Hey guys!

Guess where I had dinner last night? Babbo Ristorante in NYC! If you&#39;re a foodie like me, I&#39;m sure you&#39;ve heard of this amazing Italian classic Let me give you the lowdown on this place and why you absolutely need to check it out.

First things first, let&#39;s talk about the history of Babbo. Back in 1998, renowned chef Mario Batali opened this gem in the heart of Greenwich Village. It quickly became one of the hottest spots in the city, attracting food lovers from all over the world. Fast forward to today, and the restaurant is now under the expert management of chef-owner Mark Ladner, who has taken Babbo to new culinary heights.

<a href="https://www.corkrules.com/babbo/episodes/252">Check out CorkRules Podcast #218</a>&nbsp;by our very own Maria Valetta aka @mariathewineblonde.

Food: (4.5/5) - Now, let&#39;s dive into the food. The menu at Babbo is a celebration of classic Italian cuisine with a modern twist. They offer a wide variety of dishes, ranging from antipasti like the famous Grilled Octopus with Borlotti Beans to mouthwatering homemade pasta dishes like the unforgettable Black Spaghetti with Rock Shrimp and Spicy Calabrese. Chef Ladner&#39;s expertise really shines through in every bite, and you can taste the love and dedication put into each dish.

Wine: (4/5) - But it&#39;s not just the food that makes Babbo stand out; their wine program is equally impressive. Head sommelier Jeff Kellogg has curated an exceptional but overwhelming wine list, featuring a fantastic selection of Italian wines as well as some hidden gems from around the world. Whether you&#39;re a wine connoisseur or just enjoy a good glass of vino, you&#39;ll find something to suit your taste here. The knowledgeable staff is more than happy to help you find the perfect pairing for your meal, making the dining experience even more enjoyable.

Service: (4/5) And speaking of the staff, let&#39;s talk about the service at Babbo. From the moment you step through the doors, you&#39;re greeted with warm smiles and attentive hospitality. The staff is incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the food and wine they serve, and they go above and beyond to ensure that every guest feels well taken care of. It&#39;s the kind of service that makes you feel like a VIP.

Vibe: (4/5) Finally, let&#39;s talk ambiance. If you&#39;re looking for a cozy and intimate setting for date night, Babbo is the place to be. The restaurant has a charming rustic decor, with warm lighting and exposed brick walls that exude a welcoming atmosphere. The energy is lively and vibrant, making it the perfect spot for a celebratory dinner or a romantic date night. And if you&#39;re looking to host a private event, Babbo also offers a private dining room that can accommodate larger parties.

Babbo is one the quintessential restaurants in NYC and is simply outstanding. From the incredible food to the exceptional service, this place has it all. Whether you&#39;re a fan of Italian cuisine or just looking for a memorable dining experience, Babbo is definitely worth a visit. So go ahead and make a reservation and prepare to indulge in the best of Italian flavors. You won&#39;t be disappointed!

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Back in 1998, renowned chef Mario Batali opened this gem in the heart of Greenwich Village. It quickly became one of the hottest spots in the city, attracting food lovers from all over the world. Fast forward to today, and the restaurant is now under the expert management of chef-owner Mark Ladner, who has taken Babbo to new culinary heights.

Babbo Ristorante in NYC! An Italian Classic!

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

Ayza Wine & Chocolate Bar

Grace Hood

Ayza

Ayza

RT: Hello and Welcome to CorkRules!&nbsp;

A podcast where&nbsp;we will review a wine list from your favorite restaurants. I&rsquo;m your host Robert Tas along with Grace Hood, wine educator and certified sommelier. Hello Grace,&nbsp;it&rsquo;s great to have you!

GH: Hey Hey Robert!

RT: Before we jump in, let&rsquo;s talk about those wine lists. We created CorkRules to help demystify wine list&rsquo;s because we know from experience, that sometimes when we get that list handed to us, well&hellip; it can be intimidating, and even a little daunting.

Our aim is to help prepare you to navigate that list, find those hidden gems, or value wines or that special bottle that will take your dining experience over the top.

RT:&nbsp;So today we&rsquo;re talking about the wine and chocolate bar, Ayza - Grace what are your initial thoughts?

GH: I mean who doesn&#39;t love wine and who doesn&#39;t&nbsp;love chocolate? I&#39;ve done chocolate and wine pairings in the past so this will be fun!

RT: Oh man I&rsquo;m excited! So where do we start?

GH: When it comes to pairing wine and chocolate, the things to be mindful of are dryness and sugar content. It&#39;s&nbsp;good to pair wines with similar styles of chocolate ya know. Like milder&nbsp;chocolates go well with lighter-bodied wines, while chocolates with more intense flavors can stand up to fuller-bodied wines.

RT: Makes total sense. What is sticking out to you on the Ayza list?

GH: Yeah so they have a nice little list - short and sweet and super affordable. And Most of their bottle prices are under $100 so that&#39;s always awesome.&nbsp;They have it broken down not only into the regular categories &ndash; white, red, rose etc. But then within the categories they break it down by style - floral, citrus, herbaceous, earthy etc. you know I love a well-thought-out wine list! Makes it so much more approachable to customers.

RT: Love that. Less complicated the better. So how are you going to approach a wine and chocolate pairing?

