Tasting with Gina Gallo

How lucky am I, I got to taste wine with Gina Gallo at the Boston Wine Expo.  I never would have imagined that little ol' me would have an opportunity to taste wines with someone like Gina. You just don't know where life leads you.  The Boston Wine Expo lead me to an informal  tasting with Gina of her Signature Series wine.  

I've admired Gina Gallo ever since she began put her face to the brand of Gallo Wines. I imagine it wasn't easy being the grand-daughter of the founder.  I've been there as the daughter of the "owner" and there are lots of obstacles to maneuver.  

I found Gina to be so down to earth!  The way she spoke about her family, her grandfather and father, her eyes were just dancing with admiration.  Her wines...........AMAZING!  Gina produces the Gallo Signature Series wines.  These are here babies (well,other babies besides her 18 month old twins at home)

In the short time I met with Gina I learned so much!  Not only about her wine, her family but when I mentioned my family's wine history in Tapolca, Hungry she told me how instrumental my family was in the wine trade of Europe, she knew of them and that her husband Jean-Charles could shed more light on it.( Now I just have meet with him next to dig further into my family history)  Wow!  I never imagined such a connection.

Now to the wine.   Amazing and so well crafted!  As Gina talks to me about the wine and the vineyards you can see the love and hard work that went into each bottle. Once again her eyes tell the story. 

We'll begin with the Gallo Signature Series 2010 Russian River Valley Chardonnay.  Soft, elegant and creamy.  The 96% of the grapes for this wine come from the family's Laguna Ranch vineyard in the Russian River Valley.  Just 12 miles from the ocean, the cool maritime climate along with the gravelly and sandy loam soil really influences the grapes and it shows. The other 4% come from Del Rio Vineyard. The wine is very well structured.  This Chardonnay shows a wonderful expression of the grapes, while spending 13 months in oak (combination of French and American), but never losing the flavors that are so important to a wine. Nice crisp apple with a soft creamy lemon mid palate and a hint of ginger fill your palate and warm your insides.  This wine retails for $30

I was blown away by the Signature Series 2010 Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir.  I wanted to just stand there all day and inhale the beautiful dark berry fruit that was coming out of my glass. (That's what I was doing until Nicholas went to grab the Cab.)  Gina specifically choose the Olson Ranch's Pinot Noir due to the limestone that sits under the clay loam soil.  Very rare in California and similar to the terror of Burgundy. After the grapes were harvested they went through whole berry fermentation after being cold soaked for 5 days.  The wine then went under malolactic fermentation in barrel and was aged on its lees (dead yeast cells for all those who are wondering what the term means) for 8 months in a combination of new and old French barrels. This wine on the palate was sexy, fun and yet serious.  Flavors of boysenberry, strong blackberry mid palate with hints of black current, cassis and vanilla go down with a soft silky texture.  Absolutely beautiful!  This wine retails for $35

The Gallo Signature Series 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon was the last wine in the tasting.  This cab is 93% Cabernet Sauvignon and 7% Petit Verdot.  This cab was dark.  They grapes remained in contact with the skins for about 20 days, so that explains the dark rich color.  The wine went through malolactic fermentation and was aged in oak barrels for 25 months.  This is a serious wine but had a little fun to it.  This wine had many layers of dark fruit.  Blackberry and black currant with a hint of chocolate just past mid palate that fades into a surprise of spice.  A soft elegant mouth feel leaves a nice finish and a smile on your face. This wine retails for $40

Rendezvous in Bulgaria - Magura Winery

Not quite sure how I ended up with this wine from Bulgaria but it is definitely a first for me.

The winery - Magura Winery is located in Bulgaria between the Danube and the red sandstone rocks of Belogradchik and the natural phenomenon "Magura" Cave.  The Magura Cave is a famous cave located in north-western Bulgaria.  The length of the cave is 2.5 km and the largest inland lake in the country, Rabisha Lake is situated in the vicinity of the cave.  The entire region has been declared a national landmark.

