All Over Albany

For the Love of Wine closing/ From the Garden farm to table opening

For the Love of Wine owners Kristen Williams and Allan Von Schenkel are planning a farm-to-table wine cafe for this space on Lark Street.

This Friday For the Love of Wine, the wine shop that opened a few years ago in Crossgates, will be closing its doors -- temporarily.

The owners -- musicians and food and wine lovers Kristen Williams and her husband Allan Von Schenkel -- are looking for a new location in Albany. In the meantime, they're uncorking some other plans.

Williams and Von Schenkel are planning to open From The Garden, a farm-to-table restaurant and wine cafe, in the former Old House Cafe on Lark Street. They're both sommeliers, but this is their first time serving food -- professionally, at least.

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Win VIP tickets to the AIDS Council's Beaujolais Nouveau event

Update: Drawing's closed!

Next Thursday, November 15, is the release date for this year's Beaujolais Nouveau wine. And to celebrate, there will be parties, large and small, all over the world. One of those parties is a swank affair at the Hilton Garden Inn in Troy, hosted by The AIDS Council of Northeastern New York. The evening includes wine and food tastings from some of the finest Capital Region restaurants, as well as desserts, cognac, cigars, a silent auction and more.

We have a pair of VIP tickets -- each worth $125 -- and we're giving them away. The tickets include access to a pre-event reception where you'll get a chance to taste the Beaujolais first, plus access to the VIP post-event reception with cognac and cigars and a commemorative glass.

To enter the drawing, just answer the question below in the comments:

The beaujolais is a young wine -- meant to be consumed right away, not aged. What's something in the Capital Region that you should do now? As in, now. Right now.

We'll draw one winner at random.

Tickets to the event are still available. Standard admission is $75, and the VIP tickets are $125. Proceeds go to support The AIDS Council.

Important: All comments must be submitted by 5 pm on Thursday, November 8, 2012 to be entered in the drawing. You must answer the question to be part of the drawing. One entry per person, please. You must enter a valid email address (that you check regularly) with your comment. The winner will be notified via email by 10 am on Friday November 9 and must respond by 6 pm on Friday, November 9.

AOA is a media sponsor for The Aids Council's Beaujolias Nouveau event.

photo: Flickr user jetalone (cc)

Ric Orlando, curry salad, and the Beaujolais nouveau

Chef Ric with winter kale salads.

"I do peasant food," says Ric Orlando, "I'm a blue jeans chef -- that's how I cook."

The Chopped champ and New World owner is the honorary chair of the AIDS Council's annual event celebrating Beaujolais nouveau -- the young wine made from Gamay grapes -- and it seems like a good fit. Because Beaujolais, Ric says, is a blue jeans kind of wine.

"Beaujolais, to me, is a great everyday, at the tavern, on the terrace, on the deck, in the bathtub, with breakfast kind of wine," he says.

The Beaujolais is fermented only a few weeks before its release is celebrated with parties worldwide.

Orlando says he's a big fan of the wine and he's come up with a few new dishes he'll be pairing it with at the AIDS Council's Beujolais nouveau release party on November 15.

After the jump, talking with Ric about pairing food and wines, America's slowly changing palate, Italy's gastronomic intelligentsia, cheap wine vs. bad wine, and licking hubcaps.

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A wine tasting trip to Columbia County

You've seen that I Love Lucy clip, the one where she stomps on the grapes at the winery? Back in college I got to try my hand -- OK, my feet -- at that. It's actually not as squishy as it looks. With all those stems, it's like a foot massage from someone with long fingernails.

Anyway, I love wine. And wineries. But I don't live in California anymore. These days I reside in Albany.

Still, wine, in my opinion, is best paired with good company and a tour of the surrounding farmland. So a few weeks ago I took a good friend to Columbia County to do a few winery visits and enjoy some great food and a little Columbia County history.

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