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

Amelie

Grace Hood

Amelie

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: Bonjour 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 Amelie wine bar and bistro in the west village. Sounds like we&rsquo;re going to be getting into some French wines by the sound of the name, so I know you must be excited Grace haha

GH: Hahha you know my weakness for French wines Robert! Love this little French wine bar vibe. I&#39;m partial to any place that makes you feel like you&rsquo;re&nbsp;in Europe.

RT: Ohhh I totally get that. Transporting you from Manhattan to Paris. What are your initial thoughts on their wine list?

GH: This little wine bar has a lovely condensed 2-page wine list. they have it categorized by both region and style so you can really get into semantics here. Plus, not only is it approachable in size but in price point as well! There are tons of selections for under $100 so you really get the chance to explore here without breaking the bank.&nbsp;

RT: Amazing &ndash; can&rsquo;t wait to dive into some of your choices. Let me guess &ndash; we&rsquo;re going to start with sparkling

GH: &nbsp;hahaha absolutely! starting with sparkling&nbsp;you could go with a classic champagne like the Delamotte Brut, but I would personally&nbsp;try out this sparkling pinot noir from Burgundy!

RT: Predictable, what else caught your eye for starters?

GH: If you&#39;re feeling the rose all day kinda vibe, I would do the Domaine St. Victorie which is an organic grenache syrah blend from the Cote de Provence.&nbsp;

RT: Ohhh amazing &ndash; love trying new sparkling regions. What are you thinking for whites?

GH: When we get to whites, they have a rolle, which is just the French term for vermentino, from Chateau de Pourcieux&nbsp;in the Cotes&nbsp;de Provence. Now traditionally vermentino is produced in Italy, so I would be really interested to see how it tastes when it&#39;s grown in the southeast region of France.

RT: Great. Any others catch your eye?

Another white that caught my eye was the grenache gris/mourvedre&nbsp;blend from Domaine des Enfants in the Languedoc. I love blends b/c you get such a unique experience when a few different grapes are hanging out in the bottle together.&nbsp;

RT: Totally &ndash; no two blends are created equal haha. Now you know our listeners love reds. What are your hot takes for reds on the Amelie list?

GH: To start in reds, first one they have on the list is a gamay from Dominique&nbsp;Piron, that they serve chilled! Now you might be saying &quot;Grace you&#39;re not supposed to drink red wines chilled&quot; and traditionally you don&#39;t&nbsp;drink MOST red wines chilled. But gamay is the special one-off grape that is so light and aromatic that it is able to be enjoyed with a little chill on it! Perfect for a hot summer day.

RT: Oh that sounds really refreshing! I didn&rsquo;t know there were any reds you should chill. Great tip there, Grace. What about some other reds?

GH: So you&rsquo;re wanting a great medium-bodied red, they have a 2008 Lopez Heredia Vina Tondonia on the list. Super classic rioja producer and slightly older vintage. If you&rsquo;re looking for a bigger more tannic red, I would do the 2015 Villa I Cipressi Brunello di Montalcino from Tuscany.

RT: Oh, yum I love a Super Tuscan. Now, Grace what about some value bottles or special occasion bottle?

GH: You got it! For affordable whites, I&rsquo;d suggest the 2020 txakolina from Spain, one of my favorite effervescent whites, perfect for summertime.

RT: Yum. Sounds refreshing. Anything higher end for us to look at?

GH: For a special occasion white I&rsquo;d go with 2017 Chassagne Montrachet from Burgundy. Then for a value red, I&rsquo;d go with the 2018 Chinon which is cab franc from the Loire valley in France.

RT: What about red?

GH: And then for your special occasion red, gotta be the 2006 premier grand cru Saint Emillion from Chateau Canon

RT: Amazing Grace. Great choices as always. Thank you for helping us navigate the wine list at Amelia.

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.

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End

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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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