Now that I've painted a picture (no pun intended) of the area onto the wine.  The wine is a 2009 Magura Winery Rendez-vous Cuvee du Nord.  This is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Right off the bat the wine had a nice color.

Aromas of black cherry, cherry filled the glass. There was a little oak and a weird musty basement smell.  That dissipated after a while.

The palate was a little acidic with a blend of black cherry and sour cherry.  There was some vanilla and notes of smokiness towards the finish. The smokiness kind of lingers on the finish.

We drank this with pasta and tomato sauce and it paired well. I would also say it would be a good pizza wine.

One note..it did taste similar to wines made in the Hudson Valley from red hybrid grapes.

Notes From the Captain Lawrence Tasting Room, Vol. 50 Taking Back Sunday

It was a historic day in the Captain Lawrence tasting room—the first Sunday in brewery history in which the tasting room is open for business. In other words, whatever your Sunday routine involves--be it sleeping in, brunch, worship, cleaning, lamenting the pending work week, or all of the above--you can now add sampling craft brew at Captain Lawrence to the list.

One could tell it was a special day by some of the names in the tasting room, including Jeremy and Becky Beers of Milford, Connecticut. (The “Who’s On First?” opportunities announce themselves immediately upon meeting the Beers’s: Up for a couple Beers tonight? Sure! Are those Beck’s beers? No, she’s drinking Captain Lawrence!)

Jeremy is feeling on top of the world, and Becky is simply happy to have her husband back on terra firma. See, he’s fresh off his first-ever helicopter pilot mission—a Groupon offer he took advantage of that allowed him to fly a helicopter out of Westchester Airport…with a seasoned co-pilot with overruling privileges seated next to him, like you had in driver’s ed.

“I figured, it was an experience I may never get to do again,” Jeremy says.

Trekking in from Connecticut, Becky and Jeremy scoped out some other things to do in the area after the chopper excursion, and saw the brewery was open. Becky is enjoying the Chocoholic Stout (“Not to chocolatey, a nice balance,” she says), while Jeremy, a home brewer, enjoys the Winter Ale. “It’s a real nice malty beer with a small hint of spice,” he says. “How it should be.”

Across the room, Mike Rubino of Washington, DC and Joanna Berry of Nyack will have to wait to practice their landings for another day. The two were to ski in the Poconos, until Nyack pals Amy Cymore and Allie Greenberg coerced them into spending Sunday at the brewery. “We’ll leave late,” says Joanna with a smile as she sips the mysteriously titled Vienna lager known as The Implication. “We’ll ski tomorrow.”

The group is enjoying lamb merguez hot dogs and mac & cheese from Village Dog with their brews. “This was on our agenda for Saturday,” says Amy as she tastes a Brown Ale. “I mean Sunday.”

Hanging around another barrel, the Ossining trio of Adam Lawrence (no relation to the Captain), Stephanie Noll and Jose Cano are enjoying a “lazy Sunday,” as Stephanie puts it. The crew has been meeting up at the brewery on Saturdays dating back to its Pleasantville days, and appreciates having an extra weekend day to choose from. “It’s a good development,” says Adam.

Jose’s sipping the India Pale Ale, brewed with classic Northwestern U.S. hops. Stephanie opts for the Liquid Gold, and Adam’s celebrating Sunday with a Chocoholic Stout. Today, Adam’s grad school homework is a victim of the new Sunday hours. Jose says he blew off a nap. Stephanie was simply enjoying a lazy day anyway.

“It’s always good to enjoy a couple beers, and fill up the growlers,” Adam says.

Elsewhere in the brewery, Suzi and Jason Tipa of Millwood needed to get out of the house after a stressful day of booking a vacation to London, which will include a side trip to Dublin—including the Guinness brewery, the Jameson distillery and Trinity College to check out a very old book. Photographed for Notes From the Tasting Room Vol. 6 (“Barley and the Chocolate Factory”) at Captain Lawrence in a Guinness t-shirt, Jason promises to redeem himself by rocking a Captain Lawrence T in the Guinness tasting room. Suzi, a dance instructor, usually works Saturdays, but saw a curious development on the Captain Lawrence website earlier in the week: Starting Feb. 24, her favorite brewery was open on Sundays.

