In the vineyards where the sun does dance,

Beneath the sky&#39;s eternal expanse,

A nectar flows, both bold and refined,

The essence of wine, a gift to find.

&nbsp;

Within its depths, a symphony unfurls,

Notes of passion, as life gently swirls,

From grape to glass, a transformation true,

An alchemy of nature, ancient and new.

&nbsp;

In the vineyards, time becomes a dream,

As golden memories glisten and gleam,

Each sip a portal, a journey to explore,

A taste of life&#39;s essence, forevermore.

&nbsp;

Like the wine that ages with loving care,

Life too evolves, beyond compare,

From youthful vigor to wisdom&#39;s embrace,

Each chapter written with its own grace.

&nbsp;

The wine&#39;s aroma, a fragrant tale,

Whispers of stories that will never fail,

To stir the senses, ignite the soul,

As life&#39;s rich tapestry begins to unfold.

&nbsp;

In every glass, a vibrant reflection,

Of joy and sorrow, of love&#39;s affection,

For wine, like life, is a fleeting art,

A celebration of moments, held close to the heart.

&nbsp;

So raise your glass, let laughter flow,

In wine, in life, let your spirit grow,

Savor each sip, let passion entwine,

For in wine and life, the essence divine.

&nbsp;

The Promise of Wine

Wines from grapes grown in higher altitude areas with cooler climate has become quite the trend recently. This specific growing environment gives intense flavor but elegance and freshness to the final wines. To highlight and champion these conditions more and more winemakers are starting to use alto as a marketing and labelling term to show their grapes were grown in high altitude vineyards.

Decoding the wine label: Alto

Brut is a word often seen on labels for different kinds of sparkling wine. As you may have discovered when drinking these wines, it indicates that the wine is dry, meaning there is no perceived sweetness in the wine. But how about Extra Brut or Dry, what do they mean and are they the same as Brut?

Decoding the wine label: Brut

Semi-sweet Riesling, a type of wine falling out of style. It’s a shame, since these wines are perfect to pair with flavorful cuisines like Asian or Mexican, or simply drink as they come under the summer sun. The higher level of sugar left in the wine also means that the alcoholic fermentation was stopped before finishing, providing a wine with lower alcohol level and therefor easier grabbing a second glass of.

Decoding the wine label: Spätlese

Have you ever heard the word Xinomavro? Most have not. It is however a word on many sommeliers’ lips today, as it happens to be considered the grape variety with the highest quality in Greece, and one that is trending at the moment. The fact that Greece have been making wine for a long time comes as no surprise, but they have never exported an amount to make sure wine lovers around the globe tried it. With the growing wine tourism many have discovered these wines and are serving them in wine bars and restaurants in many countries today.

Decoding the wine label: Xinomavro

Chianti Classico, Valpolicella Classico, Soave Classico… Why do all these Italian wine regions have the Classico addendum and what does it mean? What is the difference for wines labeled as Classico?

Classico is a wine term in Italy seen on a few wine labels and it indicates that the wine’s from the historic center of the region, the heart. Using Chianti and Chianti Classico and their Sangiovese-based red wines as an example, Chianti is a rather large wine district within the Tuscany region. Chianti Classico is located withing Chianti as the central part and the one that originally existed. Back then this smaller region was actually called Chianti, but as the region grew the quality of the wine plummeted and the well-known characteristics of these red wines were watered down. The reputation took a hit and sales diminished. Eventually this led to the creation of Chianti Classico, which would be drawn from the original Chianti borders to recover the typicity of these wines. Today the quality of both Chianti and Chianti Classico have risen a lot due to modern techniques and knowledge about pruning, planting and temperature control in the winery.

Decoding the wine label: Classico

In the rarefied world of fine wine, where bottles can command prices equivalent to luxury cars, authenticity is everything. Laurent Ponsot's gripping memoir "FBI: Fake Bottle Investigation" reads more like a high-stakes thriller than a traditional wine book, chronicling his relentless pursuit of one of the wine world's most infamous counterfeiters, Rudy Kurniawan.

From Burgundy's Vineyards to the FBI's Most Wanted: A Winemaker's Quest for Justice

Chablis – one of the more popular styles of wine today and a region known by many. Most are familiar with the word Chablis and the light, fresh white wine with a touch of minerality it brings. Even though it’s a renowned wine, few knows what it really is.

Decoding the wine label: Chablis

Many grape varieties around the world of wine have names local to the region or country they’re grown in, even though they’re exactly the same. The most famous example would be Syrah in France where the same grape is named Shiraz in Australia. Another variety with two names is Pinot Grigio, or Pinot Gris.

Decoding the wine label: Pinot Grigio

Have you ever seen the term sur lie on a wine label? It’s not a grape and not a wine region, but a winemaking method used to give certain styles of white wine a rounder texture and a more complex flavor profile.

Decoding the wine label: Sur lie

Robert Tas and Alexis Percival, certified sommelier and consulting wine director at Steak Frites, a new neighborhood classic French Bistro, located on the west side of Manhattan.

