Wine World

In addition to all of its other pleasurable experiences, travel offers a chance to enjoy diverse cuisine from different regions along with a variety of wines that simply never make it to the Gulfshore market. But while restaurants in places like New York City offer great gastronomic adventures, they are also responsible for fostering a disturbing trend of dedicating their cellars solely to wines hailing from the same country as their cuisine.

If you dine at Esca or Lupa Osteria Romana, for example, the only wines on the list will be Italian. If you dine at Balthazar, the only wine choices will be French.

The trend also strikes me as unfair to Australian winemakers. Let’s be frank: How many high-end Australian restaurants are in New York City or anywhere else in the United States? To shut out a major wine producer—and legendary wines such as Grange and Torbreck’s Run Rig—simply because Australia’s cuisine is not haute isn’t appropriate. I asked several sommeliers if they knew of any Australian restaurants in New York City and received the same vague responses that you would expect from a grizzled local when asked about fishing spots in the Ten Thousand Islands.

If diversity among regions and wine styles is as important to you, I can strongly recommend Aureole. Chef Charlie Palmer’s gem of a restaurant is not as flashy or as large as its Las Vegas sibling, but it boasts the most incredibly well-chosen wine list that I have ever encountered. My two favorite American sauvignon blancs are Araujo and Peter Michael’s L’Apres Midi. Highly regarded, but impossible to find, gems like WesMar pinot noir are scattered throughout the list.

Another Manhattan restaurant worth seeking out is Landmarc. This contemporary bistro is located in a casual space in Tribeca. Landmarc is notable as it is open late, even by New York standards. A second remarkable aspect, especially given its location, is that its wine markups are among the lowest of any restaurant, anywhere. Several wines are offered at or below retail. On my last visit, a Blewitt Springs grenache from Clarendon Hills was rich, exploding with blueberries, and a steal at $45.

Another city with a surprisingly vibrant restaurant scene is Birmingham, Ala. Birmingham has more wonderful restaurants than any other city of similar size. While restaurants such as the Hot and Hot Fish Club, Café Dupont and Ocean have received national accolades, the true architect of the renaissance in Birmingham’s dining scene is chef Frank Stitt.

Upon returning to Naples, I recommended this wine to Michael Bevacqua, formerly of In Good Spirits. Bevacqua and Taryn Rivera are now the owners of Wine Knows, a boutique wine store in the same plaza where the former In Good Spirits store was located. Wine Knows has already assembled an impressive inventory, and its Wednesday evening tastings with classical guitar are fast becoming a Naples tradition.

Bevacqua was able to speak directly with Dave Corey, owner and winemaker at Core, who was thrilled to send samples of each of its wines to Wine Knows for a tasting. Each of the Core wines are based around varietals that hail from the Rhône Valley in France: syrah, grenache and mourvèdre for his red wines and grenache blanc, rousanne and marsanne for the whites. Core’s production ranges from 24 cases for its mourvèdre to 620 cases for the 163 red wine.

My favorites from the tasting included Core’s rosé, which balanced its rich fruit and lovely body with a backbone of crisp acid. This wine would be perfect with a bit of a chill while boating on a warm day. Core’s 163 is a dead ringer for a Châteauneuf-du-Pape blanc.

Two red wines that jumped out at me were its Hard Core and the Elevation Sensation. Each were slightly cloudy, signs that they were bottled unfiltered and might benefit from a little bit of aging in the cellar. Each of them incorporate blends of mountain fruit into seamless elegance and power. Mourvèdre dominates the Hard Core, while the Elevation Sensation is prominently grenache, with the bright, rich raspberry undertones of that grape. Historically, I’ve felt that "good mourvèdre" is like a good South African red or a Florida panther—I’m sure they exist, but I’ve never run across one myself. Core made me reconsider my bias.

Extremely affordable for wines of this quality, Core’s lineup ranges in price from $25 to $40. During the tasting, I could not help but wonder whether I might taste a Sine Qua Non of the future. Core wines are available directly from the winery through its mailing list and also at Wine Knows. However, if I had my druthers, I would order it off the wine list at Highlands while Dr. John was tickling the ivories in the background.