After a quick trip to Home Depot in Hawthorne, Suzi and Jason were faced with a Choose Your Own Adventure-worthy dilemma.

“It was left to go home, or right to Captain Lawrence,” she says with a smile. “We figured, we might as well make sure the website was right.”

Bottling Tocai

Saturday was the last class of Millbrook Vineyard & Winery's Winegrowing Boot Camp.  We took the vines from the cradle to the bottle and Saturday we proudly bottled our season's hard work.

After the grapes were pressed the wine went into neutral oak pungents about 270 gallons and is fermented in those barrels.  The wine went into the barrels after the grapes were pressed until 2 weeks ago.  At that time the barrels were moved outside to cold stabilize the wine.

The pungents came back inside and wine was racked into a tank.  Then put into a portable plastic tank they use for small bottling.  They bottled the first 84 cases that morning before the class came.  Now it's the time to bottle and label the classes wine.

The wine gets pumped out of the tank, goes through two cartridge filters to fine the wine.  Then into the bottle, it gets corked and put into the boxes for sale.

We were all responsible for catching our bottles as they came down the line and packing them in the cases.

As the first graduating class of Millbrook's Winegrowing Boot Camp I can say I learned lots, had a great time participating and made new friends. I am very thankful it was a great growing season!

Flanagan 2009 Chardonnay

Not sure if I ever told you the story between me, Paul and Eric Flanagan. It all began at a wine tasting at Vintners Collective in Napa.  Paul was our chauffeur for a bachelorette party.  My friend Diane was getting married (she lives in the Bay area) and he was driving the 5 of us around and was a great sport about it. (Yes I have the best husband!)

The last stop of the day was Vintners Collective and we had a tasting out on their deck.  We tasted all reds because the crowd  I was with was a red crowd.  After the tasting we were all mingling with the other people on the deck and I started talking with Eric Flanagan.  Paul came over and Eric and Paul really hit it off.  We were invited to his winery in the Bennett Valley which we went to after out tasting a J Vineyards.  An email with the gate code found us climbing a mountain, opening two gates and reaching the top where we found Eric and his winery.

He has a really impressive place!  We actually did taste this 2009 Chardonnay prior to its release during this visit.  That was in 2010.  When the wine was released we purchased a couple of bottles and opened one a few weeks ago.

There were 170 cases of this wine produced.  The wine is barrel aged in for 15 months in 50% new French oak.  The grapes were harvested October 6, 2009 and clocked in at 23.9 brix, T/A of 5.0 and ph 3.96.

The Chardonnay was beautiful, elegant and romantic.  Layers of pear, honeysuckle, butter and oak filled the glass.  Just the aromas put a romantic feel on the evening.  The wine was very nicely balanced with nice expression of the fruit.  Apple and butterscotch were dominant with a nice citrus lime finish.

I think this was the last Flanagan Chardonnay. Might have to begin to test the reds.

Storing Wine

I thought you would enjoy this infographic on storing wine.

NewAir.com

Hudson Valley Wine Magazine on iWine Radio

Linda Pierro and Robert Bedford founders of Hudson Valley Wine Magazine made a guest appearance on iWine Radio.

They talk about why they started Hudson Valley Wine Magazine and the history of the Hudson River Valley AVA.

Did you know that Hudson River Valley AVA was the 12th AVA in United States. Acknowledged after Napa but before Sonoma.

They talk about the wineries, breweries, and distilleries of the Hudson Valley.


Check this out on Chirbit

Nemo Found Us Finding Foncesa

Nemo found us last Friday, but we were prepared! We had some Whitecliff Malbec/Merlot, pasta with my bolognese sauce, homemade bread and Melanie's chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  Yes, lucky Melanie, comes home from college for the weekend and gets stuck in the house with her parents...and neighbors. Yes, in this part of the street we use any excuse for a get together and Nemo was one of them.

