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?

When talking about sparkling wine, most tend to think about Champagne. Champagne is a wine region in northern France, exclusively making sparkling wine. The method used here is even called the champagne method, meaning the wines ferment a second time in the bottle with added yeast and sugar, creating bubbles captured in the bottle. When the fermentation is done, the bottle will be opened to remove the yeast sediment, creating a beautiful and clear wine. At the same time, dosage will be added. Dosage is a mix of the same wine as well as sugar. The more sugar used in the mix, the sweeter the final wine will be. This method evolved due to the cool climate in this region, creating wines with a very sharp acidity. By adding a bit of sugar, the acidity will be perceived as softer, making the final wine more balanced.

The most common labelling term for dosage is Brut. This is a dry Champagne that is allowed a few grams of sugar to achieve this balance. Dry wines could also be labelled as Brut Nature or Zero Dosage, indicating that no sugar at all has been added providing an even crisper style of bubbly. Extra Brut is the term in between, with just a tad of added sugar, even lower than Brut. This scale is used for most sparkling wines around the world when made with the same method as Champagne, for instance in wine regions for Cava in Spain and Franciacorta in Italy.&nbsp;

However, other scales of measuring the sugar level and the sweetness in the wine can be used. For the sparkling wine Prosecco, made in northeast Italy, the labelling terms are a bit more confusing. Brut is still used for a dry wine, but the term Extra Dry means the wine will have a bit of added sweetness and Dry tells you that the wine is actually semi dry, containing up to 32 grams of sugar per liter. That is four times more than a common Brut usually have today. Misunderstandings can therefore be quite common!

A wine with more sweetness will appear more flavorful and with riper fruit aromas, while a dry wine will be crispier with citrus aromas. Which style is the best is up to personal taste, so get to tasting!

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

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

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

Smith & Wollensky

Maria Valetta

RT: Hello and welcome back to CorkRules! The wine podcast that&rsquo;s here to help you navigate all of your favorite restaurant wine lists! I&rsquo;m, Robert Tas

MV: And I&rsquo;m Maria Valetta, and today we have another great wine list to review for you

RT: That&rsquo;s right Maria, we are talking Smith and Wollensky a NY institution. They have been on the upper east side since 1977. It personifies New York dining at its best. &nbsp;It&rsquo;s known for serving prime cuts of meat and for its impeccable service. Some say it&rsquo;s the best steakhouse in Manhattan. This is the place where I, as a young pup, had my first business dinner, and it has been one of my favorites ever since. Maria, what do you think of their list?

MV: Well, this one is certainly on the heftier side &ndash; with 14 pages of wines to discover!

RT: As am I. LOL

MV: What really stands out to me with this one is the number of verticals they have.

RT: Maria, can you tell folks what is a vertical

MV: Great idea, So when it comes to &ldquo;wine speak&rsquo; a vertical refers to the same type of wine from the same exact winery BUT the difference on showcase here is vintage ( in other words, the year the wine was harvested), so you&rsquo;ll see here on Smith and Wollensky&rsquo;s list that you have a lot of wines on offer that look similar but the year (or what we call vintage) is different.

RT: So, Maria, please explain why verticals are a big deal &hellip;

MV: Great question, Robert, So the better question I think is&hellip; &nbsp;what&rsquo;s the fun part about verticals!? This is exactly the kind of place where someone who appreciates wine from a specific winery can have a lot of fun&hellip; because every harvest year the weather is different and that directly translates into the bottle, so having this incredible selection of vintages gives you the option to order 2 or 3 or 6 bottles and taste the difference between each one from one year to the next... It&rsquo;s really fascinating and it&#39;s not just for the experts, even those who have newbie wine palates can easily be guided to taste the differences in each bottle. Some years have more fruit and some for earth for example.

RT: I love it. I&rsquo;ve been fortunate to do a number of those types of dinners with my wine crew. Always amazing.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s rare for restaurants to have this kind of range.

MV: My advice, host a group event and order the 2013, 14, and 15 Mayacamas Cabernet Sauvignon, have them decant them and arrange 3 glasses and watch as your guests begin to discover the subtle but noticeable differences in each glass!

MV: Yup, it&rsquo;s a major differentiator for S&amp;W&nbsp;

RT: &nbsp;Alright Maria, let&rsquo;s talk about wines by the glass...

MV: yes, thanks for reeling me back in to our starting point Robert&hellip;I&rsquo;m drawn to the 2020 Louis Jadot Macon Village &hellip; It&rsquo;s a white burgundy (Here&rsquo;s a tip white Burgundy means Chardonnay) from a well-known wine producer with a great reputation and this has just enough body and zip to pair well with their lobster or crab cocktail

RT: So what about value wines&hellip; can you find a gem for us here?

MV: definitely a little more difficult here because the wines are on the pricier side, but take a look at this section called The Outliers..

RT: oh yes is see it labeled as &ldquo;the wines that just don&rsquo;t fit in&rdquo;

MV: EXAAAAACTLY a little experimentation calls for a little discount&hellip; haha! But this selection is great! 7 different wines, most around $100 and under! Yeah!! You just have to be open-minded&hellip; I mean sign me up for the PAX 2019 Gamay&hellip; This is a great producer with vineyard-driven wines so I am totally willing to see what they do with the GAMAY grape!

RT: Sounds Like a winner to me! (or your own comment then throw&hellip;):

And then what about that top-level wine but say under:

MV: well that&rsquo;s what those verticals we talked about are for&hellip; right? ..but

I would also really love to see my date impress me with the 2018 Aperture Cabernet from Sonoma showcased on their Captain&rsquo;s Pocket List Page or the 2018 Hourglass blueline estate cabernet from Napa Valley. I like a bold big California wine with my Steak dinner. And aperture is an up-and-coming producer to keep an eye on and Hourglass wines are a collectable favorite&hellip; they use a little of the petite Verdot grape in this cab and it makes it really luscious.

RT. You know I love those bold wines. Can&rsquo;t wait to try.

MV: Perfect pairing.

RT: Maria TY so much for all your great suggestions and helping us navigate S &amp; W&rsquo;s Wine list. Next time you dine at Smith &amp; Wollensky, be sure to tell them, you found them on CorkRules

Thank you everyone for joining us, Remember the only rule in wine is &ldquo;drink what you LOVE&rdquo;.

MV: Have a favorite wine List? Let us review it here on CorkRules. Send us your requests at <a href="mailto:info@corkrules.com">info@corkrules.com</a> and remember to check out all of our episodes on Corkrules.com.

&nbsp;

BRAT

Bocca di Lupe

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Alba

10 Greek Street

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Andrew Edmunds

Salt Seafood and Oyster Bar

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Matteo's

Kistler Vineyards is a small, family-owned and operated winery specializing in the production of Burgundian-style Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Family-run steakhouse since 1934 serving beef, fish & wines in a romantic, historic house.

28-50 Wine Workshop & Kitchen

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KOCHINYC

Kochi

Wally's

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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

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