It’s an exciting time to be drinking wine, especially in restaurants. That’s the message Wine Enthusiast Food Editor Nils Bernstein and Senior Digital Editor Jameson Fink delivered on the music and food radio show, Snacky Tunes. Here are some highlights from a conversation inspired by our America’s 100 Best Wine Restaurants 2016 feature.
Snacky Tunes
Sundays at 4:30pm ET
EPISODE 261 Wine Enthusiast Magazine and Starchild & The New Romantic
Aired: Sunday, July 31st 2016
What Exemplifies New Wine Culture
Fink: “Dry rosé. The explosion in popularity of it. People are experimenting with different styles of rosés. And grower Champagne. People drinking Champagne and sparkling wine not just to celebrate, too, I think has been huge. And rosé is like that, too, where it’s not just a summer drink, people are drinking it year-round.”
Breaking Stereotypes
Bernstein: “I’m more dismayed about generalizations about wine: All Chardonnay is a certain way, all Pinot Grigio is a certain [way], all Prosecco is simplistic and low-end. These [are] overriding generalizations that make people lest apt to the variety of stuff out there.”
How To Next-Level Your Wine Knowledge
Fink: “One of the best things to do is take advantage of all the tastings that are going on [at wine shops]. A lot times these tastings are free. It’s a great way to get more comfortable in a low-pressure situation.”
On Wines By The Glass
Bernstein: “If you’re thinking in terms of a great wine program [being] all about discovery and turning you on to new things, the glass program is really the best way to do that.”
Fink: “Also what’s cool is places that offer glass pours in different sizes.”
Off The Beaten Path Wine Restaurants
Fink: “One of the places we have on the list is FLX Wienery up in the Finger Lakes. And that’s a place you go and have great burgers and dogs and fries. And they also have a really cool wine program. You can bring in your Finger Lakes wine for no corkage fee. It’s one of the more fun places you can drink wine. And it turns that idea on its head about price and accessibility.”
Bernstein: “One interesting restaurant is Kindred in Davidson, North Carolina, which is about a half hour north of Charlotte. It’s phenomenal. It would be a top restaurant in any city.”
The New Steakhouse
Fink: “Both the food and the wine are evolving. A lot of these places have really good other [non-steak] options, too. The wine, where maybe you think its typically Cabernet—a Cab and a slab. Matt Kettman, one of our editors in California, wrote a column for the magazine about steakhouse Pinots. There are some more full-bodied Pinots that are great steak wines. They’re expanding the menus towards lighter fare and the wines as well.”
Bernstein: “Something we try to do at the magazine is knock down a lot of the dogma around food and wine pairing. And that’s really been happening a lot at steak houses.”
Most Memorable Bottle In The Past Year
For Fink and Bernstein’s surprising selections, listen to the show:
Published: August 3, 2016