GH: I think breaking it down by type of chocolate would be the best way to go! So, starting in white chocolate which&nbsp;has a sweet, buttery flavor with notes of honey and cream. Sweet wines help cleanse the palate of the rich flavors from the white chocolate. So, on the Ayza list, you could go with the sparkling Moscato d&#39;Asti from the Alasia vineyard from the Piedmont region in northern Italy. I would say that out all the sweeter style wines out there, Moscato is one of the most well-known universally. You could also go with a Riesling as well for white chocolate - they have one from the brotherhood winery in the Hudson valley of New York. Which, super fun fact is the oldest continuously operating vineyard in America! It&rsquo;s been around since the early 1800s and was one of the only wineries to be able to survive through prohibition b/c what is a brotherhood, monks! It made wine for the church so that&#39;s how it was able to stay open while the rest of the and spirits&nbsp;production of America shut down. People love that piece of knowledge - whenever I ask someone where the oldest winery in America is they automatically say California, but nope it&#39;s in New York!&nbsp;&nbsp;

RT: How about that! I&rsquo;ll have to go visit that spot soon. Oldest Vineyard in America. How neat. So, what about milk chocolate?

GH: When we&#39;re talking milk chocolate&nbsp;its usually sweeter and creamier with some hints of brown sugar, vanilla, and cream. It&rsquo;ll do best with a light to medium-bodied wine as to not overpower those lovely nuances of the milk chocolate. This Gewurztraminer&nbsp;from Chateau&nbsp;St. Michelle out of Washington would complement&nbsp;those flavors nicely. And you can even do some reds with&nbsp;milk chocolate. I would go with the 2019 Cline from Sonoma, or the 2017 Cote de Beaune from Bouchard in Burgundy

RT: Ohhhh yum that sounds like a great combination. Now, how about dark chocolate?

GH: So, this is arguably my favorite style of chocolate - it&rsquo;s also the most healthy for you! High in antioxidants! I always have some dark chocolate-covered almonds in my kitchen. Since dark chocolate has less sugar and more pure cacao, we&#39;re going to get a lot more bitter earthy qualities to it, so we&#39;ll need a deeper richer wine to stand up to those characteristics. This 2018 Merlot from Mollydooker out of Australia would be a great pairing for dark chocolate, as well as this 2012 St Estephe from Les Pelerins de Lafon-Rochet from Bordeaux&nbsp;

RT: Amazing Grace. Great choices as always. Thank you for helping us navigate the wine list at Ayza.

To our audience, thank you all for joining us here on CorkRules.&nbsp; If you would like us to review one of your favorite restaurants, please send us email to:<a href="mailto:Info@CorkRules.com">Info@CorkRules.com</a> or visit our web website where we have a request form available and we will do our best to get it in the queue as quickly as possible.

We are looking forward to being with you on another CorkRules episode soon. In the meantime, please check out our website for other episodes of your favorite restaurant wine lists. Follow us on social media @CorkRules and @wineswithgrace

And finally, drink what you love and please make sure you drink responsibly.

Thank you.

&nbsp;

End

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

BRAT

Bocca di Lupe

Gap Weekend: A Film Shoot in Wine Country

Alba Restaurant

Alba

10 Greek Street

L'Auberge Chez Francois

Andrew Edmunds

Salt Seafood and Oyster Bar

Matteos Ristorante Italiano

Matteo's

Folie à Deux is a California-based winery that specializes in producing premium wines using traditional winemaking techniques. The winery is owned by the Trinchero Family Estates, which is known for its commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility.

Traditional steakhouse fare & Italian-accented dishes in an upscale setting.

28-50 Wine Workshop & Kitchen

28-50

Bleu Provence

KOCHINYC

Kochi

Wally's

Hav & Mar

Bern's Steakhouse

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

Rocco Steakhouse

Penfolds

Grange 2009

Blend

South Australia, Australia

Château Le Caillou

Pomerol 2005

Blend

Pomerol, Bordeaux, France

Château La Fleur-Pétrus

Pomerol 2012

Blend

Pomerol, Bordeaux, France

Château Meyney

Saint-Estephe 2014

Cabernet Sauvignon

Bordeaux, France

Domaine de La Romanée-Conti

Richebourg Grand Cru 2011

Pinot Noir

Burgundy, France

Louis Jadot

Pouilly-Fuisse 2018

Chardonnay

Burgundy, France

Verget

Puligny-Montrachet 'Les Enseigneres' 2018

Chardonnay

Burgundy, France

Dom Perignon

Rose 2005

Champagne, France

La Fiorita

Riserva Brunello di Montalcino 2011

Sangiovese

Brunello di Montalcino, Tuscany, Italy

Marchesi di Barolo

Barolo 2015

Barolo, Piedmont, Italy

Tenuta San Guido

Sassicaia 2016

Cabernet Sauvignon

Bolgheri, Tuscany, Italy

Pio Cesare

Barbaresco 2014

Nebbiolo

Barbaresco, Piedmont, Italy

Pio Cesare

Barolo 2015

Nebbiolo

Barolo, Piedmont, Italy

Cloudy Bay

Sauvignon Blanc 2018

Sauvignon Blanc

Marlborough, New Zealand

Achaval-Ferrer

Malbec 2011

Malbec

Mendoza, Argentina