<a href="https://ko.momofuku.com/">Momofuku Ko</a>&nbsp;is an award-winning restaurant in NYC that offers an exceptional dining experience. &nbsp;It won two Michelin stars in 2009 and has maintained that status ever since. It was also awarded three stars by the New York Times in 2015, and in 2019, it was ranked No. 76 on the World&rsquo;s 50 Best Restaurants list. With credentials like this, you&rsquo;d expect a top-quality wine list and you would not be disappointed.

So, if dining Japanese, which wines pair well?

Japanese cuisine is quite varied and includes a wide range of seafood dishes, tempura, sushi and sashimi, pork, chicken, ramen&hellip;, the flavors and textures are diverse, which means we need a wine list with a variety of options.

With sushi and sashimi, you can go wrong with a crisp, clean white wine like a gr&uuml;ner veltliner. A white wine with high acidity and lemony, citrus notes works well with seafood. Sauvignon blanc also pairs well with sushi, and, of course, Champagne also works well.

If you opt for a bowl of ramen or miso soup, the strong umami calls for a bolder wine that won&rsquo;t be overpowered nor overpower. Consider choosing a fortified wine like an Assyrtiko from Greece or even a Manzanilla sherry. However, many ramen dishes use soy sauce, in this case, a light-bodied pinot noir will also work well.

Fried, battered and grilled dishes like tempura, katsu, karaage and agedashi tofu pair well with aromatic and full-bodied whites, such as chardonnay or pinot gris. However, light to medium reds can also work spectacularly well. Think pinot noir, gamay or grenache.

If you are thinking of dining at Momofuku Ko, &nbsp;check out the CorkRules<a href="https://uat.corkrules.com/momofuku-las-vegas/episodes/23">&nbsp;podcast </a>episode with certified sommelier Michaela Quinlan. She navigates the wine list at &nbsp;Momofuku Ko and offers a few stellar suggestions.

Cheers!

&nbsp;

About the CorkRules Podcast:&nbsp;Each week we pour a glass and share top restaurant wine list picks, providing you with the knowledge to confidently navigate the wine list through sommelier recommendations, suggested food pairings and expert insights

About CorkRules:&nbsp;CorkRules, the first digital wine app experience, makes it easier for you to navigate the restaurant wine list, and provides you with personalized wine recommendations from your favorite restaurants. Through CorkRules you can find the perfect wine for every occasion based on your preferences. Connect with friends and wine experts to discover new wines to try and learn about wine. CorkRules makes it easier to discover and drink what you love. &nbsp;

Momofuku Ko is an award-winning restaurant in NYC that offers an exceptional dining experience.  It won two Michelin stars in 2009 and has maintained that status ever since. It was also awarded three stars by the New York Times in 2015, and in 2019, it was ranked No. 76 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. With credentials like this, you’d expect a top-quality wine list and you would not be disappointed.

Pairing Wine with Japanese Food at Momofuku Ko

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

Aretsky’s Patroon

Grace Hood, certified sommelier and wine educator, and Robert Tas visit the American-fusion restaurant Patroon, New York City

Wine List Review of Patroon, New York City

Grace Hood

Patroon

Patroon

Robert Tas&nbsp;

Hello, and welcome to CorkRules podcast where we will review a wine list from your favorite restaurants. I&#39;m your host, Robert Tas, along with Grace hood, wine educator, and certified sommelier. Hello, Grace. It&#39;s great to have you back for another great wine list.

Grace Hood&nbsp;

Hey, Robert, happy to be here.

Robert Tas&nbsp;&nbsp;

So before we jump in, let&#39;s talk CorkRules. We created CorkRules to demystify wine lists, because we know from experience that sometimes when we get that list handed to us, well, it can be intimidating and even a little daunting. Our aim is to help prepare you to navigate that list. Find those hidden gems, value wines, or that special bottle to take your dining experience over the top. So sit back and listen as we review your favorite wine list. So great. Today, we&#39;re chatting about Patroon This is a classic New York establishment. Super excited to hear what your initial thoughts are about their list. Yeah, so

Grace Hood Tthey have a nice list. It&#39;s a good international mix. Definitely, a lot of French which you know, I never hate.

Robert Tas:&nbsp;Yeah, you and your French wine obsession. I love it. So, Grace, where are you going to kick us off?

Grace Hood&nbsp;&nbsp;

Well, you know, you can&#39;t go wrong with sparkling. And a really interesting one I saw on the list is a California sparkling from Cruz, which is a small producer from Petaluma. This is what we would qualify as a natural wine, in that the fermentation process occurs from the wild yeast, which just refers to the natural spores that are already on the grapes and the leaves in the vineyard as opposed to using a man-made yeast or a chemically produced yeast. This is the most old-school way of mind making the winemaker would take a few great clippings about a week before they&#39;re going to harvest the acreage. And in the lab, they&#39;ll mash up the grapes and leave them in an air-locked container to start growing healthy bacteria from the natural yeasts. And that will be added to the fermentation tank when they harvest and start processing the rest of the grapes is basically the same thing you would do if you were making a sourdough bread or a kombucha.

