If fine French dining is your raison d&rsquo;etre, <a href="https://uat.corkrules.com/le-coucou/episodes/21">Le Coucou</a>&nbsp;is the place for you. Internationally acclaimed chef Daniel Rose made his name in Paris with his flair for French cuisine, and he brought his culinary creativity to New York where he established an elegant restaurant and exceptional dining experience.

And what better way to complement French fare than with a spectacular French wine? Bring on the Cru and let the fun begin.

But wait, should you splurge and opt for a grand Cru or will a simple cru do, and what&rsquo;s the difference anyway?

Let&rsquo;s demystify the terminology and move on to enjoyability.

Quite simply, the term &lsquo;cru&rsquo; is used within classifications of French wine to indicate a high-quality vineyard or group of vineyards. Cru literally means growth, and this term has been adopted in classification as a nod to the importance of the terroir.

Grand Cru is the recognized designation of higher quality wine. Grand Cru refers to the quality of a particular vineyard and the terroir in which the grapes grow. The terroir of the region that gains this accreditation is known to produce consistently high-quality vintages. Grand cru literally means great growth. The term is first found to be used in the region of Burgundy in the middle ages when the Cistercian monks and the Catholic Church classified each vineyard according to quality. In Burgundy, grand cru wines must be made with only grapes from villages that fall under a grand cru region.

Fast forward and move over to Bordeaux in 1855 when the term is officially recognized as a classification of the Left Bank Bordeaux (thanks to Napolean). The classification in Burgundy is all about the vineyards and terroir, but in Bordeaux, the classification of grand cru can be given to a winery that holds the status.

Premier cru wines are a step down from grand cru, however, since a premier cru vineyard could be literally next door to a grand cru vineyard, the difference in the quality of the wine may be negligible. Premier cru or 1er cru accounts for no more than 5% of the total Burgundian production, and grand cru makes up a tiny and exclusive 1% of production in Burgundy.

But if these high-status wines are outside of the budget, consider opting for village wines. These wines are from the same classified regions, but the yield allowed per hectare is more, allowing more of the grapes to grow, the vines themselves may be younger (old vines add complexity to wine). There are plenty of quality village wines on the market, and this is a great place for finding delicious wine at a good price.

If a white Burgundy is on your mind or you are looking for a grand cru wine, click over to the CorkRules <a href="https://uat.corkrules.com/le-coucou/episodes/21">wine review podcast</a>&nbsp;with certified sommelier Grace Hood. She&rsquo;s identified a few good bottles on the wine list at Le Coucou.

Cheers!

&nbsp;

About the CorkRules Podcast:&nbsp;Each week we pour a glass and share top restaurant wine list&rsquo; 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;

If fine French dining is your raison d’etre, Le Coucou is the place for you. Internationally acclaimed chef Daniel Rose made his name in Paris with his flair for French cuisine, and he brought his culinary creativity to New York where he established an elegant restaurant and exceptional dining experience.

Premier Cru & Grand Cru at Le Coucou

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

Gary Danko

Grant Wood, certified sommelier and wine educator, and Robert Tas review the wine list at Gary Danko on San Francisco’s iconic Fisherman’s Wharf.

Gary Danko, San Francisco

Grant Wood

Gary Danko

RT: Hello and Welcome to CorkRules!&nbsp;

A podcast where we review a wine list from your favorite restaurants. I&rsquo;m your host Robert Tas along with Grant Wood, wine educator and certified sommelier

Hello Grant, great to have you back for another great wine list.

GW: Hello Robert!

RT: Before we jump in, let&rsquo;s talk about CorkRules.

We created CorkRules to demystify wine lists because we know from experience, that sometimes wine lists 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 that will take your dining experience over the top.

RT:&nbsp;So, sit back and listen as we review your favorite wine list.

Gary Danko

Here we have a true San Francisco staple in Fisherman&rsquo;s Wharf and has been around for over 20 years. They&rsquo;ve amassed a number of high-profile accolades and they continue to offer an old-world dining experience of classic French cooking.

We have an almost 100-page list here so let&rsquo;s dive in.

Let&rsquo;s start with bubbles! Right away, I love the Andre Clouet Grand Reserve grand cru from Bouzy. Anytime I see them on a menu, I always order it as it&rsquo;s been a go to favorite of mine for years now and offers some of the best value in Champagne. Also, I love the Agrapart, Complantee, Avize Grand cru which you can&rsquo;t go wrong with.

