NYE Menu for 2

As we prepare to close down this year, we feel a real sense of gratitude to still be here, getting to do this thing we love.

We have put together a New Year's Eve snack menu for two, to help usher out the old, and bring in the new.

The menu is for two, with each order including a small cheese plate, and then the choice of either Charcuterie, or a Sweet Potato Tahini Dip. There are also additional supplements available for an upcharge, including a truly delicious Chicken Liver Mousse with Madeira & Shallot Marmalade.

To order, please write to info@homespunfoods.com (online ordering is coming soon! ) with the Subject Line : NYE MENU . Place your order, and please leave us your name, and phone number, and any allergies. We will contact you if we have any questions, otherwise, your order will be ready for pick up between 4pm-8pm on Thursday under your name.

Thank you for all of the support this year, your encouragement and goodwill has helped pull us through some tough days this year, and we appreciate you so much.

nye snacks for 2 ~ $40

-Cheese-

Vermont Creamery (VT) - Coupole
Four Fat Foul (NY ) - St Stephen
Beemster (Netherlands) - 26 month Gouda

Accompanied with toasts, crackers, fruit mostarda, nuts

*

Choice of
-Charcuterie-

Prosciutto (Italy)
Dried Chorizo (Spain)
Applewood Smoked Napoli Salami (US)

Accompanied with toasts, crackers, whole grain mustard, pickled red onions, cornichons

OR

Sweet Potato Tahini Dip-
Accompanied with assorted vegetables, toasts, crispy chickpeas


*

-Available Supplements-

Chicken Liver Mousse with Madeira, Shallot Marmalade, Toasts ~ 13

Tartlets ~ Mushroom, Leek and Goat Cheese ~ 9

Crab Salad with Lemon and Chives, Toasts ~ 16

Caramelized Onion Dip, Potato Chips ~ 8

Don't forget the bubbles...

From Champagne, to Sparkling Rosé, to Natural Prosecco, Cava & Cerdon du Bugey, we have you covered...

• Case Paolin | Prosecco Col Fondo

• Alta Alella | Cava Brut Nature 'Bruant'

• Emmanuel Brochet | Champagne 1er Cru 'Le Mont Benoît' 3 bottles available

Come see us this Thursday between 11am-8pm, closed Friday for New Year's Day.

The Wines of the Canary Islands

Wine of the Canary Islands 

Without a doubt, the Canary Islands re one of the most singular and unique wine growing zones I have had the pleasure of visiting. Climbing quickly from the sea up into the mountains, looking out over a volcanic landscape, one's imagination is jolted by an odd marriage of sensory data. For instance, seeing banana groves and vineyards within eyesight of one another. Or feeling the cool ocean air suddenly dispersed by a brutally hot wind that has blown over the Sahara, as I am standing there in a vineyard, with black ash at my feet.

Today we are featuring two wineries, Bodegas Bermejos & Envinate.

--Bodegas Bermejos--

On the island of Lanzarote, the eastern most island of the Canaries, we find Ignacio Valdera, owner and winemaker of Bodegas Bermejos. Bermejos take its name from the local name of the color seen off in the volcanic hills, which in English we would call Vermillion, but this color changes with the weather and tie of day. Located just 125 kilometers off the coast of Africa, Lanzarote has some of the warmest weather in the Canaries due to the Calima, a wind that blows over the Sahara, carrying heat and dust to the Canaries. A volcanic explosion in the 18th century left over 5 meters of black volcanic ash on the island. In order to grow vines, holes, called 'hoyos', were dug down in the soil. This serves a two-fold purpose, it allows the vines the chance to struggle for nutrients, but it also provides very important protection from the winds, which can be quite strong, and quite warm.

Today on offer we have a delicious white wine from Los Bermejos, their Malvasia Volcanica, a unique grape of the island, which is a hybrid of Malvasia Aromatica and Marmajuelo, an indigenous grape with a peach-colored skin. This wine is clean and steely, exploding with citrus and mineral flavors. An amazing pairing for seafood, vegetable dishes and salads.

--Envinate--

Envínate (which translates as "wine yourself") is the project of four friends, winemakers Roberto Santana, Alfonso Torrente, Laura Ramos, and José Martínez. Formed in 2005 while studying winemaking in Alicante at the University of Miguel Hernandez, upon graduation, the four friends formed a wine consulting agency, and this evolved quickly into Envinate, a project which seamlessly melds the traditional with the natural.

