Page 33 - Staff Tastings

Last week we had the opportunity to dine at one of the best restaurants in the US and quite possibly the world. Per Se, located in New York City, is the sister restaurant of The French Laundry of Napa Valley. Chef Thomas Keller's creativity and presentation of beautiful, fresh and balanced French cuisine ranks among the top of its class. Although portions here are quite small, the meal itself is a twelve course journey of intense flavors matched with unique, often quirky accompaniments that can take hours to complete.

The restaurant has magnificent views on Central Park South and is incredibly quiet looking out onto the busy streets of Manhattan. It was raining on this night which added to the charm of sitting next to a warm fireplace and looking at the rain glistening on the lit trees outside. You definitely feel comfortable and relaxed here.

As we were enjoying the edible works of art placed on the table it was easy to lose sight of just how many people were serving our

The Sokolin staff late last week popped a bottle of the 2008 Terra de Verema Triumvirat from the Priorat region of Spain.  This big red has a dark purple core and immediately emits loads of blackberry and black currant from the glass.  Hints of licorice, raspberry, chocolate, and oak are evident in the nose.  This is followed by dark cherries and chocolate on the palate that gives way to a viscous finish that leaves your mouth very happy.  Great length and acidity on this big dark frame makes for a very nice bottle of wine.

This is made from Southern French varietals (Carignan, Grenache & Syrah), but in a very New World style.  It is drinking great now and will continue for another 6-8 years.  I agree with Parker's Wine Advocate, which gave this wine 94 points.  In fact, I grabbed another bottle to take home over the weekend to have with the skirt steaks that I knew I was going to throw on the grill...excellent idea!! And at $34.99/bottle,

We had the pleasure of joining David Ramey of David Ramey Wine Cellars for lunch at Lure Fishbar in Manhattan where we tasted through his newest wine releases. David is widely known as one of America's wine pioneers and is partially responsible for bringing California to the upper echelon of the winemaking world. He has an amazingly impressive resume. After studying and graduating from the University of California at Davis, he traveled to Europe and began his winemaking career with a stint at legendary Chateau Petrus. He eventually came back to the United States and helped put a number of wineries on the map, such as Chalk Hill, Matanzas Creek and most notably Dominus in the early 90's, before eventually launching his own label, David Ramey Wine Cellars in 1996. In addition to making his own wines he currently consults for Snowden Wines and most recently Rodney Strong.

David is a negociant for all of the wines he produces except for the 'Pedregal Vineyard' which he now owns. We've

We were going to see Yan Pascal Tortelier conduct Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite.  For those unfamiliar with the ballet story: The Firebird, Prince Ivan, takes on the evil ogre Kastchei in this tale. When Ivan waves the magic feather, the Firebird appears and leads him to victory.  The composer Stravinsky paints an image in the listener's head so vivid that one can imagine the story as though they were watching dancers on stage and the ballet unfolding before them.

I had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to open Antinori's California project Antica from the historic 2007 vintage.  I felt this wine would be a perfect accompaniment to the performance.  Old world meets new world to create a magical experience.  To celebrate this piece of musical creativity we decided to drink Antica prior to the performance.

Magical indeed; this wine was stunning!  Vanilla and cigar box as well as currant appeared on the nose and the glass was filled with

A few weeks ago, renowned wine critic, James Suckling, paid a visit to the Sokolin offices as part of his Retail Tasting series on www.jamessuckling.com. If you haven't already seen the series on his site, check it out; his premise is very simple: Show him five wines we believe are worthy of 90 points or higher, for under $30. "No problem," we said.

Here at Sokolin, we pride ourselves not only on our vast inventory of fine back-vintage wines from top global regions but also on our selection of wines that are inexpensive but still super-high quality.  So we welcomed James' challenge.

