Andres Ridois Of ALMA NEGRA Argentine Sparkling & Still Wines Visits Cleveland Park Wines A Second Time, Friday, Oct. 9th, 2009 : Bubbles & Bonarda

This was a great tasting, casual, warm, personable , and totally fun and relaxed and a bit zany, too. We all had a blast and it was like a little private party here at the store. No one wanted to leave : all of us were having almost too much fun. And so we stayed huddled/gathered together for the longest time and I am sure that some of our customers in Cleveland Park were beginning to wonder what was going on? Were they invited? Was this a first private party at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits?!?




This was Andres Ridois' ( he's the Commercial Director for ALMA NEGRA and ERNESTO CATENA VINEYARDS and lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina ) second visit to Cleveland Park N.W. Washington D.C. and it was fun to see him. We recognized each other and we were both off on our good times, bouncing off one another effortlessly and always with big smiles and grins on our faces : sort of like two naughty boys knowing they might get caught at any moment.




These are some of the pictures that I took : I will download more as I have time. I am enjoying these days stretching the bounds of my picture-taking and going for art shots as well as those that capture the moment and all its elements together. I love capturing the wines with those involved with them. This pleases me enormously. That is why I have put this into my chatart blogspot and not under my chatwine blog spot. I hope that you can connect the two : one cannot exist without the other.




I thought that I had already downloaded my pictures that I took from Andres' first visit to the store a couple of years ago , but maybe not. I will check again later. If I have not I will write a separate entry for that : all in a given time.

On today's visit it was pretty simple : we tasted the sparkling Chardonnay ALMA NEGRA ( the dry rose sparkling Malbec is not available now through Winebow Imports. It will take some more time before they have it back in stock.

I loved the sparkling Chardonnay that we have already sold on a number of occasions in the store. We are out right now but will get some back in in a couple of weeks if not sooner.

I perhaps liked it the best ever this time and found it fuller and more interesting ( fresher/ brighter? ) and more lively. It has personality and appeal and it will be good to have it back as so many of our Cleveland Park customers love bubbly and experimenting and trying new and exciting ones that they have never heard of before.





WE also tried the dry still ALMA NEGRA red that is predominantly Bonarda with some Cabernet Franc. There is no Malbec in it. They do not say on the label what it is : I guess you have to guess? First you try it, then you either like it or not. They at the winery are probably counting on people liking it and then because they do then guessing that it must be Malbec becasue they like the Malbecs of Argentina. Crafty on their parts I'd venture to say and write here as I am now.

I really liked it and especially how approachable it was - immediately. It's medium-bodied and not at all harsh or sharp. There's spice and body and character and what I found was that the wine opened very gradually over time.

As a matter of fact I liked it better each and every time that I tasted it and that is a good thing. It might have been a bit young, too. Anyway it got us talking about the Bonarda grape. I was right about it : most of Argentina is planted or was recently planted with it ( 60% or more ).

There is probably some Bonarda blended into many of the bottles labelled as Malbec ( only 80% according to Andres has to be Malbec, that leaves 20% to be whatever they want, and they have lots of Bonarda there ... ); so you do the math. We will buy some and sell it at Cleveland Park along with the sparkling Chardonnay brut. They will both sell for $20-$23 a bottle. I forget exactly now , the Bonarda for less and the sparkling Chardonnay for more I believe.





This is what happens when you are having too much fun : your attention gets spread thin and you simply do not hear or retain all the pertinent bits of information. Oh well, I can always ask really soon and include these details a bit later in this blog as I add more of the pictures that I have taken.




I love taking pictures of the bottle and the people through the Reidel wine-tasting glass that I use when I taste. It connects everything together and distorts and rearranges and reorders as well as changes the focus and the emphasis perhaps on the subject.

What do you all think? Do you like the way things are changed when taken through this Reidel stemware? I do, even when it muddles and blurs the images. I still like the intensity and the color and the forms that I get and have to try and decipher later as I enlarge them on the screen.




Jody Jackman from Winebow was here as well in these pictures. So was our favorite Kelly from the Palena restaurant just a block away from us. Andres did not know her or Palena but this was a good thing that they met and had a chance to speak together and have Kelly taste these two wines.




As I said I have more work to do on this blog but it is late and I am tired and at home now and so I will continue tomorrow once back at work in Washington D.C.




Enjoy these photos in the meantime. They too tell volumes and bottles of wine stories as well as others. Cheers, TONY






For more technical information go to : Andres Ridois ( Commercial Director ) aridois@ernestocatenavineyards.com Av. Rivadavia 413, 7 Piso Ciudad de Buenos Aires Office : ( 54 11 ) 4331-1251.






I made a mistake below with my captions. They should be here and not written under the picture below. Scroll up as you read the captions below. Sorry ... that's artistic license I guess ...




This picture and the first may be two of my favorite pictures that I have downloaded so far. In the first one I love the golden color of the sparkling Argentinian Chardonnay as well as the intensity and closeness to Andres : up close and personal and revealing inner qualities/ depths of character and soul and body? I think so , but you must add those in yourselves and you extrapolate and imagine and admire and enjoy ...

In this picture above I like the composition of my glass of red ALMA NEGRA Bonarda covering up both Andres and his glass of ALMA NEGRA Bonarda. He's enjoying the experience a lot and he's quick about it. I love the tilt of his head, I love that the white lights of the ceiling of Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits run parallel to the slant of his glass and thus give contrast, brightness and outline.

It's all so quick : less than a split second as you snap the Canon camera here and hope for the best. I was lucky, I got it this time as I did with the first picture. Hope you like them as I do. ...





Above is a picture that I took of Andres holding my camera low and pointing it skywards and hoping for the best as I snapped it. Everyone wanted to know what I had taken? They were all dubious I believe? I showed it to them and they all pretty much quickly agreed that I had captured some of the true essence of Andres. I agree. I like it. He's enjoying some of the ALMA NEGRA Bonarda blended with a small percentage of Cabernet Franc in this glass that he is holding.

As he was talking to one of our customers earlier I drew some quick sketches of him and have given them to him as a gift from me. He liked the second one here on his left side and was happy to have it. Perhaps the first will also grow on you Andres?

I do these sketches quickly in seconds as a way of quickly capturing a moment and perhaps a mood? I love it and wish that I had more time for this as I am an artist that likes to fully express himself.




Anyway Andres, thanks for coming to our store for a second visit. The next time you come we should arrange for you to do a tasting with our customers because I think they would enjoy both the ALMA NEGRA wines ( still and sparkling ) as well as you. Email me and let's set something up for your next visit. We can be proactive about it and organize ourselves in advance.

I understand that soon there will be a Pinot Noir as well to taste? I like that ...