Envinate focuses on 'Vinos Atlanticos', or wines that are coastal and show the influence of the ocean. Predominantly, this gang of four focuses on the Canary Islands and the Ribeira Sacra in Galicia. Their collective goal is to make very pure wines that express the place and parcel the grapes come from. With this in mind, they use no chemicals in the vineyards, all parcels are picked by hand, the grapes are crushed by foot and the wines are fermented solely with native yeasts. Sulphur is kept to an absolute minimum, if used at all. And the wines are aged in concrete or older neutral oak barrels.

These are some of the most progressive and delicious wines coming out of Spain today, and not particularly easy to come by.

We are happy to offer today the Benje Tinto 2019, from the Santiago del Teide district of Tenerife, located at about 1,000 meters above sea-level. High elevation LIstan Prieto (aka the Mission grape) with some Tintilla, another native grape to the region. This is a very pure expression of high altitude volcanic wine. Red fruits, peppercorns, fig leaf all show beautifully in the glass, and this wine pairs well with red meats and quarantine, for those who wouldn't mind that jolt of imagination right about now!

We also have on offer this week two other Spanish and Portuguese wines as well. Here's pricing--

Bodegas Bermejos | Malvasia Volcanica 2019
Normally $18.00
Email Discount. $15.00

Envinate | Benje Tinto 2019
Normally $33.00
Email Discount. $29.00

Vale da Capucha | Clima 2015 (natural red wine from Portugal)
Normally $18.00
Email Discount $15.00

Fedellos do Couto | Conasbrancas 2016 (delicious white wine from Galicia)
Normally $23.00
Email Discount. $19.00

To order, please email us at info@homespunfoods.com , and we will do our best to accommodate each order.

Daily Specials Now Listed on Website.  Daily.

We are now listing our specials every single day that we are open on the website, you can see the page by clicking here.

• New Dishes Updated Daily

• Wine Specials & Discounts

• Easy & Quick

We look forward to seeing you again soon!

Schiavenza | Barolo | & Wines of the Piedmont

SCHIAVENZA & BAROLO

Most wine books would tell you pretty quickly that the name 'Piemonte' translates to something like 'foot of the mountains' or 'foothills', since the region sits with Alps towering off in the distance.  And when we think of where the Piedmont sits, with the Alps blocking much of the cold air blowing in from the north, but also creating a barrier that the weather that moves in from over the Mediterranean cannot quite get over.  The weather sits there in the valleys of the Langhe, born from mountains and sea.  This creates a climate and 'terroir' unlike any other, so much so that Nebbiolo is extremely difficult to grow anywhere outside of this region.  The region also gives us the most prized white truffles in the world, that do not quite taste the same as anywhere else, if we needed more proof of the unique quality of the soil and climate of the region.

In Barolo, wines can get rather expensive rather quickly, in particular in the great villages like Serralunga d'Alba and Castiglione Falleto, that's one of many reasons we're really excited to offer wines from Schiavenza.  Schiavenza is a family-run domaine headed two sisters, Enrica and Maura Alessandria, and their husbands, Luciano Pira and Walter Anselma.  The family not only farms roughly ten hectares of land in Serralunga d'Alba, they also serve some of the best local fare at the Trattoria Schiavenza. 

Schiavenza farms organically, using cover crops to add vitality and life to the soil, while limiting yields of the vigorous nebbiolo grape, creating a wine of great depth.  The family also works traditionally in the cellar, favoring longer maceration times, and aging the wine in the large Slavonian oak barrels, known as 'botte' in Italy.  All of this adds up to a delicious wine that feels very real, a wine that you could decant and enjoy very much today, but also a wine that you could age for a good long while in the cellar, especially a wine from  the rightfully heralded 2016 vintage in Barolo.   

Photos by Walter Anselma & Kevin Russell

Schiavenza Barolo 2016 | $40

To order please call the restaurant at 845.831.5096, or email us at info@homespunfoods.com
 

Other Barolo & PIedmont Wines on Offer

~ GD Vajra | Barolo 'Albe' 2016 ~
One of the great values of Barolo. From three of the highest altitude vineyards in the village of Barolo. $42

~ Massolino | Barolo 'Vigna Rionda' 2012 ~
For many local winemakers, this is one of the great vineyards of Serralunga d'Alba. The combination of the higher altitude (Vigna Rionda sits between 820 and 1180 feet above sea level) which provides cooler air and plenty of sunshine, as well as the shelter the nearby Castelleto hill provides, Vigna Rionda is a wine with a true sense of place. $134.99

~ Walter Massa | Freisa 'L'Avvelenata' 2015 ~
One of many native grapes of Italy, Freisa is has the character of a wild cousin of Nebbiolo. In the hands of Walter Massa, working naturally in both the vineyards and cellar, and with five years of bottle age, this is a truly delicious bottle. $30

~ Roagna | Langhe Rosso 2011 ~
Crazy value from one of the great traditional/natural estates of the Piedmont. This fruit comes from the Pira vineyard in Castiglione Falleto, and is truly a 'declassified' Barolo. Luca Roagna chooses here to put his 'younger' vines in this wines, but those wines are still 25 years old. The result is a 9 year old Barolo from one of the greats, with nine years of bottle age. $45

~ Andrea Scovero | Barbera d'Asti 'Ciapin' 2017 ~
Really delicious, really fun natural wine from Andrea Scovero. Barbera is very juicy, without much tannin, and super vibrant in the hands of Scovero. Great with a wide variety of food, too.