 After dinner with the wind howling we broke out th  Foncesa 2009 Vintage Port.  After a short lesson in Port to the younger wine drinkers, the bottle was opened. Remember, not every year a vintage is declared.  The growing season and grapes have to be extraordinary.The season was very dry, produced vines with low yields but wines of massive density and high levels of tannins, sugar and color.

The Port had a beautiful dark purple,cherry, black color. The first scent to hit my nose was the aroma of coffee and vanilla.Then some blackcurrant, prune and spice came into play with a hint of raisin.  On the palate, blackberry, chocolate and licorice with a hint of plum warmed us up.  The finish showed some presence of tannins and lingering black fruit, blackberry and blackcurrant.

Nemo might of found us, but we found the Foncesa and shared it with some great neighbors.

A High Flyer

"In pursuit of the finest vineyards...exceptional wines, produced by the perfect alignment of vineyards and climate" is the philosophy behind the Highflyer wines.  They produce their wines exclusively from fruit grown on small family owned vineyards throughout California.

Highflyer produces a Viognier, Syrah, Centerline which is a red blend, Pinot Noir and a Grenache Blanc.  For this post we are going to talk about the 2010 Highflyer Grenache Blanc.

The Grenache Blanc used to produce this wine is grown at Somerston Vineyards on the eastern hills of Napa Valley.  It is selected from a 2.7 acre block planted at 1100 feet with rocky soil.There were 29 barrels produced of this wine.

I really liked the aromas that were coming from the glass of this Grenache Blanc. Layers of white flowers, stone fruit and lime on the end puts you in an exciting mood.

The palate showed lots of minerality.  Bright layers of peach, nectarine and finishing off with notes of lime. The wine was smooth and had a great mouth feel.

I paired this wine with Curried Cauliflower Soup.  The recipe is below.

Curried Cauliflower Soup
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 tbs minced ginger
2 parsnips chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin seed
1 tbs curry powder
2 cups veggie broth
1 cup water
3 cups cauliflower florets
salt to taste

Saute onions, ginger, garlic and cumin seed until soft.  Add curry powder and stir until absorbed.  Add broth and water and bring to a boil.  Add cauliflower, parsnips and salt.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer covered, 30 minutes or until veggies are tender.  Remove from heat.

Working in batches, put soup in blender or food processor and process until smooth.  Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I received this wine as a PR sample.

Notes From the Captain Lawrence Tasting Room, Vol. 49 The Captain’s Log

What happens when extreme weather meets extreme beer? Sadly, the weather wins. At least it did this time.

Captain Lawrence had planned to make the schlep up I-95 to be represented at the Extreme Beer Fest in Boston this past weekend, but 2 1/2 feet of snow gave the Big Dig a whole new meaning in Massachusetts. So the good people of Massachusetts will have to wait a bit to try the Captain’s extreme entries, including pilot batch No. 27, Chocoholic Stout, along with Smoke From the Oak aged in rum barrels, and the fearsome Frost Monster imperial stout. It would’ve been the first venture outside the brewery for the Frost Monster, which is likely to weigh in at a frightful 15% ABV.

The Extreme Beer Fest will be rescheduled, though no date has been set. Frost Monster will continue to ferment until then.

Amidst this brutal winter weather, is it too early to start thinking about St. Patrick’s Day? Not at Captain Lawrence. The brewery has a handful of special brews in the works that offer a tip of the tam o’shanter to the patron saint of beer, including a dry Irish stout and a red IPA. Producers of world-class craft brew right here in Westchester, Captain Lawrence wouldn’t go near that seasonal cliché known as green beer, right?

Not so fast.

“Scott Tobin, our resident Irish guy, told me he wanted to make green beer,” says Scott Vaccaro, Captain Lawrence founder. “I said, I’m not adding food coloring to beer.”

They found a compromise by adding the green nutritional supplement known as spirulina to the mix. (For what it’s worth, the Aztecs swore by spirulina back in the 16^th Century. But you probably knew that.) The end result, in a knowing nod to the bubbly green potable that rankles the beer purists in mid-March every year, is a beer called Gimmicky Green Ale. Look for it in the tasting room as St. Pat’s approaches. And remember—spirulina is a lot healthier than food coloring.

