine's taste that can be hard and demanding and angular. Wow, this will be an experience for us all with this magnum bottle ( 1.5ml bottle ) that at $39.99 On Special represents a great deal as the regular bottle , the 750ml bottle of the 2010 that we sell is at $25.99 a bottle or more. Come taste this unique dry Mallorcan red with us tonight, Friday, December 13th, 2013 from 5-8PM. NEVER any charge. You are all welcome. Come in from the cold, the sun will be gone and the temperatures will surely drop! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn ... here at 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C., 20008, Tel : 202-363-4265. TONY
Harry finally got his wine! Wow, this is good! He has been asking for the ALBERTI 154 2011, $17.99, 14% alcohol by volume, Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina. We had been out of it for a month or so and I have been promising Harry this wine now for quite some time and I am thrilled that on his third or is it the fourth visit here that we had it. He saw he and immediately asked without any other introductions : " Is the ALBERTI 154 Malbec in? " I smiled and said : " Yes, it's been here now for several days. " Both Michel and I went to reach for it at the same time! Michel also obviously knew that Harry wanted some ALBERTI 154 Malbec that we buy from our local rep Marci Weinstein here of Constantine Imports. This was good, all good : a happy ending to this saga. Harry brought two bottles to the register to buy yesterday, Wednesday afternoon, December 11th, 2013. Cheers and happy holidays Harry to you and to your family. Thanks for being patient with us and not losing faith that we would have it for you again. I remember maybe a year or more ago when Harry discovered this ALBERTI 154 Malbec. It's obviously been a favorite ever since. Cheers, ... A good bottle to stay warm in in this really cold arctic air blowing through now with snow still on the ground and baby blue skies now. Bundle up all. TONY
Marsha's now living in the Netherlands with her partner - in Rotterdam, the second-largest city there she told me. She likes it okay. She said : " Everyone goes everywhere on their bicycles ! " I like that, so fuel-cost-efficient! She tasted with Doug. She was visiting Trisha. All good. Nice to have you in the store Marsha. Hope you have a nice time here and " happy trails " as you make your way back to Rotterdam. next time share a story or two with us about Rotterdam. Cheers, TONY 12/9/13
The last day that Ravi was in the store I pretty much stayed up front by the register with him. I was sorry to see him go. It made me sad and so I wanted to spend some time with him after almost working with him for fifteen years. He was someone that I was going to miss as I remember him being here in the United States in the beginning, all alone, with his wife still back in India. It took him awhile to get her over here. Now they are both back in India for awhile as he works to make repairs to his home there as well as help one of their sons that is with them arrange to get that son's fiancee back here soon so that they may marry and live here. I learned from Ravi that he will be in the town/city called that is named after Jalandar a name given to one of the sons of Shiva that came under very bad influences and that became bad himself. I also learned from Ravi that Jalandar is one of the ten big towns in Punjab. Shukria Ravi for this information. We also spoke about what it would be like for you in India. You say that it has all changed since you were there. You were a bit nervous though happy to be going. It brought a really big smile to your face when we spoke of you going. It's nice you still call to check in on us. Shukria Ravi for everything. We miss you these days at the store. It has been a transition without you in the store and at the register, and we are doing the very best we can to make things a smooth transition. Things are going smoothly but, my friend, you and your services are missed, including your big smile! Happy holidays to you and your family in Jalandar! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/9/13
I just got disconnected! Arrgghhh! I hate it! I lost my post as a result - really frustrating, really annoying! Facebook you suck at times like this, don't disconnect me from my screen as I am typing and not save what I have typed! I am not a happy Facebook customer this second as I was typing about Ravi and his going off to India and being happy there and calling us to check in from time-to-time from Jalandar , Punjab, India where he and his wife are now with one of their son's that is going to marry a young Indian lady soon. I learned the word : shukria that means " thanks " from both Jagir Singh ( the " new " Ravi at our register ) and Malkit Singh. I wanted to know how to say thanks. Shukria Jagir and Malkit! Happy holidays everyone. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/8/13
I borrowed this picture from the internet! TONY
