This was the first three parts that we show here of Bralvin Imports os Brazilian Fine Wines to the United States. We have been working on this venture, Laurent Donchegay and myself now for the past year or so and everything is falling slowly into place as it takes a whole lot of time to get the labels approved, the wines selected, the proper papers, licenses, brokers, shippers, etc all in line to finally import, store and distribute wines. LIke having a child, you almost would never do it if you knew everything that you would encounter along the way. And yet that's also part of the magic and the fun : you learn a whole lot of patience and it makes you firmer in your beliefs and better-prepared to deal with the challenges you will still encounter along the way! SO : the moral is, don't give up, just become more patient and better organized. It will all pay off, it has already paid off greatly with the journey thus far. Builds character, too : or at least makes that character become front-and center on the stage you are on. This is all good : trust us.
We met at the Suprex warehouse in northern Virginia and not far from the Dulles airport in August, 2012 from 12-3PM. Owner Flavius Cucu was nice enough to let us use his warehouse space to hold this, our very first meeting of Bralvin Imports with our prospective clients, future working partners, sellers, believers and supporters. Laurent Donchegay, Katarina Zubber and Anthony Quinn ( me ) were building on this day the framework and the core of Bralvin Imports and we had a good turnout for it.
Flavius Cucu introduced to me years ago the pleasures of the wines of MIOLO Vinhos Finos of Brazil's Vale Dos Vinhedos, just outside the wine town of Bento Goncalves. Obregado Flavius, it was the start of another beautiful relationship for us and for me, and I fell all over again in love with Brazil and it's wines.
I had spent six years of my life growing up as a child of 2-8 years of age growing up in Brazil's Rio De Janeiro while it was still the capitol, and then in Brazilia as it became the capitol. This was back in 1962-63 was it? It's so long ago now. My father worked for the State Department and was working at the American Embassy at the time. I loved it as a child and would not trade these experiences and memories for everything.
Flavius was nice enough to let us use the MIOLO wines that he sold at the time as there were very few Brazilian wines for us to chose from then and our wines were still being decided and had not yet left Brazil.
I already knew and liked very much the MIOLO wines and felt very comfortable with them. I have since bought Flavius out of his stock and have sold most of them now at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits where I manage the wine department in Washington D.C. at 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008, Tel : 2020363-4265, on Facebook at : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and on Twitter, too at : cpwinespirits ).
That's Flavius in the picture above sitting in his office chair smiling broadly as I chat in the back with some of the reps and sales people that I know so well now. We had the MIOLO Vinhos Finos to taste as well as some excellent cheeses and pates that we bought before the event at Trader Joe's.
That's me above in the center talking to Gustavo Fernandes of Recife, Brazil that worked before for both Vinifera and also for Tannic Tongue imports.
Katarina Zubber was responsible for many of these pictures. Thank you Katarina, you did a great job in capturing the excitement and the action, the Brazilian flair of the moment here on a August summer's day in an open and spacious warehouse filled with the wines of Romania, Portugal, Spain, France, South Africa, Brazil, California, Moldova and more. You would be hard-pressed not to find some wines to please you here in Flavius' warehouse.
That's my partner Laurent Donchegay in the picture above in the center , all three listening to me talk about our experiences during the ten days that Laurent Donchegay and I visited Brazil in late June, 2012 in Brazil's winter, there deep in the heart of Brazil's wine country in and around the towns of Bento Goncalves and Caxias Do Sul, as well as the Vale Dos VInhedos, Nuova Padua and more. It was an amazing experience that has added immeasurably to my life. I am so happy to have gone : I am so happy to be involved with Bralvin imports.
Here Laurent Donchegay and Anthony Quinn ( me, of Bralvin Fine Brazilian Wine Imports with Katarina Zubber ) are pictured above at out first public meeting at Suprex' warehouse with owner Flavius Cucu.
The pictures above are from Part One of the three parts starting Bralvin Imports, at least here in the United States, once that Laurent Donchegay, Katarina Zubber and Anthony Quinn ( me ) got organized as a company specializing in the importing of fine Brazilian wines to the United States.
These next eight pictures that follow ( except the one of the wine glass in Flavius Cucu's warehouse in Virginia ) are all Part two where we met our prospective wholesalers, brokers, reps and sales people at the ILDA Club in northern Virginia, Annandale, Virginia to be exact.
This was Bralvin's opportunity to talk more about and to taste together some fine Brazilian wines with the local Brazilian cuisine in a relaxed and open space in September of this year. It was a beautiful late summer day and the weather could not have cooperated more to give us a stunning backdrop to display a selection of our wines and to start to really tempt people to take a closer look and to join in with us on this exciting and perfectly well-timed venture of ours to expose those living in the United States now to the many wonders and pleasures that Brazilian wines can and do afford us.
It was Bralvin's chance to showcase Brazil and to show hoe Brazilian wines do, in fact, add to the equation of wines already known and available to the world at large : and not simply duplicate more of the same.
It's a really exciting time for Brazil and the United States is still largely unaware of any of this.
Pictured above ( from left to right are : Elisabete ( Laurent Donchegay's Brazilian wife from Sao Paulo, Brazil, Katarina Zubber from Sweden, and Gustavo Fernandes from Recife, Brazil.
Above : my INAO wine-tasting glass filled with some of the MIOLO 2008 merlot I believe? I liked these pictures of the wine glass and use it periodically here to break-up the pictures. Hope you like it.
Pictured above on the table at ILDA Club are the wine samples that Laurent Donchegay and I had mailed to us with Paula Valenti's help of the Wines Of Brasil. Obregado Paula!
It's quite an impressive display of the wines of Brazil and perhaps the largest ever shown and assembled thus far in northern Virginia?!? I believe so.
In the picture above are Anthony Quinn of Bralvin imports ( on the left ), and Gustavo Fernandes on the right. This picture and many of them here were taken as we were setting up the event before people arrived soon after, some shown here in these pictures.
The picture above of me , Anthony Quinn of Bralvin imports shows me at the Brazilian restaurant in Woodbridge, Virginia as we started to taste in the Part Three of our events the wine samples that we had shipped back to the United States with the help of Paula Valenti of the Wines of Brazil.
In the picture above are some of the typical foods that you would find everywhere in Brazil. These were made by Elisabete, Laurent's wife for us to enjoy with these fine wines of Brazil. Obregado Elisabete.
I will post this blog now " as is " and finish it up soon. In the meantime enjoy these pictures and what I have included so far.
It's really been an amazing adventure thus far : and it's only the very beginning! Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
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