New stuff aside, a few old favorites are back in the tasting room after a hiatus. The Ginger Man Ale, a Belgian-styled amber brewed with ginger in conjunction with the beloved Manhattan craft brew cathedral The Ginger Man, is back. So is the Xtra Gold American Tripel Ale, which has not been seen around the tasting room in several months. Offering a distinctive mix of Belgian yeast strain and Amarillo hops, it’s in bottles and on draft in the tasting room.

And on the heels of producing its first ever India Pale Ale, brewed with aromatic Yakima hops, Captain Lawrence is taking on another first in the brewery’s seven year history: A lager. Justin Sturges is piloting that project; made with German yeast, there’s no name yet for his lager creation.   

In closing, if you’ve ever experienced the challenge of fitting in a weekend visit to the brewery amidst the usual domestic duties—or, more likely, you’ve experienced the challenge of fitting in the domestic duties amidst the usual visit to the brewery—you will have more weekend time to do both. As of February 20, 

Captain Lawrence will be open Saturday and Sunday. Enjoy your day of rest with a really good local craft beer.   

Captain Lawrence Brewing, at 444 Saw Mill River Road in Elmsford, is open Tuesday through Friday (retail 2-7 p.m., samples 4-7 p.m.); and Saturday, with retail and samples 12-6 p.m., and brewery tours on the hour, starting at 1. The author is paid by Captain Lawrence, partially in Freshchester Pale Ale, for “Notes From the Tasting Room.”

Clinton Vineyards Disgorging & Dosage a One Man Job

I spent one morning this winter with Chris Stewart the winemaker at Clinton Vineyards.  He was performing the last step of the classic methode champenois or traditional method of sparkling wine production of their Seyval Naturel.

Before my visit the wine has gone through primary fermentation, malolactic fermentation, liqueur de triage was added and the second fermentation began.  Now a few weeks later it's time for the wine to be disgorged and the dosage is added and the bottle is topped off with additional champagne lost during disgoring.

Chris is a one man show and does all these processes by hand one case at a time, one bottle at a time.

The neck of the bottle is frozen and we begin with Chris opening the bottle and the dead yeast cells go flying out.  I'll let him explain the rest of the process.

Willow Creek Winery Opens in Cape May, NJ

It's not summer, so what am I doing in Cape May, NJ in the middle of winter...looking for a summer house.  Yes, it's going to be my new wine destination soon.  We actually pulled into this winery last Memorial Day weekend to find it closed.  When we were down there a few weeks ago on a house scouting trip we checked it out and it was open.   They opened December 15, 2011 with a soft opening and will have a Grand Opening in May.(You have to have some fun, while house hunting.)

When you first pull up to Willow Creek Winery, you see the picture above.  It's a beautiful house, but it isn't the winery.  You have to drive around to the left and follow the signs.  At some point you think you are really in the wrong place but then it opens up to more vines and a beautiful large winery.

They spared no expense! They have a 50 acre farm in Cape May, NJ.  Their first vines were planted in 2004 and in the past eight years they have planted over 5000 vines and 10 varietals. The varietals planted are Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Corot Noir, Malvasia Bianca, Sangiovese, Alberino, Sauvignon Blanc, Seyval Blanc, Chambourcin and they are planting Malbec this year.

The winery holds two labels Willow Creek and Wilde Cock.  The Willow Creek label is for estate wines and Wilde Cock uses grapes from their farm as well as grapes that are sourced from other places.  Not necessarily New Jersey which I found strange.  Some of their blends for their Wilde Cock label are sourced from Washington State.

Paul and I did a full tasting which was $10 per person.  We began with Malvasia Bianca 2011 and 2010.  The 2011 was aged in 3 year old French oak for 3 months and finished in stainless steel.  It showed flavors of pear, honeysuckle and honey.  The 2010 was aged in 100% stainless steel and it expressed the grapes acidic, mineral and citrus attributes.

The 2011 Sauvignon Blanc was aged in French oak for 7 months.  Personally I don't like my Sauvignon Blanc oaked as I feel it takes away the grapes personality and expression.

