I got to meet Mamuka several years ago and along with his partners and their various visits sometimes together and alone ( as well as Mary's calls to see what I wanted to order every month or so ) we have done over the years a thriving business with these TELLIANI VALLEY Georgian wines : dry and sweet reds made from the Saperavi indigenous grape variety, dry white and off dry whites, and now a grappa, too ( $12.99 a 375ml bottle ).
These pictures here are perhaps three or so years old when Mike Martin still worked at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits ( 3423 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington D.C. 20008 Tel:202-363-4265 sales@clevelandparkwine.com , www.clevelandparkwine.com now on Facebook at : Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and also on Twitter at : cpwinespirits ) when we bought the wines for the store and sold them together. Mamuka came by and the store was filled with salesmen and women and it was quite the scene.
I am glad that I took the pictures because they tell a story all by themselves and it helps me to remember and to flesh the story out both for myself as well as for those looking and reading this blog entry. We were trying the " new " releases of many of the wines that we had already bought and sold well as well as trying an " new " grappa for the very first time. All good - all sound and all well-packaged and priced.
Mamuka is a professor at American University here in Washington D.C. and also involved with the Georgian Wine House selection of mostly Georgian wines that we buy the majority from of our Georgian wines. They also sell a couple of French wines that they get from Laurent of GiraMondo Selections and Wine Events and Classes. I have also known Laurent for many years now and talked with him quite a bit and even sold him quite a few wines, too. All these relationships have been solid and enriching and overall invaluable to us here in the Cleveland Park neighborhood to run an international wine store with a wide and varied range of wines from around the world made from indigenous grapes and also that are typical of the regions that they come from. Thus they add to the equation as I like to say and give our customers that come from around the world more of a choice of what is actually being made all over the world. That to me is the definition of a good wine store and of a good selection of wines. I want our customers to have as many choices as possible and to decide for themselves what they want to drink to enrich their lives and their moments with their meals, family, friends.
Being the artist that I am I like to take some of these more artsy photos and share them with everyone. I also like to write poetry and share that , too at : chatpoetry.blogspot.com. I wrote one on Mamuka if not more. Check it out.
And look at the color of that wine, will you?!? It's beautiful, really. Glad that I have it to remember.
Over the last two nights I have been enjoying a bottle that Mamuka just gave me to sample ( as a gift with the book on Georgian wines. He just returned from Georgia looking all happy and satisfied ) called CHATEAU MUKHRANI Saperavi dry red 2007. I will write more about it here really soon as well as finish this blog. In the meantime I'm off now to work shortly on Tuesday, April 5th, 2011 on a rainy and very wet morning here in the Washington D.C. metropolitan region. It's warm enough and I've got lots to do so stay-tuned for the rest of this blog and story and enjoy what I have already done. Cheers, TONY
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