<a href="https://1803nyc.com/">1803</a>&nbsp;is a Cajun restaurant that brings a little of New Orleans&rsquo; eclectic culture to the streets of New York. It&rsquo;s a sexy, sultry space with a penchant for Deep South decadence and jazz. For a memorable culinary experience, this is the place to bring a date.

Cajun cuisine was developed by Acadians (who were originally French) when they were deported from Acadia (an area that stretched from Massachusetts to Gaspe, Canada) to Louisiana during the 18th century. The Acadians developed a unique cuisine that was a melting pot of &nbsp;West African, French and Spanish cooking techniques. This rustic fare was based on locally available ingredients, including crawfish, shrimp, pork and sausage and aromatic green bell peppers, onion, and celery. These vegetables are known as &quot;the trinity&quot; by Cajun chefs, to which they may add parsley, bay leaf, green onions, dried cayenne pepper, and dried black pepper, white pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika.

So, what style of wine pairs well with Cajun food?

Steer clear of full-bodied reds that are rich in tannins. These wines are too heavy for the spices and the tannins will taste metallic when combined with seafood or spice. If you have your mind set on a red wine, consider choosing a lighter pinot noir or gamay that are low in tannins and won&rsquo;t overpower the spice or clash with the aromatic flavors.

However, it may be wiser to stick with white when dining Cajun style. Thanks to the abundance of locally-sourced seafood, catfish and shellfish dominate Cajun recipes. A riesling or gewurztraminer are wines that pair well with any Cajun seafood dish, these light German wines are well-structured and can handle heavier dishes without contradicting or altering the flavor of the spices.

If the dish is heavy with tomatoes, a medium-bodied and acidic red wine works well to match the acidity in the tomatoes. If the wine is low in acidity, the high acidity in the tomatoes will make the wine taste flat and metallic. So, with tomato-based sauces choose a Rioja, zinfandel or pinot noir. &nbsp;You could also choose a &nbsp;full-bodied white such as chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, or Chenin blanc.

Of course, there are many more high acidity wines and low tannin wines to choose from, for expert advice, enlist the help of the sommelier, or pop over to the CorkRules <a href="https://uat.corkrules.com/1803/episodes/15">podcast with certified sommelier Grace Hood </a>where she identifies a few bottles of bubbles and offers expert advice on wines to pair with Cajun food. &nbsp;

&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;

1803 is a Cajun restaurant that brings a little of New Orleans’ eclectic culture to the streets of New York. It’s a sexy, sultry space with a penchant for Deep South decadence and jazz. For a memorable culinary experience, this is the place to bring a date.

Pairing Wine with Cajun Food at 1803

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

The Four Horsemen

Grant Wood

The Four Horseman 

Located on 295 Grand St in Brooklyn, near Williamsburg, The Four Horseman is a cozy wine bar with great small plates that merry well with a very thoughtful wine list and was started by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.

Alright Robert, so looking at their almost 50-page wine list, I think this is a very passionate list with tons of personality so this is a place I would definitely lean into the staff and ask what is most exciting to them in the moment as I&rsquo;m sure they&rsquo;ll be more than willing to share with you. Let&rsquo;s dive in and look at what caught by attention though.

I&rsquo;d like to start by saying that I like how their table of contents is laid out but starting with &ldquo;what&rsquo;s new&rsquo;&rsquo; and &lsquo;&rsquo;last call&rsquo;&rsquo; as a fun way to show you something new that they&rsquo;re excited about as well as things that might be on the way out and might not get in for a while. It&rsquo;s a useful tool that my favorite wine shops use to keep things fresh and make sure you don&rsquo;t miss out. For their new additions, I&rsquo;d go for the 2017 Eric Rodez Coteaux &ldquo;Ambonnay Rouge&rdquo; Pinot Noir which is very rare to find a still red Pinot Noir from Champagne. For their last call, I&rsquo;d go for the 2020 Emmanuel Haget &ldquo;Palabres&rdquo; which is Pineau d&rsquo;Aunis from the Loire, which is light, spicy, and easygoing at a very accessible price.

Since we&rsquo;re in summer and it&rsquo;s always a good idea for rose then I like the 2020 Enderle &amp; Moll rose of Sp&auml;tburgunder coming from Baden in Germany but if you want to splurge then I can&rsquo;t say no to the 2010 Lopez de Heredia &ldquo;Vina Tondonia&rdquo; Gran Reserva from Rioja which is, yes, an ageable rose.

For bubbles, I think the &quot;Jus Jus Day&quot; Chardonnay and Muscat Blanc by Martha Stoumen and Julia Sherman is super fun and a great value. The 01&rsquo; &lsquo;Reserve Priv&eacute;e by B&eacute;r&ecirc;che et Fils would be a great banger to splurge on from the Montagne de Reims.

For whites, I&rsquo;d go for the 2017 &ldquo;Saul&eacute;tas&rdquo; by Sebastien Riffault in Sancerre but of course, I can&rsquo;t pass up 2016 &lsquo;Pur Sang&rsquo; Blanc Fume de Pouilly from Dagueneau. They also have a fair amount of Burgundy so don&rsquo;t pass up a good rec from your server if that&rsquo;s what you&rsquo;re in the mood for. There&rsquo;s a great selection but not enough time for me to really get into on this pod. Alternatively, I think the 2019 C&ocirc;tes du Jura Pollock&rsquo;s&nbsp;Chardonnay is a great way to experience a different side of French chardonnay.

On to reds, a great value is the 2018 syrah from Jean-Michel Stephan who makes amazing C&ocirc;te Rotie but his regular syrah is a banger for the price compared to his more coveted bottlings. If you want to splurge, then, of course, you can go with Chave or Clape as well which never disappoints. Moving away from France, I know you like big wines with age Robert so if you go here anytime soon then you have to order the 9&rsquo; C&ocirc;tes du Jura Pollock&rsquo;s&nbsp;Chardonnay who is a true OG of barolo and worth the splurge. Another fun wine with some age is the 10&rsquo; Priorat Dits del Terra by Terroir al Limit which is a project by Eden Sadie and Dominik Huber doing awesome things with unique sites from Spain&rsquo;s Priorat. One last wine I&rsquo;ll mention that would be fun is the 2019 Port Phillip &ldquo;Ray-Monde Vineyard&rdquo; pinot noir by Josh Cooper down under in Australia. These are not the big, ripe Aussie wines that most people think of though. This is a much more of a light and more delicate style of Aussie juice.

There&rsquo;s a great list of mags too, so don&rsquo;t be shy and I&rsquo;m sure you&rsquo;re in for a good time at The Four Horseman.

&nbsp;

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

Sycamore Lane is a popular wine brand that offers a range of varietals, including Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and others. The wines are known for their consistent quality and affordability.

Easygoing, bi-level restaurant with outdoor seating serving modern Tuscan dishes & Italian wines.

28-50 Wine Workshop & Kitchen

28-50

Bleu Provence

KOCHINYC

Kochi

Wally's

Hav & Mar

Bern's Steakhouse

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

Pepolino

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