There were two Pinot Noirs, 2010 and 2011.  The 2011 spent one year in French Oak.  Flavors of raspberry, tobacco and smoke.  I didn't like the nose on this wine.  The 2010 was much nicer on my palate. This spent 1 1/2 years in French oak, with flavors of raspberry and a hint of black pepper.

We can't forget the 2010 Merlot.  This had a nice nose with dark berry aromas.  The palate bursted with black cherry and plum flavors.

The Bacchus Red is a medium bodied wine and a blend of Merlot, Chambourcin and Cabernet Sauvignon.  I tasted a lot of cherry in this blend.

There was a Rose in the mix.  The Meditrina Rose which was estate blended with 49% Sauvignon Blanc, 40% Chambourcin and 1% Merlot.  It had 1.5% residual sugar.  It reminded me of a candied cherry jolly rancher.

On to the Wilde Cock label which the name comes from the owner who is Barbara Wilde, but not sure where the Cock comes into play. Hopefully in the future I will get to have a one on one interview with Barbara.  Onto the Wilde Cock...

We began the flight of Wilde Cock with the Wilde Cock Red.  This was a blend of Merlot from the estate and Shiraz from Washington State. It was thin with notes of black cherry and a tad of black pepper from the Shiraz on the finish.

We then moved onto the Wilde Cock Sweet White.  It's a blend of Riesling and Moscato.  The Moscato is sourced from Washington State.  A bit to sweet for me, but it did have a little fiz going on.  Not sure if it was suppose to be that way or going through a second fermentation in the bottle.

Last selection tasted was their Wilde Cock Southern Sangria. Made with pomegranate and cherry nectar it was actually very nice and had a great nose.

The winery offers an "Adopt a Vine" program where you can adopt a vine for 12 months.  Each month you will receive a private news letter discussing the stage of growth your vine is in and will have the opportunity to  come out each month and care for it.

Looking forward to many more tasting when I am down in that area.

Discount Tickets & Chance to Win Tickets to the New York Wine Expo

It's that time of year again, time for the New York Wine Expo, celebrating it's 6th year.  I can say, I think I've been to all but one year and it's a great event.  It is all happening at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

I have a special treat for you! Yes I am offering a discount to save $15 off admission (see blow) but I am also giving away 2 pairs of tickets to the Grand Tasting Friday evening.  To win these tickets you must head over to my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HudsonValleyWineGoddess .  Like my page and post on my wall what wines you are looking forward to tasting at the expo.  For a list of wineries that are attending click here. There are over 500 wines to sample!  Random drawing will be February 13.

There will be some great seminars to take advantage of on Saturday. 

Wine 101: Taste Like a Pro with Wine Spectator’s Director of Education  - Gloria Maroti Frazee
Friday, March 1st at 6:00pm | Saturday, March 2nd at 11:30am

The Cool Climate, World Class Wines of the Finger Lakes

Saturday, March 2^nd at Noon

Italian Cheeses and Wine with Lou DiPalo, the Cheese Guru of DiPalo’s Fine Foods in Little Italy, NYC

Saturday, March 2, 2:30pm

The Wine Expo Grand Tasting takes place Friday, March 1 from 6pm - 10pm and the price is $85.  Saturday, March 2, from 1pm - 5pm and the price is $95.  Sunday is reserved for the trade from Noon to 4pm.  Save $15 off your admission with code HudValley

See you there!

Notes From the Captain Lawrence Tasting Room, Vol. 48 Hardly Raven About the Big Game

A little over 24 hours before kickoff in New Orleans, the Captain Lawrence tasting room was as jammed as Bourbon Street—the lines for growlers more typically seen on the eve of Thanksgiving and holiday weekends. Interest in filling jugs with Lombardi Trophy-worthy brews such as Captain’s Reserve Imperial IPA, Freshchester Pale Ale and the Captain’s Kolsch was sky high. Interest in the Super Bowl—which ended up being a thriller that went down to the wire--seemed flatter than Joe Flacco’s personality.

