This was so much fun, su unplanned except that I knew that at some point soon I would be enjoying this bottle of 2006 CASA VALDUGA Estate-Bottled Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon from Brasil's Vale Dos Vinhedos ( 13% alcohol by volume ). It was given to me upon my request to my Country Vintner rep Arielle Monaco. I had the bottle that came in the heaviest, most substantial bottle possible. It was heavy to hold because the glass is thicker and gives one the false impression that bigger and heavier is better. It was bottled at a time that many wineries turned to this bottle which I have come to see as a unnecessary gimmick and cost both to the wineries as well as to the consumers as it costs more to ship and that cost must be absorbed by them. It's also as a result not as good for the environment both for the extra fuel that it costs to transport it as well as for the extra cost to melt the glass and recycle it later.
However, that is a small point for me now as I still remember how I immediately loved this wine last night when I opened and shared it with our next door neighbors that were nice enough to take care of our dog and feed our fish while our family was away at the beach for a week. We all remarked on how good it was. It made us stop our conversation and pay attention to it's taste and flavors that for them complemented their brie and goats' cheese and for me complemented my New York Strip Steak. For me the tar and leather flavors of this 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon married so very well with the red meat and together they created tastes and flavors that only soar to those lofty heights as when combined in this classic ballad of liquids and solids. Fab : really uma ben vinho vermelho em meu copo! Obregado para la familia Valduga.
I am just learning Brazilian Portuguese and I am stumbling / plodding along using my Larousse Portuguese dictionary and I love it, really I do. It will take time, I will make many mistakes, but I will start to see the end of the tunnel with time.
In the meantime I will buy some of this excellent 2006 CASA VALDUGA Estate-Bottles Vale Dos Vinhedos Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon and offer it to any of my customers that want to have a fabulous dry red with a fabulous cut of red meat, or with some cheeses instead if they are too tired to cook at that particular moment in time as often we can be as we all work so very hard these days.
Pictured above are two other wines, the Arte 2009 dry red blend ( Cabernet Sauvignon 40%, Merlot 30%, Cabernet Franc 30%, 12.5% alcohol by volume - seemed like the alcohol was much higher than marked ) as well as the Estate-Bottled Chardonnay that I have already written about and included here at : chatbrasilwine.blogspot.com in a previous blog. Check it out. I really did love the 2010 Reserva Estate-Bottled Vale Dos Vinhedos Chardonnay ( 13% alcohol by volume ) that was really slow to open up and reveal it's many charms but once it did it was quite magnificent and well-worth the wait. I will buy some of it, too and offer both to the customers of Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008, Tel: 202-363-4265 anthony.quinn@clevelandparkwines.com, also on Facebook : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and also on Twitter at : cpwinespirits. ALSO : check out my other wine blog at : chatwine.blogspot.com ; as well as chatart.blogspot.com and chatpoetry.blogspot.com.
Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
Stay-tuned for more.
It's all so very exciting!
" 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
" 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
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