Wine List Review of Steak Frites, New York City

Alexis Percival

Steak Frites

SteakFrites

RT: Hello and welcome to Cork rules. I&#39;m your host Robert Tas, along with Alexis Percival, certified sommelier, and consulting wine director at Steak Frites&nbsp;and new neighborhood classic French Bistro, located on the west side of Manhattan.

Hello, Alexis, thank you for being here on cork rules, a podcast where we help simplify and demystify the wine list at some of your favorite restaurants and wine bars. We talk with certified sommeliers, wine and food professionals who point out interesting bottles, classic food and wine pairings, hidden gems, value wines. And of course, those splurge wines that will take your experience over the top.

AP: Thank you, Robert. I&#39;m really excited to be here.

RT: Alexis, I&#39;m super excited to talk about steak fruits and their amazing wine lists. But before we jump in, let&#39;s talk a little bit about you. Can you give us a little background about yourself in the food business?

AP: Absolutely. Well, steak fried since we&#39;re talking about that today was opened at the beginning of December. So it&#39;s only been a few weeks, I came onto the project in mid-October to help prepare for the opening and in the longer term, as you said, as the consulting wine director there. I&#39;m also currently the partner and former beverage director of Ruffian wine bar, and kindred in the East Village, which unfortunately, Kindred just closed. In this past August, I&#39;d been in the biz for over 10 years now. And as a wine buyer for LIS for most of that time. And as you said, I&#39;m also a certified some amazing, amazing. Well, steak fruits has my name written all over it, I think it might be a picture next to my bio, because I love what it stands for. I love when I go to Paris, I might when I first stops is getting steak free, it&#39;s there. So your place has the same kind of neighborhood vibe to it in my mind, from its decor to the food, of course to the wine list.

RT: So can you tell us a little bit more about steak treats and a little bit of history and how it came about?

AP: Sure, the chef owner Adam shop has a long history with French bistro. And while he has other projects, I think that this one is really near and dear to his heart. It&#39;s located in Hell&#39;s Kitchen, just south of the Port Authority station. And that neighborhood kind of needs us some spots with Seoul, we think of that area as being very transient. But in fact, there&#39;s a ton of longtime residents who are looking for places to be regulars at basically the food is classic French bistro fare, but very well executed, I&#39;d say it punches above its weight. And I think the same with the sort of DIY decor and the super friendly service. It&#39;s not your cookie cutter corporate interpretation of a French bistro, it&#39;s you can tell that there&#39;s a heart and soul in it.

RT: I love it. I love it sounds amazing. All right, let&#39;s pivot and talk some wine, shall we?

AP: Absolutely. So along those same lines, I took that same inspiration of authenticity. When I was designing the list. Of course, a list is ongoing. It&#39;s never done as long as the restaurant is open, because things sell out, things get replaced. But for the initial list, which I&#39;d say we&#39;re still in now, I looked to bistro in France, which often have local wines that are understandable and value driven. So it&#39;s an all French list. And because of my background, it&#39;s natural leaning, but not funky offerings. For those of you who are less comfortable with quote unquote, natural wines, there&#39;s everything for you know, very accessible Bordeaux Sancerre and things like that, but things that are you know, sustainably made. And I&#39;d say as with any list, I try to answer questions with the selection. So basically, somebody comes and says, you know, I like a Napa cab and I say, Okay, try this. You know, we do all French I don&#39;t have Napa cab, but I always will have an answer for that. So it&#39;s not about pushing an agenda. It&#39;s about having a point of view while also satisfying the customers.

RT: I love it. I love the love the curation. I love your thought and I can feel your passion for it and what you put into it anything like there&#39;s a must try that if I was going there for the first time. What would you guide me to?

AP: Sure. Well, as I said, I tried to make it a really affordable and accessible list. This isn&#39;t meant to be a trophy list. It&#39;s meant to be something that&#39;s functional and actually sells. And so I say the vast majority of the list is under $150. And in there, I&#39;ve tried to pepper it with some affordable nerdy gems. So these would be wines that would be delicious to people who aren&#39;t as into wine, but fun finds for people in the know. For example, I have the Chateau Le Puy, &lsquo;&Eacute;milien&rsquo;, Bordeaux 2019 I have course one of the grandfathered wines of natural winemaking from Maison Loron, &lsquo;Beau!,&rsquo; Gamay, Beaujolais 2020&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; which is again may I also have some specifically food fun wines like that, Beck-Hartweg, Gew&uuml;rztraminer, Grand Cru Frankstein,&nbsp; Alsace 2018 and that&#39;s a star with our house-made country pate. I know Gilbert&#39;s Femeanor can be a little bit difficult for people to access but, but man when the pairing hits it hits, right. That sounds amazing and delicious.

RT: Now you got me excited. Well, I know you thought a lot about stuff that&#39;s even out off the beaten path something that&#39;s maybe nerdy and will push my palate anything come to mind there.

