What to Bring to Alto
Categories: Featured, What to B When You BYOB?
Every week or so in 'What to B When You BYOB' we ask a local wine
store to recommend a wine to drink at a nearby BYOB restaurant. They're
asked to consider the cuisine at the restaurant and suggest an
appropriate bottle for under $15.
This week, 'What to B' goes upscale, and sets its boozy sights on Alto (11 East 53rd Street), the upmarket midtown Italian eatery that recently waived its $60 corkage fee (through September, one bottle per table) in a bold recession move. Sure, one is more likely to bring a special bottle from home to go with Alto's $85, four-course prix fixe, but just for tough-times kicks, we imagined picking up a bottle on the way. We asked near-to-Alto Schumer's Wines & Liquors (59 East 54th Street) for some thrifty but classy suggestions. Shumer's owner Larry focused on wines from regions with good values; his picks are after the jump...
2006 Liberty School Syrah, California ($11.99)
"Really rich and jammy and juicy up front, not overly tannic or oaky. It does not taste like a $12 bottle of wine. It's a big rich glass of wine."
2006 Hope Estate Shiraz, Australia ($12.99)
"Hope is something everyone needs these days. Very fruit forward and delicious. Medium to full bodied. It's a good looking bottle, it looks very expensive and it tastes expensive."
2007 Macon-Lugny Les Charmes Chardonnay, France ($11)
"It's great. It goes with everything. Perfect with fish and chicken. Nice crisp and clean and dry without being too dry."
Chianti, Fattoria di Faltognano, 2006 ($9.99)
"This is a great chianti. I tasted ten different chiantis to be able to have a $10 chianti in the store, and this is a great one. It tastes much more expensive."
2007 Susana Balbo Crios Malbec, Argentina ($16)
"This just a got a 90 point review from the Wine Advocate, it's a great value."
This week, 'What to B' goes upscale, and sets its boozy sights on Alto (11 East 53rd Street), the upmarket midtown Italian eatery that recently waived its $60 corkage fee (through September, one bottle per table) in a bold recession move. Sure, one is more likely to bring a special bottle from home to go with Alto's $85, four-course prix fixe, but just for tough-times kicks, we imagined picking up a bottle on the way. We asked near-to-Alto Schumer's Wines & Liquors (59 East 54th Street) for some thrifty but classy suggestions. Shumer's owner Larry focused on wines from regions with good values; his picks are after the jump...
2006 Liberty School Syrah, California ($11.99)
"Really rich and jammy and juicy up front, not overly tannic or oaky. It does not taste like a $12 bottle of wine. It's a big rich glass of wine."
2006 Hope Estate Shiraz, Australia ($12.99)
"Hope is something everyone needs these days. Very fruit forward and delicious. Medium to full bodied. It's a good looking bottle, it looks very expensive and it tastes expensive."
2007 Macon-Lugny Les Charmes Chardonnay, France ($11)
"It's great. It goes with everything. Perfect with fish and chicken. Nice crisp and clean and dry without being too dry."
Chianti, Fattoria di Faltognano, 2006 ($9.99)
"This is a great chianti. I tasted ten different chiantis to be able to have a $10 chianti in the store, and this is a great one. It tastes much more expensive."
2007 Susana Balbo Crios Malbec, Argentina ($16)
"This just a got a 90 point review from the Wine Advocate, it's a great value."
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