Plan of Attack

I’ve been very good this week, but it’s made me a little bit crabby.  Generally I just eat what I want when I want it, and try to keep it in moderation.  But after a week of holiday gorging on Mrs. Fussy’s family farm, I packed on more weight than I care to admit.

It’s not as if I weigh myself every day.  I knew I was in trouble when my father-in-law patted my belly.  That isn’t a feature I usually sport.  And even my loose pants were tight.

So I’ve been minding my portion sizes, avoiding desserts, and skipping cocktails for the past few days.  Don’t hate me, but it’s paid off.  The moral of the story is that when I stop eating like a jerk, I’m apparently still young enough to bounce back into my healthy-weight range.

Except later today I’m cutting loose.

Because at 4pm is the Grand Tasting of the Albany Chef’s Food & Wine Festival.  The marketing materials claim the event will have selections from 250 restaurants, wineries, distilleries and breweries.  Regrettably the event is only four hours long, especially since there are eight seminars on food and wine including an especially interesting one on yeast.  I’m serious.

So I have made a plan.

Of course I am going with a friend whose love of food is as large as mine, but whose tastes are decidedly different.  She may be the wrench in this plan.  Which is fine.  Sometimes I need to loosen up a bit and stop being such a control freak.

The food part is easy.  Key in on the few top restaurants in the area and eat with your eyes.  Delicious food generally looks delicious.  Yes, I know there are exceptions.  But my expectations of our big local chefs are that they will be executing at a high level.  I’m hoping something I eat later today will tempt me to visit one or more of the restaurants on a rare date night with Mrs. Fussy.

It’s the wine and spirits part that is the real challenge.

After all, the promotional literature lists 34 wineries and 23 distilleries by name.  Some quick back of the napkin calculations suggest that it would be difficult to drink all of those samples in the time span of the event.  Even if you could do it, certainly it wouldn’t be advisable.

While I have no interest in doing a broad tasting of flavored vodkas, my companion may feel differently.  Maybe she will do that while I check out the Macallan table.  I have some difficult questions for them anyhow.

Really, the biggest challenge is the wine.  Yes, there are a few supermarket wines that can easily be avoided, and I have further culled the list of 35 producers to a more manageable 10.  Some of these are wines that I share some history with, and are like old friends that I welcome the chance to taste again.  Others are wineries that have some great wines in their portfolio, but I’m unclear if those wines will make an appearance at the event.  Others still are brand new to me, and after doing a bit of research, are very compelling.

My thought is that it would be wise to start with the bubbly.  Both Moët & Chandon Champagne and Piper Heidsieck will be there.  I’m really hoping that whoever is manning the Moët table gets the pronunciation right.  Hint: it rhymes with “toe wet.”  The name is Dutch, not French.

I’d also like to taste the wines of Fox Run, which was the only New York winery on the list.  Granted, there may be additional ones that signed on later.  But I’m always curious to try more of the wines produced in my state, for better or for worse.

After that, I’m thinking the best bottles are likely to come from Newton Vineyards (which specializes in unfiltered wines), Sanctuary and Silver Oak.  Although Joseph Carr might be able to give them a run for the money and I suppose it’s possible if unlikely that BV will bring something really special.

There are also two producers from Spain that would be a treat to drink.  Martin Codax makes a well-regarded Albariño, and I’ve been a long-time fan of Las Rocas de San Alejandro.

Of course conditions may change on the ground.

I remember attending a similar event like this in San Francisco with Raf that was hosted by Food & Wine Magazine.  Perhaps the best moment of the evening was when we started mixing and matching wines with food on our own.  He put this peppery Syrah with a braised and roasted pork belly, and it was simply amazing.

If there is time left towards the end of the event, I may be able to try a whiskey or two.  Then on Sunday, it’s back on the diet.