The Wines of Julien Altaber

Julien Altaber crafts wines of pure electricity and verve, and we are really pleased to offer a small amount of five different cuvées from his tiny domaine in Burgundy.

Julien grew up in the Auvergne, a region better known for its mountains and its dormant volcanoes than its wines, and his mother believed Julien should attend oenological school for winemaking.  Upon finishing, Julien moved to Burgundy, and a worked alongside Dominique Derain in the village of Saint-Aubin.  Dominique is one of the great natural winemakers in Burgundy, and Julien learned a great deal from this Jedi-cooper-vigneron in the hills of Saint-Aubin and Mercurey, especially with regards to Biodynamic and Organic Farming.  Julien eventually cobbled together a few parcels of his own, and has been making his own wines ever since at Domaine Sextant.

There are great photos and words here from Julien's former importer Fifi, who some people might know as the original heart of Ten Bells, one of New York City's great natural wine bars.

We have five wines available from Julien.  Please call us at 845.831.5096, or email us at info@homespunfoods.com if interested.

Julien Altaber | Bourgogne Aligoté 2019 -
Before we begin to give specs and wax poetic, let me say simply and plainly, this wine is delicious.  I love Aligoté.  But too often in Burgundy, the best plots are reserved for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, for the simple reason that winemakers get more money for these crops than they do the Aligoté grape.  So it is rare to find aligoté planted in a great hillside spot with a superior exposition.  At its best, aligoté has a beautiful minerality that feels compact on the palate, and also shows an underripe quality that makes me think of what Chardonnay must have tasted like in Burgundy pre-global warming.  Altaber's wine is made from two plots in two of the best villages for white wine in Burgundy, Puligny-Montrachet and Saint-Aubin.  It is also a good example of the types of wines we love, wines that are natural, but also show typicity, meaning they taste like the place they come from.  And this wine tastes like gorgeous White Burgundy.  I'm sure we will talk more about Aligoté, but this is a very good start, and a great introduction to the uninitiated.  $35 / bottle

Julien Altaber | 'Po à Po' 2019 
Orange wine from a four hectare plot in the Côte Chalonnaise.  An orange wine is a wine that is made from white grapes, but the juice is left on the skins to macerate, which lends color, flavor, texture and also gives natural preservatives to the wine, so the winemaker can use little to no sulphur during the winemaking prcoess.  This wine shows almond notes alongside a seaside minerality that is really intriguing, against a beautiful amber color in the glass.  $40 / bottle
 
Julien Altaber | Ma Ma Mia 2019
Pinot Gris is the star here.  From purchased organic fruit, Julien leaves the juice on the skins for 12 days, and then racks the wine to very old, very large wooden barrels for eight months before bottling.  The color of this 'orange wine' is beautiful, showing the pink and orange flecks from the skin of the Pinot Gris.  Not to be missed.  $40 / bottle

Julien Altaber | Gamay 'M' 2019
Hand-harvested fruit, 100% Gamay, from two plots in Brouilly, one the great crus of Beaujolais.  One of these vineyard plots holds gnarly, beautiful 60 year old vines.  The fruit here drives the wine, and plays against the balanced cut of acidity, creates a lovely tension from ripeness and underripe notes.  Perfect pairing for a roasted chicken and a warm house.  $25 / bottle  

Julien Altaber | Maranges 1er Cru 'Clos Roussots' 2018 
Finally, we have on offer one of Julien' great wines, his Maranges Rouge 1er Cru from Clos Roussots.  The Clos Roussots is beautiful vineyard that sits adjacent to the Premier Crus of Santenay, and shows the real character of the Côte de Beaune, which is more of a line than a circle on the palate.   This is how the great winemaker Hubert de Montille used to describe his experience of wine on the mouth.  Some wines feel focused and linear, almost angular on the palate, some feel round, the corners are softened, the texture is unctuous.  This is the line.  Old barrels, no SO2, hand-harvesting-- everything here is meant to give you a direct experience of the place, without the manipulation of the winemaker in the cellar.  Very limited.  55 / bottle

Altaber Photo Courtesy of our friends at Bluebird Wine & Spirits in Accord, NY

New Dishes Coming Soon...