&nbsp;

Robert Tas&nbsp; 01:59

Wow, that&#39;s awesome. Wine science lessons with Grace here. I love it. Now, I gotta believe they have some great whites. What caught your eye there?

Grace Hood&nbsp;&nbsp;

Yeah, so since the cuisine Patroon is kind of American fine dining fusion. We have a lot we can play with when it comes to flavors. If we wanted to go with a lighter style white, I would actually recommend an Australian riesling from the Vinta Looper vineyard in the Clare Valley. Australia is such an underrated country for wines. Sometimes the southern hemisphere gets forgotten because it&#39;s so far away from us here in America. But don&#39;t sleep on the southern hemisphere. Australia has a lovely temperate climate and makes it has very talented winemakers

Robert Tas&nbsp;&nbsp;

I can&#39;t believe you think Australia wines are underrated, but you&#39;re probably right. We all need to do some more Australian wine exploration including myself.

Grace Hood&nbsp;&nbsp;

Yeah, well, you know, I&#39;m here to help anytime, Robert,

Robert Tas&nbsp;&nbsp;

I do I know you&#39;re going to take good care of me.

Grace Hood&nbsp;&nbsp;

And speaking of taking good care if we&#39;re looking for a richer, deeper white, I&#39;m going to recommend the Coupe Busan from the central coast of California. I absolutely love this vineyard and have been drinking their juice for almost my entire wine career. Ruth odd is a traditional white Rhone varietals and really enjoys the heat and arid climates. That&#39;s why it&#39;s grows so well in the rocky soils and sunshine near Santa Barbara.

Robert Tas&nbsp;&nbsp;

That sounds nice. So, what are you thinking of for our red friends?

Grace Hood&nbsp;&nbsp;

Yeah, if we&#39;re thinking of a lighter style red, I would go with the gamay noir who are from Barsotti vineyard in the Sierra foothills of California. This one really caught my eye because you don&#39;t often see gamma noir in the American wine market. So, if a place like Patroon is putting it on their menu, then you know it must be something special. And then if you want it to go with a little bit of a heavier read, we&#39;re going to head north to Washington and I would grab the 2013 Hedges family red blend, I actually worked the 2021 wine harvest in Washington, and I have a really, really soft spot for their luscious delicious reds.

Robert Tas&nbsp; 04:05

Yum. I bet those are drinking fabulously right now. So, what about some unique wines that might be off the beaten path and maybe something special.

Grace Hood&nbsp;&nbsp;

Yeah, so if we&#39;re thinking about some more wallet-friendly wines for a white, I&#39;m going to go with the Italian white from La minana. It&#39;s from Alto Aldige and then for a more high value and kind of a special white I would choose the 2016 Domaine Leflaive Premier Cru Puligny Montrachet and then on the red side, if you&#39;re feeling budget-friendly, I would go with the 2017 Lemelson Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley or if you&#39;re looking to go big or go home on a special occasion red the 2000 Chateau Petrus is arguably one of the most sought after vintages for that producer. So go for it.

Robert Tas&nbsp;

Oh my goodness, you certainly didn&#39;t hold anything back with that. That&#39;s fantastic. Amazing. Exactly, man. Miz right. All right, Grace, thank you so much for helping us navigate Patroon&#39;s fabulous wine list To our audience, thank you all for joining us here on CorkRules. If you would like Grace to review one of your favorite restaurants, please send us an email to info at CorkRules.com or visit our website where we have a request form available. We&#39;re looking forward to being with you on another CorkRules episode soon. In the meantime, please check out our website for all our latest episodes of your favorite restaurant wine lists.

And please follow us on social media at CorkRules and at wines with grace. And finally drink what you love and please make sure you drink responsibly. And we look forward to being with you on another CorkRules episode soon.

Cheers.

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

Priest Ranch is a family-owned and operated winery that is dedicated to producing high-quality wines that reflect the unique terroir of Napa Valley. Through a combination of traditional winemaking techniques and modern technology, Priest Ranch creates elegant and complex wines that are a true expression of their vineyards.

A blackboard menu of creatively presented modern French dishes in a stylish, understated bistro.

Popina

The Atlantic Grill

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

L'Instinct Gourmand

Available Wines
Total Wines - 8

Domaine de la Foliette

La P’tite Folie Brut NV

Cuvee

France

Landron Chartier

Coteaux d'Ancenis 2019

Gamay

Loire Valley, France

Domaine du Petit Clocher Anjou Villages 2019

Loire, France

Le Roc

La Folle Noire d'Ambat 2018

Negrette

France

Maison Robert Vic, Le Parc Rouge, Pays d'Oc 2018

Pays d'Oc, France

Domaine Bonnet-Huteau Muscadet 2019

Loire, France

Martin

Domaine, Cotes du Rhone 2018

Rhone, France

Vignoble de la Jarnoterie Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil L'Elegante 2018

Loire, France