With the exception of sommeliers and vintners, for most of us who love wine, no matter how many bottles you drink in your lifetime, and no matter how delicious, you rarely think of the terroir, the grape, or the growing process as you drink it.

That&rsquo;s all about to change. Listening to Chris Phelps talk about his first foray into making wine makes you appreciate his deep knowledge and consideration for the grape and the land.

In Episode 283 of CorkRules, Robert Tas talks to Chris about his background in wine, how his son encouraged him to start making wine, and origin story of&nbsp; <a href="https://www.advivumcellars.com/">Ad Vivum,</a> but throughout this interesting conversation, one thing is clear: Chris has an immense passion for the land, the grape, and, of course, the alchemy that happens when you bring the grape through fruition, fermentation, and finally wine.

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Wine for Body, Mind and Soul

Like so many passionate vintner&rsquo;s Chris&rsquo; path into the vineyard was shaped by fate. Originally enrolled in pre-med at Davis University, he spent a summer firefighting where he encouraged a friend, a passionate wine geek, to join him at Davis where they ran a viticulture/enology program. The tables turned when the friend later encouraged Chris to jump from medicine to wine.

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Fast forward a few years of studying and working in France and at various vineyards, including a wine ch&acirc;teau within the village of Puisseguin-Saint-&Eacute;milion in Bordeaux, and Chris is now a consultant for wineries, including Inglenook in Napa Valley, and Grounded Wine Company.

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For Chris, the joy of selecting a varietal that produces exceptional and original fruit is just the beginning. He talks passionately about finding those unique grapes, picking them at the right time, not an hour later or earlier, and how the moment of tasting the raw, as yet unfermented fruit, a few days after cold soaking, reveals the aromatics and top notes.

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Today, Chris produces small productions of select wines, usually just several hundred cases each year. The wines are selectively and directly distributed locally at wine shops and restaurants. He is the winemaker, and his son runs the business side of sales and promotion. The father-son team also run Coil Wines where they produce a Mendocino County Pinot Noir and a rare old-vine Napa Valley Chenin Blanc.

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Chris believes the secret to good wine lies in the love of the land. He spends time in the vines, getting to know them, watching how they grow so he knows when they should be harvested. Timing is key when picking grapes, the sugar content and ripe factor play a major role in the final product. And of course, good vintners know that the vitality of the terroir is, well, vital for the health, growth, and taste of the grape. He pays attention to which grapes do well in which area of the land. He takes note of the sun, water, wind, and minerals in the soil all of which play a role in the magical science that turns vine into wine.

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However, Chris also believes that wine is about more than selective wine tasting and the snobbery that may be encountered within the industry. Wine is about life, and his philosophy rings true with many wine lovers across the globe for whom the love of the juice reaches far beyond tasting notes: it&rsquo;s about sharing and pairing; it&rsquo;s about long conversations and enjoying an evening of&nbsp; convivial company.

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As Chris so eloquently states, &ldquo;Ad Vivum was the first single-vineyard wine to emerge from a unique name: Ad infers movement toward a goal with intention. Vivum is the synthesis of two Latin words &mdash; vivere (to live) and vinum (wine). Ad Vivum, is, therefore, where wine and life meet.&rdquo;

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Cheers to that, Chris, and may your wine glass be always half full.

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With the exception of sommeliers and vintners, for most of us who love wine, no matter how many bottles you drink in your lifetime, and no matter how delicious, you rarely think of the terroir, the grape, or the growing process as you drink it.

Chris Phelps on Wine and Life

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

28-50 Wine Workshop & Kitchen

Tina Johansson, WSET Diploma Graduate and Michelin restaurant sommelier, and Robert Tas go overseas to the U.K. where they review the wine list at 28-50 Marleybone 

Wine List Review of 28-50

Tina Johansson

28-50

CorkRules Script

28-50

RT: Hello and welcome to CorkRules!

I&rsquo;m your host Robert Tas along with Tina Johansson, WSET Diploma Graduate and Michelin restaurant sommelier.

Hi Tina, thanks for being back with us on another episode of CorkRules, - a podcast where we help simplify and demystify the wine lists at some of your favorite restaurants. We talk with certified sommeliers and wine professionals who point out interesting bottles, classic food and wine pairings, hidden gems, value wines, or splurge wines that will take your dining experience over the top.

TJ: Thank you for having me Robert! And excited to dive into the wine list of 28-50 on Marylebone Lane in London. They have a sister restaurant in Chelsea, both of which they call &rdquo;wine workshop and kitchen&rdquo;. I don&rsquo;t know about you, but I&rsquo;m instantly intrigued by that.

RT: Me too! It&rsquo;s like a wine bar but with more focus on food. They&rsquo;re open all day, from breakfast til late and the food is European with dishes like white asparagus with smoked almonds or lamb loin with spring greens. How does the wine list look to you Tina?