A great splurge is the the 08&rsquo; Cirstal if you&rsquo;re feeling like a mogul but if you really want to impress a large group then go big with the 08&rsquo; Salon, BdB, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. 2008 is a benchmark year for Champagne so you can always feel confident when ordering bubbles from that year.

Let&rsquo;s move on to whites. There is an extensive California section here obviously so here&rsquo;s what excites me. 2016 Ceritas, Charles Heintz Vineyard Chardonnay, 2016 Littorai, 2014 Hanzell Estate Chardonnay, 2020 Arnot Roberts, Watson Ranch Chardonnay, 2017 Kongsgard Chardonnay, 2014 Sandhi Bien Nacido Chardonnay, and more!

If you&rsquo;re feeling something French then I&rsquo;d go for the 2019 Vincent Dauvissat, Les Preuses from Chablis is killer, 2017 Pierre-Yves Colin Morey, Les Champlots Premier cru from Saint-Aubin I love, and the 2011 Domaine Jean-Marc Morey from Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru is a great way to go as well.

For a classic German Riesling, I&rsquo;d go for the 2016 Keller, Dalsheimer Hubacker from Rheinhessen is fabulous but the 2018 Donnhoff, Oberhauser Leistenberg is a great value on this list. Another great Eastern European lighter white is the 2019 Alzinger, Steinertal, Smaragd from the Wachau is a great selection as well.

Moving on to reds and starting with my California favorites we have the 2016 Rhys, Alesia, Anderson Valley Pinot Noir, 2020 Williams Selyem, Westside road neighbors Pinot Noir, 2015 Kosta Browne, Gap&rsquo;s Crown vineyard, 2016 Peay Scallop Shef vineyard Pinot Noir, 2009 Calera, Jensen Vineyard from Mt Harlan are all great selections.

There is some great selections from Oregon as well so I&rsquo;d like to highlight the 2017 Antica Terra, Botanica and the 2015 Eyrie, Original vines vineyard from the Dundee hills is great as well.

For solid California Zinfandel I&rsquo;d go for the 2017 Bedrock Wine Co. Papera Ranch in the Russian River, planted 1936 based on Zinfandel, Carignane, Petite Sirah, Valdigue, Trousseau, and more is great. I love the 2014 Sky Vineyards Zin from Mt. Veeder and you can&rsquo;t go wrong with 2017 Turley Cobb vineyard from Amador Country. 

Moving on to California Cabernet this is what I&rsquo;d like to highlight. 2013 Cardinale from Napa Valley is a blockbuster, as is the 2016 Continuum Estate, Pritchard Hill. !997 Corison Napa Valley is wonderful, 2000 Dalla Valle Napa Valley is killer, 2015 Favia Oakville is beautiful, 1989 Heitz Cellar Martha&rsquo;s Vineyard is a classic, as is the 1999 Philip Togni from Spring Mountain. I like the 2016 Spottswoode Estate in St. Helena as well. Another great California classic is the 2009 Ridge Monte Bello which is timeless. 

If you&rsquo;re looking towards the old world, pretty much all of the Burgundy, Bordeaux, Barolo, etc. heavyweights are here with great vintage depth as well so I&rsquo;m going to gloss over this section, otherwise we&rsquo;d be here all day. Don&rsquo;t pass them up but I&rsquo;d like to shift gears to wines to tie of your meal at Gary Danko.

Starting with Port, I love the 1997 Nieport, Colheita from Portugal but then again, anything from Nieport is awesome. If you&rsquo;re like me and can&rsquo;t pass up a good Madeira which you can do by the glass. I&rsquo;d go for the Rare Wine Co. Vinhos Barbeito, Special reserve, CharelstonHistoric series, the 1912 D&rsquo;Oliveiras is a great opportunity to try something over 100 years old which doesn&rsquo;t happen every day.

Overall, this is an incredibly impressive list that is sure to take you on a journey and is a perfect place to celebrate a special occasion, take out a client or a date, or any other excuse you can think of.

Cheers!

Grant, thank you so much for all your great suggestions and helping us navigate Gary Danko&rsquo;s_wine list. I can&rsquo;t wait to go try your great suggestions.&nbsp; &nbsp;

To our audience, thank you all for joining us here on CorkRules.

If you would like Grant 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.&nbsp;

And finally, drink what you love and please make sure you drink responsibly.

Thank you.

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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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