I saw Katie that is expecting her second child in April, 2014! We had a great short visit! She had no time to speak or to stay so I quickly gave her a sip of whatever we were tasting, I brought it to the register. I introduced her to Jagir Singh that is our " new " Ravinder Sharma! You know, Ravi! That was good. it's nice for people to be introduced and I try to do it as often as I can. Katie LOVES bubbly and she missed our champagne/bubbly/sparkling wine-tasting. I gave her a sip I believe of the Subirat sparkling dry Spanish rose cava, On Special for $13.99 a bottle. She liked it : her eyes lit up and a smile crossed over her face and covered her completely! Lovely. I think that Katie had rushed in quickly to get herself a three-pack of the small 187ml bottles that we sell of Italian Prosecco , $11.99, that have become so popular with many of our customers. We can't keep them in stock : we always order extra these days, really we do. Oh, and it was Katie that explained the SOPHIA 4-pack with the straws, $19.99 a 4-pack to me : the straws are cool and she and others like them! SO : who am I to argue with this?!? We always have the SOPHIA as well in the cans for her and anyone else. Katie also loves the BAILLY-LAPIERRE Reserve 375ml bottle with the bright yellow label that we always sell for $13.99 a bottle I believe? I love that one, too. It's a special sparkling French Cremant from Burgundy - a Cremant du Bourgogne. Cheers, happy holidays Katie. Anthony(TONY)Quinn
I borrowed the picture above from the internet. Cheers, happy holidays 2013 everyone! TONY 12/8/13
As I rushed to work yesterday morning , Saturday December 7th, 2013 I walked hurriedly through the courtyard of Firehook Bakery and passed a young blond female customer - a regular and one that we have gotten to know well - and we both said " hello ". She had her young child in a papoose in front of her , a coffee in hand and a bag in the other. She shouted back at me and made me stop as she said : " this is our last weekend here. We're leaving. And the thing we will miss is Cleveland Park Wines and you. But , don't worry, we will be back to see you. ". I asked her where they were moving. She told me it was still close and I wished them well and told her that we delivered in town. She liked this news. They have been a real pleasure to sell to : great personalities and warm smiles, too. Gotta love that, I certainly do. Bon voyage, see you soon! Cheers, happy holidays 2013. If you need any empty boxes for packing come on by anytime. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/8/13Three young sharp-dressed customers were shopping the other evening in the store : two men and a woman. Sometimes they were together, sometimes walking around alone. I heard them talking, one of the young men saying that : " ... a Cabernet, something big and bold ". I had asked them if they needed help, so had Michel, and they said " no " that they were happy browsing. They did, too for almost half an hour, or so it seemed. Finally I saw them pass by me headed to the register with a bottle of the OBSIDIAN RIDGE Vineyard Red Hills, Lake County, Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 , $36.99, 13.6% alcohol by volume bottle in their hand. I told them that it was a good choice for this Saturday, December 7th, 2013 and the current weather. I also said : " Come back with me, I want to show you something. " I went back to find the piece of shiny quartz crystal black-hued light-coffee brown piece that the OBSIDIAN RIDGE Vineyards National sales rep had left when we ordered a case. They each held it. I found out that their names were Adam and Mora. The other gentleman's name I forgot. Sorry! I recommended that they could make it all so simple by going to shop the back wall of Brookville Supermarket two door's down from us to buy some cheeses and pate. I also suggested that they could walk to the end of the block to Vace to buy one of their pepperoni and sausage pizzas with green peppers, onions and whatever else to enjoy with this hearty, robust, flavorful, best-with-food,balanced California cabs! Cheers and I hope you enjoyed it. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/9/13
Looking at a clean old-fashioned wine glass from Tuscany, Italy made to enjoy Chianti wines. It dates back to the old Mayflower Wines & Spirits' days of the eighties when I started off with a four-pack of them and am now down to just one! It's on the table runner that my daughter and I bought in Sienna, Italy back in late October 2009 with an olives and olive branches motif. Look great and I think I will enjoy using it later tonight for old time's sake. It has the Gallo Nero - Black Rooster symbol on it that is still a distinction to have on your Chianti bottles. It says : Consorzio Vino Chianti Classico. I wonder how we got them : what vineyard sent them to us? VOLPAIA, FONTERUTOLI, FOSSI? I do not remember - it's been awhile. Happy Sunday everyone : it's so nice now, have got logs and branches and twigs in our fire pit outside for a fire in a bit. Cheers, TONY 12/1/13
