The Day Before The Storm.

 

Hurricane Irene had many people running to the grocery store, buying enough water, bread and toilet paper to last them a week. The stop in shop by CIA was literally sold out of bread and water…. I am not a person who is against precautionary methods; I however spent my day/night before the storm a little differently.

A good friend and I figured, hey since a storm is coming, lets hit this city of Poughkeepsie harder then any Irene could. From this we went on a little culinary/bar tour around Poughkeepsie that turned out to be pretty fantastic.

Our first stop: Formosa

This is honestly a little Taiwanese Gem in Poughkeepsie, located right across the street from Marist. From here we ordered a few appetizers. We ordered the egg rolls, the steam pork bun and finally the small steamed minced pork buns (8pcs). The egg rolls are really good little egg rolls, and the big steam pork bun is decent, but those little steamed minced pork buns that take 18 minutes to prepare, these are worth the trip. Little dumplings, with minced pork and a broth of hot deliciousness inside. All in all, between the two of us the total came up to $6 per person. The prices here are awesome and the food is well worth it. I never leave that place unsatisfied.

Our next stop: Amici’s

There is a bar in the downstairs of the restaurant where you can get decent beer and very simple wines. The place just has a nice little atmosphere if one wants to get a drink at a bar and have good conversation. They also do a pretty good pizza pie.

Stop three: Antonella’s

This is a very local restaurant, where the locals go and the service is always friendly. The reason why the locals go there is because they are felt at home. This is their bar, and it is a very friendly place. My friend and I enjoyed some Campari and soda, while waiting for baby cakes to open for dinner.

Our last stop: Babycakes Café

Considering that one of our previous professors at the CIA owns Babycakes Café, we figured it was about time we checked this place out.  We sat at the bar and ordered some aperitifs.  I ordered a "Labrusca" Lambrusco Rosé NV (Emilia Romagna, Italy) by the glass. It was light and very fruity. Nice acidity that definitely wet my appetite. I then ordered their burger cooked rare, served with avocado and Brie cheese. This is also served along with french-fries and mayonnaise for dipping.  I ordered a bottle of wine to pair with the burger and share with a friend. The wine was Castello Fageto Rusus Rosso Piceno 2005. It's a DOC wine and the grapes are 50% Montepulciano 50% Sangiovese. It was a very good wine for the price with nice complexity. On the nose, there was a lot of earth, leather, and serious cigar box, along with deep black fruits, such as dark cherries and black berries. The palate mirrored the nose and it was honestly a great buy for $30 a bottle. This is after it has been marked up. Well worth it. The burger was cooked great and all in all, a nice experience.  Babycakes for me is a place to get a good burger, a good bottle of wine, for a good price. And what’s wrong with that? Nothing.

The After Party- CIA

So it was getting late and we have had our share of food and wine, but there is a magnum of Cava in my fridge and a bottle of a Bordeaux blanc in my buddies fridge so we decided to keep the party going. The Cordon Negro Brut by Freixent was delicious and well worth the price tag at $18 . A nice dry sparkling wine, with hints of apple and pear. Great acidity, that came off as very refreshing with great bubbles that lasted.

We got some people together and ended up playing a great game of Kings Cup with the Cava. When a player pulled the waterfall card it was always appreciated.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. Great food, Great wine, spent with great people is what life is all about. And now, hurricane Irene is here and it has been a great excuse to stay in doors and nurse this little hangover. But man, it was worth it.

How it all began...

Thinking back, I've always enjoyed wine, but never thought too much about it. I can't lie, Yellow Tail was one of the first wines I happily purchased upon turning 21 and even though now my palate has become a bit more discriminating, I still say that YT is pretty darn drinkable, and YT was a fine introductory level wine to get my brain moving. To simply get me thinking about the very basics of wine. I have however had that ahhh haaa moment. That wine moment that I will never forget.

It was my Birthday and I was hanging out with one of my very best friends. His father happens to be a big wine importer, so needless to say there always is wonderful wines around his house. On this birthday my friend goes into the back of his basement and pulls out a bottle of wine and says "Happy Birthday". I say, "what is it?" , He replies, "my dad has a bunch of this stuff so go ahead, its uhhh Marcassin, Pinot Noir, 2005." I had no clue about the difference between a Pinot and a Cabernet let alone Yellow Tail from Marcassin! I however happily accepted the wine and brought it back up to college with me.
A note on Marcassin- Marcassin (french for 'young wild boar') is a VERY small winery – in fact it’s so small that the wines have actually been made at the Martinelli winery in Russian River Valley. Located on the Sonoma Coast, the Marcassin vineyard is planted to 50/50 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and is about 10 acres in size. Fruit for the other vineyard designated wines is sourced from other neighboring vineyards. Marcassin will always be a small winery; John & Helen feel the perfect size is 100 barrels, enough for 2,500 cases.

Marcassin Pinot Noir 2005 sells for about $345 a bottle. This number may even be higher now because it is so unbelievably hard to get. I however drank this bottle one night in my dorm room with my roommate at the time out of  Styrofoam cups. I remember tasting and thinking wow this is something special, this is very good. I remember vividly my roommate giving me his critique of the wine, " well... Its no Boonsfarm but I guess it will have to do." We finished that bottle off that night, and while I thought it was good, I didn't think to much about it. The empty bottle ended up under the couch in my Dorm room, where it would stay for about a year until....

My old roommate ended up leaving college and my best friend, who gave me that very wine ended up rooming with me in my dorm. On the day his parents helped him move in, his father found the empty bottle of marcassin under the couch. He said to me, "Kyle... This is a very good wine." Which I reply, " why yes it is." He then tells me that it is incredibly hard to find, That the odds of a college student like me getting his hands on it and even appreciating it was very low. He knew that this wine came from him. My friend and I were at a loss for words... My friends father however, was not. I now however can understand his anger.

A few years went by and the Marcassin story turned into a very funny tale that was told amongst those in the wine trade. About the kid who drank Marcassin out of a styrofoam cup. I had graduated college and was getting ready to start school at the Culinary Institute of America. My best friend who had given me the wine years back was having a cookout with his family and an Australian wine maker who had come to visit. That night my friends father opened a bottle of Marcassin, pours me a glass and says here, actually taste it. I tasted the wine and it was like magic in my mouth. It was like heaven had rushed over me. It was a hedonistic dream like I had never encountered and I absolutely loved it.
The wine was so complex, with a nose that gave off earth, tobacco, and leather, while still maintaining its fruit. And the taste justified the nose and wow all those flavors came through. It was magical. I can remember the taste of that wine to this day. It has always stayed with me.
That was my wine moment, while I had always loved food and wine, I knew from that point that I wanted to know more about wine, I wanted to taste wine often, and like an addict chasing a fix, I wanted to have that moment again, that moment that brings heaven to your palate, I wanted to find more wine that made me feel that way. All in all, I think it was a very good ahh haa wine moment...