AP: If any of your listeners know me they&#39;ll know that certainly skin contact wise for something that we&#39;ve worked with extensively skin contact, also known as orange wines. We&#39;re not yet in the few weeks that stick bait has been open getting a ton of play yet but mark my words, it&#39;s definitely coming and I was also really thoughtful about the orange wines that I put on. I wanted people to have the experience of just wow, this is a really excellent wine not Oh, this is weird, and I&#39;ve never had anything like it. So I really sought out some of the wines that I&#39;ve worked with over the years that I think best exemplify that so we have the Sparr, &#39;Libert&eacute;&#39; Gew&uuml;rztraminer/Pinot Gris, Alsace 2019, and Domaine Yves Duport, &#39;C&eacute;line&#39;, Bugey, Savoie 2021 also have in that orange wine selection.

Which is a Shannon that is fermented and aged and amphora but these are clean drinking rich wine. So if you&#39;re thinking skin contact mints, funky kombucha. These will change your mind. Wow sound amazing sound amazing. Look forward to trying them myself. You&#39;ve got a really cool list very curated. What if I&#39;m celebrating something special? I want to take it up a notch. Oh, well, I made this might be a little overdone. But I really am very passionate about champagne and more. So I&#39;m really passionate about finding natural and sustainably made champagnes, because they are by nature, very manipulative wines. You can&#39;t make champagne without being very barely intervening with the process. So if you&#39;re going to treat yourself I&#39;m gonna say the Lelarge-Pugeot, &lsquo;Luna&nbsp; Volume 2, Extra-Brut 2015 it&#39;s a vintage champagne from 2015. Female winemaker, her dad, but they&#39;re very experimental. And they&#39;re really playing with alternative methods. So, in the case of that particular QA, they are inoculating with the most from the following vintage, which technically makes it non-callable vintage, it&#39;s 2015. But I think just the quality, the everything that&#39;s put into this wine, it&#39;s just outstanding, you would not not not be disappointed, but also just be blown away by it. So I&#39;ll just drink champagne with anything at anytime. So we don&#39;t need to have a special occasion.

RT: I like your thinking. I like your thinking I&#39;m with you. Champagne goes with everything. People are surprised they actually can have it with steak. They can have it with everything. Steak, fruit, baby. Exactly. Exactly. Those are amazing suggestions. Alexis, thank you so much. It&#39;s been a pleasure to chat with you about steak fruits and the fabulous list that you&#39;ve put together. I am super excited about our upcoming dinner and checking it out myself to our audience. Thank you all for joining us here on cork rules. If you would like us to review one of your favorite restaurants, please send us an email to info at cork rules.com or visit our website where we have that request form available. We&#39;re looking forward to being with you on another court rules episode soon. In the meantime, please check out our website for all our latest episodes of your favorite restaurant wine lists. And finally drink what you love and please make sure you drink responsibly. We look forward to being with you on another court rules episode soon. Cheers.

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Matteo's

Robert Mondavi Winery is one of the most iconic wineries in Napa Valley, California. Founded in 1966 by Robert Mondavi, the winery is dedicated to producing high-quality wines that showcase the best of Napa Valley. The winery is known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Fumé Blanc, as well as its commitment to sustainability and innovation.

Upscale American fare & old-time charm in a landmark building dating to 1818, with canalside patio.

Alexis Percival is a New York City based CMS certified sommelier, consultant and event planner who puts the art in party.

Certified sommelier Alexis Percival

homepage

CorkRules application allows you to discover wines at your favorite restaurants, learn with friends and be confident with price transparency. Order wine with confidence at restaurants and retailers. Get personalized recommendations. #DrinkWhatYouLove

Richardson's Canal House

Chateau Ste. Michelle

Dry Riesling 2017

Riesling

Washington, USA

Hosmer Winery Dry Rose Finger Lakes, USA 2017

Finger Lakes, USA

Aotearoa

Sauvignon Blanc 2017

Sauvignon Blanc

South Island, New Zealand

Ramón Bilbao

Albarino Rias Baixas 2017

Albarino

Rias Baixas, Spain

Saracco

Moscato d'Asti 2016

Moscato Bianco

Moscato d'Asti, Piedmont, Italy

Gradis'Ciutta

Pinot Grigio Collio 2017

Pinot Grigio

Collio, Italy

Dr. Konstantin Frank

Gewurztraminer, Finger Lakes 2017

New York, USA

Agness Wine Cellars

Semi-Dry Riesling 2017

Riesling

Finger Lakes, USA

Migration

Bien Nacido Vineyard Chardonnay 2016

Chardonnay

California, USA

A to Z Wineworks

Pinot Noir 2016

Pinot Noir

Oregon, USA

Tedeschi

Capitel Tenda Soave Classico 2013

Garganega

Soave, Veneto, Italy

Jansz Rose Brut Champagne Tasmania Australia NV

Tasmania, Australia

Flowers

Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2016

Chardonnay

California, USA

Quivira Vineyards

Fig Tree Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2015

Sauvignon Blanc

California, USA

SIMI

Sonoma County Chardonnay 2018

Chardonnay

California, USA