James' palate is impressive.  He blindly tastes the five wines, frequently and

I'm a big fan of Riesling.  When I'm out to dinner with friends, and I'm selecting a white for the table, I always ask if anyone would be opposed to a bottle of Riesling.  I usually provide my rationale with descriptors like, "off-dry," "minerally," "clean and crisp," "citrusy," etc.  Basically, it's my attempt to head-off the comments that I know are coming and are always centered around the sweetness.  Most people who aren't familiar with a good quality Riesling just associate it with sweetness and never venture to give it a try.

It perplexes me.

Riesling has got to be one of the most versatile wines around.  Yes, of course, there is some level of sweetness due to the residual sugars but this is a good thing and is what makes Riesling, well, Riesling.  In fact, for people in the know, some of the most prized Rieslings at the top of the Riesling pyramid are also the sweetest.  But the mark of a great Riesling is its ability to balance

A dear wine friend of ours from London flew in this week and drove out east to see us for an incredible night of food and wine. We hadn't seen him in over three years so we knew that it was going to be a special evening. The restaurant we chose was Della Femina in East Hampton whose chef is the outstanding Michael Rozzi. Della Femina has always been one of the top restaurants in East Hampton and is embarking on its 20th year in business. Chef Rozzi has been in charge of the kitchen for at least the last 10 years and is hands down, one of the top chefs on Long Island. If you haven't had the chance to eat at Della Femina I highly suggest that you book your table before the summer crowds roll in and it's next to impossible to get a table.

We kicked off the evening with a delicious bottle of non-vintage Egly-Ouriet Champagne, Brut Tradition Grand Cru. It showed great complexity, with nice dried apricot and peach notes and a soft creamy style with terrific structure that paired perfectly

Like many busy families Friday night is pizza night in my house.

There is a slight pause in the craziness; the week is done but Saturday it begins anew.  Starting with soccer and I'm pretty sure at least one of my three kids has a birthday party to go to from now until the 4th of July.  But on Friday nights, we all get a break, including the cook; my wife.

The challenge with pizza night is getting the right wine.  And I don't mean that in the "red wine goes with steak and white wine goes with fish" kind of a way.  I mean it in the "do I really want to open a bottle of 2006 Breggo Pinot Noir Donnelly Creek Vineyard to go with pizza"?!  Sure, but not on pizza night.  Yet, I still want to drink something great. 

So to the wine fridge I go; California Chardonnay? - nope, really want a red, Rhone? - not in the mood, Breggo Pinot - too expensive!  And then BINGO there is the answer: Argentinean Malbec!!  I LOVE Argentinean Malbec

Last night my wife and I celebrated our fifteenth wedding anniversary at Verace restaurant in Islip. Verace is known for fresh authentic Italian food at reasonable prices. Accompanying the great menu is an equally impressive wine list. Although I wanted this night to be special I did not want to break the bank so I needed a great drinker that would match well with the food at a great price. The chosen wine was the 2008 Eugenio Bocchino Roccabella Nebbiolo. This wine has been a favorite of mine ever since I met Eugenio and his family this past summer.

My wife generally drinks Pinot Noirs and Cabernets so I figured this would be a great introduction to a bolder Barolo type of wine. What's great about this wine is that it is produced right outside of Barolo, so you get a great Nebbiolo wine without paying a premium.

This wine blended well with every dish, from appetizer to dessert. The red fruits and silky tannins along with the long finish made for a spectacular companion

About once a month, we like to take our tastings on the road.  We have several favorite restaurants within 30 minutes of our offices.  Because we're so close to the Hamptons, naturally, we find ourselves there quite often.  Last night, our restaurant of choice was the Plaza Café in Southampton, probably one of the best restaurants on the east end with one of the most talented and creative chef/owners Douglas Gulija.  The restaurant has a quiet elegance, known for its world-class seafood but the meats are out of this world.  So with our pairings we can get really creative.

We took a new approach last night.  Often, one person picks the wines for the night and everyone else gets to blind taste.  On this occasion, two groups selected two sets of four wines so everyone could get into the guessing game. Taking this approach made the line-up even that much more of a challenge for the table and unexpected fun for the palate.  Here's the run