Joanne Wilson, a bartender at the Lazy Boy Saloon, wasn’t quite sure which teams were in the big game. But she clearly had absorbed at least a whiff of the pre-game hype. “I know it’s the two brothers coaching against each other,” she said while sampling the smoked porter with her sister, Julia, of Pleasantville, and friends.

Joanne nonetheless offered a ringing endorsement for her White Plains employer. “Fifty beers on tap, including Captain Lawrence!” she said. “And I’m a hard worker!”

Across the room, Naomi Crawley—we changed her last name upon her request to prevent shoulder-pads-and-helmets-wearing protestors in front of her Chappaqua home—wasn’t exactly indifferent toward the Super Bowl. She’s downright anti-football…American football, that is. “Don’t get me started,” said the Londoner. “It’s 30 seconds of play and five minutes of [mucking] around! In rugby, they don’t wear all that ridiculous gear. Give me rugby or English soccer any day!”

One is reminded of the pundit George Will’s take on football, which he described as combining the two worst aspects of America: “Violence punctuated by committee meetings.” (You might add power outages to that list.)

Naomi and her husband were stocking up on Captain Lawrence beer to have a few friends over for the Bowl—and other diversions. “The men will do the manly thing and watch the game,” she said. “The ladies will watch the commercials, and wait for Downton Abbey.”

Indeed, it was tough to find much enthusiasm for the big game, especially with the Giants finished in December, and the Jets done in, oh, September. Tom Beaulieu, of Ringwood, New Jersey, hails from Massachusetts and was sorry not to see the Brady bunch in action. “The Patriots aren’t in it,” he said, “so I don’t care.”

Friend Trace Baker, a Portlander based in Bronxville, planned to spend Super Bowl Sunday with a growler in one arm and a baby in the other. “Other than taking this home, not much,” he said, hoisting a 64-ounce jug from Rogue Ales of Oregon that he planned to fill with the Imperial IPA. “I have a one-year-old at home and her mother is away.”

Trace had some “change” on the Niners, he added, and would root accordingly.

Hanging out in the much quieter pen inside the brewery, Greg Giampia of White Plains and Michael Conte of Fairfield, old pals from the University of Rhode Island, were digging the new Chocoholic Stout. “Delicious,” said Greg. “As light as a stout can be.”

Greg was planning to watch the game at the Lazy Boy Saloon, where, hopefully, he would not ask bartender Joanne to explain the nuances of the nickel defense. Michael was rooting for the Ravens.

“I’m going Niners, then,” countered Greg. “Whatever he says is s**t.” 

While Ravens running back/Westchester product Ray Rice had some 914 locals rooting for Baltimore, many in the tasting room were rooting not for the Niners or Ravens, but for themselves in the office pool. Frank Pansuti of Poughquag, in Dutchess County, planned to hit a few parties, and said he was hoping for Ray Lewis to get arrested. Larry DeCamillo of Hawthorne was going to swing by “VTB’s” place, VTB short for the colorfully-monikered Vinnie the Butcher. Friend Carmine Oliva of Scarsdale would be at Leewood Country Club in Eastchester and would watch the game “out of the corner of my eye” while playing cards.

“No one cares who wins,” said Frank. “We just want our numbers to come through.”

Captain Lawrence Brewing, at 444 Saw Mill River Road in Elmsford, is open Tuesday through Friday (retail 2-7 p.m., samples 4-7 p.m.); and Saturday, with retail and samples 12-6 p.m., and brewery tours on the hour, starting at 1. The author is paid by Captain Lawrence, partially in Freshchester Pale Ale. 

Brimstone 2008 Foch

Here we go on the hybrid red Foch, actual the correct name of the grape is Marechal Foch. The grape does well in cold climate and is grown in the Hudson Valley. I'm not a big red hybrid fan but I went into this Brimstone 2008 Foch with a very open mind and was pleasantly surprised.

The nose on the wine was toasty oak and had some notes of cherry behind the oak.  On the palate the wine was very acidic. Foch is an acidic wine.  There were notes of cherry and blackberry.  The wine was thin in texture and very soft.