Please check back for new dishes coming soon.  We have an updated menu here, and are really excited about our new Grilled Chicken Sandwich with lemon soy marinade and aji amarillo, a delicious yellow pepper often used in Peruvian cuisine.  

• New Dishes Coming Soon

• Prepared Foods and Meal Kits Coming Soon

• Online Ordering Coming Soon

THANK YOU ALL for your support for us and other small businesses here in Beacon as we try and make it through the winter.

Hubert Lamy, Saint-Aubin 1er cru ‘En Remilly’ 2011

this is a picture of a cat.

Few things have felt normal since March. I think most of us can agree on that. Maybe, if we are lucky, we can find an anchor which ties us to some ritual from our past life. And for that happened while working at Homespun Foods this past weekend, and I didn’t see it coming.

Maybe that is why I felt disarmed this past weekend, when I found myself presenting a bottle of White Burgundy to a table, and as the once familiar words once uses to present a wine, as they were coming out of my mouth, the usual rhythm, rattling off the producer’s name, then the appellation, then the vineyard site, and finally the vintage. This is something the sommelier does in order to make sure there is agreement between guest and restaurant, so that the correct bottle is opened. As I I found myself saying, “Hubert Lamy… Saint-Aubin Premier Cru… ‘En Remilly’ … 2011", I realized how deep the muscle memory was on this routine, something perfected as a ritual that I moved through for eight years as a sommelier in New York City. Once this was so routine, and so much a part of my life, like brushing one’s teeth, I could toggle back and forth between complete mindfulness when presenting a bottle, and complete auto-pilot as the ‘in the weeds’ service to-do list was majorly apparent and writing itself across my field of dining room vision. Present this bottle. Pour the wine for the guest. Check on Table 3. Help bus Table 8. What is happening in Section 2. Is the other Sommelier handling their section? Is Mrs. So and So here yet?

So to find myself, in the garden at Homespun, presenting an older White Burgundy, and one that presents itself as a benchmark example of older White Burgundy, I was struck at just how familiar, and how odd, this all felt.

DOMAINE HUBERT LAMY

Olivier Lamy is one of the great winemakers in Burgundy. He is a fervent practitioner of organic farming, with many of his neighbors saying he is the best farmer in Burgundy. His wines are taut, expressive, and show the origins of their appellation, minimizing the so-called ‘hand of the winemaker’ in the finished product. The wine that made me step out of myself for a moment this past weekend, was his Saint-Aubin Premier Cru ‘En Remilly’ 2011. Saint-Aubin, located in the Cote de Beaune, to the west of Chassagne-Montrachet and Meursault, has long presented a serious value to White Burgundy drinkers. It’s proximity to these great appellations speaks to its inherent quality, yet the price-tag is rarely as dear as the wines from Meursault and Chassagne. But this vineyard, ‘En Remilly’ is one of those vineyards that seriously over-punches, as it is located adjacent to one of the greatest white wine vineyards in the world, the hallowed Grand Cru of Montrachet.

That’s all well and good, but what’s in the bottle?

For folks who collect and drink White Burgundy, we are all well too aware of a situation called ‘Pre-Mox’, or premature oxidation. It is a real fear for collectors and wine buyers, so when one does find a perfect bottle of White Burgundy, it is a truly special occasion. Upon pouring the wine, the wine did not try and hide its age, the sense of oak felt like a warm but diminishing memory, having integrated into this wine long ago and resolved to something more like a sweet butterscotch, with a touch of furniture varnish, giving way to tones of vanilla and cellar musk. Something brighter appeared, like a lemon oil, very vibrant, maybe mixed with pine resin, making me think of summer and camping, but an undertone of mushroom stock brought it back to something more culinary. The aroma was fantastic, making me think of great Burgundy I had drunk in the past, in particular a bottle of Pierre Morey Montrachet from 1983 that a good friend had opened a few years ago, but the aroma was perhaps humbled by the texture of this wine, at once wound by its ever present acidity, yet round and soft and supple, revolving around an undeniable mineral core.

We have two bottles of this left at Homespun, I hope you will come by for one of them.

—Joe Robitaille

KEYWORDS : “Hubert Lamy” “White Burgundy” “Saint-Aubin” “Where to Eat in Beacon” “Take Out Beacon” “Restaurants Beacon” “Catering Beacon” “Take Out Beacon” “Wine Beacon” :Becky Wasserman” “Pas Mal"