Champagne, the obvious choice for celebrations or holidays in any form for many wine drinkers. Since it&rsquo;s a fantastic, artisan beverage, why change the tradition? With the holidays coming up, choose to pour something extra special this year &ndash; the mill&eacute;sime style champagne.

So, what is mill&eacute;sime and what does it mean? It&rsquo;s actually not as complicated as it might seem, mill&eacute;sime is simply the French word for vintage and often used on the label for a champagne coming from one single year. Champagne is of course made in the region with the same name, located in northern France. In contrast with most other wine regions around the world, champagne is often a wine blended from many different vintages. This is an old tradition based on the conditions prevalent many years ago when the climate here was very cool. The cold and wet weather made the harvest risky and many years a part of the crop was lost to frost or rot. Depending on the amount of summer sun, grapes would also taste very different year to year.

This made a big impact on the wine, so the winemakers came up with a solution. They started keeping a reserve of wine in the cellar by saving a small part of the wine from each year. That meant they could use the reserve wine to get a bigger volume in tough years, but also provide a consistent flavor in their wine year from year by mixing cool and less cool vintages together. This style of wine with different vintages is called non-vintage and is the most common one on the market today.

The climate is still quite cool in the area today. However, some years are better than others giving the winemakers a chance to produce a style of wine that will highlight the characteristics of that specific vintage. This is when the mill&eacute;sime style is rightfully made, and many producers actually choose not to make their vintage label every year, only in the best ones. Besides the single vintage, a mill&eacute;sime wine also has to age in the cellar for longer, giving it more complexity. For a non-vintage wine, the minimum is 15 months, but for a vintage it&rsquo;s 36 months. A few vintages are universally accepted as outstanding, like the 1996 and 2002 vintage, both rather difficult to find today. However, 2008 and 2012 are both considered great as well and a lot easier to acquire for the upcoming celebrations. Don&rsquo;t miss the chance to cheers in style this year.

Check these great choices from <a href="https://www.grapesthewineco.com/">Grape The Wine Company</a>:

<a href="https://www.grapesthewineco.com/wines/A-Bergere-Champagne-Millesime-Extra-Brut-2012-w0589236tt">A Bergere - Champagne Millesime Extra Brut 2012- $74.99</a>

<a href="https://www.grapesthewineco.com/wines/Louis-Roederer-Brut-Millesime-2015-w6722859p1">Louis Roederer - Brut Millesime 2015 - $99.99</a>

<a href="https://www.grapesthewineco.com/wines/Stephane-Coquillette-Brut-Millesime-2018-w598611249">Stephane Coquillette - Brut Millesime 2018 - $74.99</a>

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Champagne, the obvious choice for celebrations or holidays in any form for many wine drinkers. Since it’s a fantastic, artisan beverage, why change the tradition? With the holidays coming up, choose to pour something extra special this year – the millésime style champagne.

Decoding the wine label: Millésime

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

Gordon Ramsay Steak - Paris Las Vegas

Maria Valetta, certified sommelier, and Robert Tas explore the wine list at Gordon Ramsey Steak, Las Vegas

Review of Wine List at Gordon Ramsay Steak, Las Vegas

Maria Valetta

Gordon Ramsay Steak

Gordon Ramsey Steak Las Vegas - Paris Hotel and casino 

Robert Tas (RT): Hello and welcome back to CorkRules! The wine podcast that&rsquo;s here to help YOU navigate all your favorite restaurant wine lists so you can learn to order wine with confidence.

I&rsquo;m Robert Tas, along with Maria Valetta, certified sommelier, also known as Maria The Wine Blonde. Welcome back Maria

MV: Hello Robert!&nbsp;

RT: Today we are talking about Gordon Ramsey Steak in Las Vegas. Located in the Paris Hotel and Casino you&rsquo;ll find that this vibrant and colorful two-story dining room has as much personality as the fiery famous chef himself. Be sure to look at the ceiling; every part of this space has a wow factor surprise! On the menu, you can expect fine cuts of prime-aged beef and a rich array of shellfish favorites. The tasting menu really amps things up with a bit of English flair. Maria, can the Hell&rsquo;s Kitchen TV star dish out a wine list as good as his food?

MV: Well Robert I think SO! I like that this list has all these famous wine quotes sporadically located throughout the menu. I also like the selection of half bottles. So many restaurants leave these off the list, but I like having a half-bottle option. They of course have the mandatory Vegas-style large-format offerings, and then go on to showcase wines from the US, France, Spain, Australia, and even south America. Well-rounded honestly

RT: Any wines from England?

MV: Sadly No, BUT with how things are going, I wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised if we see some English wines on menu soon. The English sparkling wines are awesome&hellip; and up and coming! Check out <a href="https://www.vivino.com/US-NV/en/nyetimber-tillington-single-vineyard/w/2215220">Nyetimber </a>&nbsp;- if you can find them -the wines are award-winning!