TJ: Very good! The selection by the glass is fun and changing often, and the bottle list is quite classical with many famous labels and a few hidden gems. You can also find a few back vintage wines due to them having connections with private collectors of wine who let them sell their bottles in the restaurant. That&rsquo;s a cool initiative I haven&rsquo;t seen before.

RT: Yes, I agree! And, if you&rsquo;re not sure what you want you can always ask the sommelier, or opt for their three-course meal with matching wine. But now I&rsquo;m getting thirsty, How about we start with a nice white this time?

TJ: Sounds great to me! I have my eyes on the 2019 Didier Dagueneau Silex, a beautiful Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley of France. When I first tried this wine I realized how versatile of a grape Sauvignon Blanc can be. It doesn&rsquo;t have to be overtly aromatic and green, it can have yellow fruits and minerality like this one. Dagueneau is a trail blazer and one of the most well-known producers of Loire today.

RT: Yeah, these wines can be quite hard to come by as well so it sounds like a perfect time to try it if you haven&rsquo;t already! So what about a bottle of red? Anything else that&rsquo;s a must try?

TJ: Well yeah. To continue on the same theme, the Loire Valley that is, they have one of the most iconic reds from the region on their wine list as well. It&rsquo;s the 2010 Clos Rougeard Le Clos, made from Cabernet Franc. It was made by the equally iconic Foucault brothers up until they sold the estate in 2017 so it&rsquo;s one of the original vintages that are extra hard to come by today. A real so called unicorn wine.

RT: What a bottle. Not easy to find, and not the most affordable one either&hellip; Even though it&rsquo;s hard to pace yourself when you&rsquo;re looking at a list like this one, is there something with a more moderate price tag to drink?

TJ: Of course, not every bottle needs to be a famous label. Wine is supposed to be fun! Besides, I think we&rsquo;ve taken enough advantage of the private collectors cellar by now. So, for our last wine there&rsquo;s an amazing Barbera from Piedmont in Italy on the list, the 2019 Reva Barbera d&rsquo;Alba. Reva is an up and coming producer just starting to get some well deserved attention. Their Barbera is elegant yet full of fruit flavour without getting too luscious like some other styles being made with the grape.

RT: Fun choice, Barbera is an underrated grape variety in comparison to Nebbiolo growing in the same region. Thank you for picking that one out for us, and for being back with us Tina.

To our audience, thank you all for joining us here on CorkRules.

If you would like us to review one of your favorite

restaurants, please send us email to:

Info@CorkRules.Com or visit our web website where

we have a request form available and we will do our

best to get it in the queue&nbsp;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 wherever you get your podcasts.

And finally, drink what you love and please make

sure you drink responsibly.

&nbsp;

END

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

Domaine du Colombier is a family-owned winery located in the heart of the Beaujolais region in France. The estate has been producing wines for over 130 years and is known for its high-quality, elegant and complex wines.

Meson

Brasserie Mon Chou Chou

BondST

Buenos Aires Restaurant

Buenos Aires

Meadowsweet

Casa Mono

Atera

La Cava

LAVO Italian Restaurant

Lavo

Quality Italian

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

Jettie Rae’s Oyster House

Salomon Undhof

Hochterrassen Gruner Veltliner NV

Gruner Veltliner

Niederosterreich, Austria

Jeio

Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Brut NV

Glera

Veneto, Italy

Château de Pizay

Beaujolais NV

Gamay

Beaujolais, France

Château La Berrière

Muscadet Sur Lie NV

Melon de Bourgogne

France

Vignerons de Buxy

Mercurey Buissonnier Rouge NV

Pinot Noir

Mercurey, France

Chehalem, Inox Chardonnay, Willamette Valley NV

Oregon, USA

Bordeaux

Chateau La Rame Rose NV

Bordeaux, France

Pierre Sparr

Cremant d'Alsace Brut Rose NV

Pinot Noir

France

Pascal Jolivet

Sauvignon Blanc Attitude NV

Sauvignon Blanc

Touraine, France

Le Pigeoulet des Brunier

Vaucluse NV

Grenache

Rhone, France

Château Thivin

Cote de Brouilly NV

Gamay

Beaujolais, France

Hecht & Bannier

Cotes de Provence Rose NV

Blend

Provence, France

Jose Antonio Garcia Cubos del Paramo Villacalbiel, Spain, Castilla NV

Mencia

Castilla y Leon, Spain

Château Vitallis - Denis Dutron

Pouilly-Fuisse NV

Chardonnay

Burgundy, France

Bodegas Frontonio Macabeo Microcosmico, Spain, Aragón, Vino de la NV

Macabeo

Aragon, Spain