Rosalind and her sister came to shop two nights ago and it was great to have her on Thanksgiving eve! THat was great to see you again my friend Rosalind! You looked great, LOVE your smile and the way it covers all your face when you greet someone! It was also a real treat to help you pick out your wines for your family. You were coming from Colorado was it where you moved? I believe so. Anyway, you told me how picky and choosy they were , and how critical, too. I said : " Wow, my neck is really on the line, just like yours here. " Rosalind smiled as we walked towards the EASTON Vineyards " Amador County " , California Zinfandel, $20.99 as we started our quest to find six or so whites and reds that they would like. We also put in the VINACEOUS Grenache, Shiraz with a splash of Tempranillo red Aussie wine, $16.99 into the mix. It was fun working on this with you Rosalind. It was so great to see you again. I hear that we forgot to load the two six-packs of beer into your car so that you had to come back for them? Can't wait to hear how well we did on the selection of wines. Happy holidays to you and to James and to your children, too. Congratulations on your new books just out. I will look for them and get back to you on that later. You're the very , VERY best! Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 12/1/13
I just walked through the front door @ Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and Santos at the register smiles and says : " You overslept, I'm here all by myself. A customer in the back may need you help. " AS I walk swiftly past him I say " yes ", and I ask Kim and Elsa looking at our French wines : " Do you need any help? " Kim says : " I'm misses the Beaujolais Nouveau " as she held a bottle of the Beaujolais-Villages from CHATEAU-PRETY. She looks at the vintage and says : " Oh, this is a 2011. " I tell her it's drinking really well, that we just had it open the other day and that it's delicious. " It sells for $16.99 a bottle. A treat for now. I tell her that we still have the Beaujolais Nouveau wines, that she has not missed them. I describe the BOUCHARD AINE 2013 Beaujolais Nouveau, $11.99 as being bright red in clor and fruit-forward, and softer and rounder on the palate, the MANOIR DU CARRA Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau, $10.99 as being more complex, more tightly-knit, and offering a nice contrast to the BOUCHARD AINE. I tell both Kim and Elsa that Frederic that is the owner and wine-maker has been here and tasted with our customers. Kim decides to buy Frederic's wines. As they pass me I ask them if they want to try the BOUCHARD AINE and that it's been open for awhile. Kim is describing it to Elsa : talking about the Gamay grape. Then I taste them on the CHATEAU CHEVAL BRUN Grand Cru Saint Emilion 2009, On Special for $31.99, and Elsa says she likes it much better. She says that the BOUCHARD AINE may have turned. So U taste it and say " No. It's just more complex now, lost some of the baby-fat-fruit it had, is more interesting now and more of a food wine now. " I tell her that she will like it when it's fresh. I tell her there are other less-expensive Bordeaux reds, too like the GENTIS Bordeaux red blend, 2010 - great year - , $10.99 in case Kim wants to buy Elsa that, too?! You never know : cover all your bases. They walk up to the register. and Kim says : " Thanks. You've been very helpful. Thanks for the lesson. Very interesting. " Thanks Kim and Elsa. I discover that Kim is visiting from Rochester, New York. Santos picks up on this and talks about Mike Martin that worked here and moved up there. They talk about that and I come back to type this before I forget it all. Happy Saturday, November 30th, 2013 : come and taste later with Regis. I invited Kim and Elsa to come taste, too. Happy holidays! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 11/30/13
Katherine a good customer came in to taste early this evening before going to dinner. Michael, another good customer was tasting, too. As he passed by me I said I liked his Prosecco choice - the three-pack at $11.99 , and he came back and said to Katherine : " I like your purse, really nice. " She showed it - a small black purse covered in keyboard letters in bas-relief that reflected nicely the changing light. Very snappy, very cool : never seen that before. I told her I liked it, too. Michael complemented her on her outfit: she was well-dressed, looked great. It was a nice conversation the three of us had before going our separate ways. Michael also bought a bottle of the Alto Adige Italian Gewurztraminer from KALTERN, $16.99. Katherine had just purchased a case here of wine a week before so she was fine. Great to taste and chat. We talked about the service road. She had ideas as she had worked on at the Historical Association in Texas somewhere ( ? ), and her comment was that the service lane should not be touched as it was part of our historic building area. She's right. Looks like it will not be touched. Cheers Katherine and Michael : have a great weekend. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn 11/30/13