RT: I&rsquo;ll write that down! So Maria, where&rsquo;s a good starting point Do they have any Champagne or sparkling worth checking out ?

MV: They do - I love that they have the Contadi Castaldi Franciacorta Rose on the list, you don&rsquo;t see this often. The area of Franciacorta in Italy is designated as DOCG the category given to the highest quality Italian wines. When we stayed in Lake Como we went to Franciacorta and had the chance to visit Contadi Castaldi &ndash; it is only about 1hr 40 min from Lago di Como. Here they produce sparkling wine in the champagne method. It has the flavor of champagne, all that toasty goodness with a little bit of riper fruit on the nose, and a much better price point! Under $100 for a rose sparkler of this quality is unheard of when it comes to the Champagne region. This is a steal trust me!

RT: Cool This is why I find sommeliers are so helpful!

MV: WE try! Lol!

RT: So let&#39;s stick with that theme of something really cool and interesting but approachable in price point.. what can you find us?

Here is a great food wine, the Smith &amp; Sheth &quot;Cru&quot; Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough, NZ a super zippy sauvignon blanc with lots of lime zest, a hint of passion fruit, and a dab of dried herbs.&nbsp; These are older vines about 25 years taking into account of course that we are in new world wine country, this vine age gives the wine more complexity. I&rsquo;d pair this with the hamachi crudo, that lime aioli is going to compeiment this wine.

RT: I Love the wine and food pairing selections can you give us another?

MV: Sure, after all it is my specialty.

If you are a foie gras fan, order Ramsey&rsquo;s version and also order, the Schloss Johannisberg Sp&auml;tlese Rheingau (Schloose Yohannisbourg Schpate Lazor) Germany 2019 has another misspelling, anyway.. foie gras is rich, buttery and intense, and it needs a wine that has a touch of sweet flavor to stand up to it, but also enough acidity to cut through that richness. This wine has just that &ndash; acid as the backbone with layers of medium-sweet fruit on the palate, apple, tangerine, peach, and white flowers, but delicate at the same time because of the lower alcohol level.

RT: That is perfection, Foie gras, and a sweet style wine&hellip; once you have it you are ruined! In a good way!

RT: So can we pour over the reds and find some special steak wines? I mean it is a steakhouse right?

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MV: It sure is, Looking through the reds,

&nbsp;The Gargiulo Vineyards G Major 7 Oakville 2010 $355 is a great special occasion wine&hellip;The wine is named after a classic jazz Guitar chord, so music lovers will love this wine. &nbsp;I have been to this beautiful winery in Napa; it is a stone&#39;s throw away from screaming eagle. This wine has a little bit of cab franc, merlot, and petite verdot in it as well, but predominantly cabernet sauvignon. It&rsquo;s such a great small family-owned winery &ndash; In fact we just received a case of their chardonnay it is also outstanding. 

Here is another wine I would order, The 2016 d&rsquo;Arenberg Dead Arm McLaren Vale. This full-bodied beauty is going to knock your socks off &ndash;maybe I should say mittens off since it&rsquo;s called the dead arm.. lol! Actually, dead arm refers to a fungal disease that vines can get, but there is nothing funky here, just really great shiraz that has layers of big bold ripe red fruits, pomegranate plums, and also layers of menthol and chocolate, steak worthy for sure.

RT: Anything else we shouldn&rsquo;t miss? &nbsp;

MV: Yes, one more winner for you to walk away with, the O&rsquo;Shaughnessy Howell Mountain 2018 $265 I love California mountain fruit! Howell mountain is one of my favorite designated American Viticultural Areas &ndash; AVA for short. This wine is still young and mountain fruit wine CAN really age well, but the tannins will soften when paired with steak&hellip; that&rsquo;s the beauty of food and wine pairing, the steak proteins bind with the wine tannins and soften them.. it&rsquo;s magic basically, in a scientific way! This is for the big wine lover who likes to drink their wines young.

RT:&nbsp; Well thank you Maria, that wraps up our episode on Gordon Ramsey Steak, Las Vegas, all the food and wine pairing tips were super helpful.

Be sure to follow Maria on Instagram @Mariathewineblonde. Thank you everyone for joining us here on CorkRules. Remember the only rule in wine is &ldquo;drink what you LOVE&rdquo;.

MV: Have a favorite wine List? Let us review it here. Send us your requests at <a href="mailto:info@corkrules.com">info@CorkRules.com</a> You can find previous episodes on your favorite podcast platform and on

CorkRules.com be sure to subscribe and like. And check out @CorkRules on Instagram for episode updates. Must be 21 and older, please drink responsibly.

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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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