This Month's Tasting Event

It Was A Good Year, Inc. Leadership and Officers

Board of Directors
Tim Free (Founder), (845) 896-6361 or timothybfree@gmail.com
Stephanie Pyrek, (845) 454-3402 or shp0304@aol.com
Chris Umlauf, (845) 462-4287 or chrsumlauf@gmail.com
Art Lichtman, Emeritus

Officers
Treasurer: Chris Umlauf (see above)
Scribe: Patrice Stabile, (914) 475-8677 or stabeast@gmail.com

Advisory Committee
Chair: Clay Morrissey, (845) 567-1978 or espz2@aol.com
Steve Effron, (845) 454-2884 or Sleefco@aol.com
Ed Hartmann, (845) 831-2294 or hartmann@prodigy.net
Suzanne Lunham, (914) 213-3323 or slunham@yahoo.com
Arnie Serotsky, (845) 702-7382 or arnieSer@aol.com

Other information
Club Photographer: JoAnn Norris, (845) 464-9452/jannorris17@gmail.com
For website questions, contact Joe DiDonato (845) 337-1702 or maxfire@hvc.rr.com or Arnie Serotsky (see above)
For membership questions, contact any Board member (see above)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                              September's Event

                                          It Was A Good Year, Inc.


Our September Tasting Information:
Date: Thursday, September 21, 2023
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Casa Italiana, 1195 Rte. 376, Wappingers Falls; (845) 454-1492
Deadline for Reservations & Payment: Friday, September 15, 2023*
Price: $45 per member and $50 per guest
*Please note our new reservation procedure below.

                                                 South American Wine Tasting

Get ready to taste a sampling of wines from Argentina and Chile, presented by Anthony Prizzia of Excelsior Wines. The tasting will feature some specially selected wines focusing on sustainable viticulture. Members and guests will learn about how wineries take care of the land their vines grow upon. The presentation will also feature the breathtaking landscape of various parts of these two wine-producing countries where spring is just beginning as our summer ends.

Here are four of the eight wines we will be sampling:
·        Cono Sur Organic Chardonnay 2020 (San Antonio Valley, Chile)
·        Marques de Casa Concha Pinot Noir 2019 (Bio-Bio Valley, Chile)
·        Trivento Golden Reserve Malbec 2020 (Mendoza, Argentina)
·        Marques de Casa Concha Heritage Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 (Maipo Valley, Chile) *A very special
         Cabernet!

We will serve a plate of “little foods” which will be a collaboration of the coordinator and speaker. It should be enough to serve as a "light" meal.

About our speaker:
Anthony got his start in the food and beverage industry in 1986 at the age of 15, working at Noah’s Ark, a high-volume Poughkeepsie restaurant. He put himself through college at Syracuse University while working many different jobs which included pizza parlors, delivering newspapers, and construction. In 1993 he graduated and opened the first of two restaurants; over the next 21 years, they employed more than 75 people.

In 2014 Anthony joined the sales team at Empire Merchants North, later moving up to field sales manager of the lower Hudson Valley, having over 600 accounts.   In 2016 he was hired by Excelsior Wines to be a District Manager, and then became Regional Manager when Excelsior merged with Fetzer Vineyards, CA (now called vct-usa), a position he remains in to this day. (Excelsior is the importer of Concha Y Toro [Chile] and Trivento wines [Argentina]. They are joint-venture distribution partners with Banfi.)

Anthony often presents to staff and the public. He says that being on stage is his happy place. It’s there that he can put his vast knowledge and 36 years of experience in the food and beverage industry to very good use!

Reminder of our new reservation procedure:
If you plan to attend, please email the coordinator, Clay Morrissey, at espz2@aol.com or our treasurer, Chris Umlauf, at chrsumlauf@gmail.com as soon as possible. Then download, print and fill out the reservation form attached and submit with your payment to Chris Umlauf, 7 Elbern Drive, Poughkeepsie, NY 12603. Tel: (845) 462-4287, to be received by September 15.

A Note from Tim:
As you can see, we are attempting to adjust our reservation policy to reflect the increase in planning time needed to organize events with food and the other accoutrements that we believe you should expect of an organization dedicated to wine education. This policy reflects our need to know about your plans to attend as soon as possible. The request for advance notice that your payment is “in the mail” provides the coordinators with the necessary lead-time for determining how much food and wine to purchase, glassware needs, seating, etc. We still need to receive your payment by the deadline. Of course, we will try to accommodate all members even after the deadline, but late reservations and payment make things much more difficult for event coordinators. Thank you for your consideration with regard to this matter.

Volunteers needed: Please check the appropriate box on the reservation form.
Greeter: one or two people to arrive by 6PM and check people in, etc.
Platers: will need to arrive by 5:30 PM to help put food on the plates and then serve the plates
Set-Up: will need to arrive by 5:30PM to help distribute handouts, dump cups, water cups, etc.
Pourers: will need to arrive by 5:45 PM to begin pouring the wines
Clean-Up: will need to stay 45-60 minutes after the conclusion to help clean up

Please remember IWAGY cautions members and guests about drinking and driving. We suggest a designated driver if you feel the need.

          ***Don’t forget to download, print and complete the attached reservation form. ***

Special Thanks
Thank you to all the people who helped make our August “Spanish wines & tapas” tasting the huge success that it was. We would like to thank the Powelton Club team, led by manager Chris Diesing, as well as the volunteers who poured the wines and our greeters. JoAnn and Dieter Schmidt were our greeters, Suzanne Lunham, Janice Lawler, and John Wolek our pourers, and Clay Morrissey was our reserve pourer and gave food breaks to the other pourers. Special thanks also to Carmen and Karl Najork, our Powelton Club sponsors, and Lindy Steele of Mid Valley Wines, who advised us on the wine selections and helped to ensure their availability.

                          *Don’t forget to check out our updated website IWAGY.org!

Save the Date:
Our October wine tasting will actually be held on November 1st this year! Coordinator Steve Effron is planning a wine tasting with our guest speaker Sunny Gandara who will talk to us about wines from volcanic soils: Etna, Santorini, and others.

Last updated: 8/30/2023