Vareli’s menu is filled with Mediterranean-style dishes created by chef Amitzur Mor, who emphasizes local, seasonal cuisine and creativity.  Richard Bill offers 20 different wines by the glass, and over 100 different wines by the bottle, most of old-world origin.  He seeks out lesser-known wines that are superbly flavored and balanced and come at very affordable prices.

ASTRA, 979 THIRD AVENUE

A Young Patrons Event With Paul Taylor Dance Company

WINE DOWN pleased to be joined by DJ Zachary May, Acker Merrall & Condit, Guy French, and Paul Taylor’s Young Patrons to celebrate the Company’s 2010 Season.

WINE DOWN is a monthly cocktail-style party, hosted by Celebrity Wine Consultant Michael Green, former Wine & Spirits Consultant to Gourmet Magazine.  Each event features unlimited tastes of great wines, lively music, and a cool, sophisticated, and eclectic crowd. We’ve stripped away all of the pretension of traditional wine tasting events.

HOW DOES IT WORK? The doors to Astra will open at 6:00 pm.  Guests are always welcomed to WINE DOWN with a glass of sparkling wine and a copy of the evening’s tasting notes, and are invited to taste through wine selections made by Michael Green at your own pace and enjoy passed hors d’oeuvres supervised by Celebrity Chef Charlie Palmer.  We encourage guests to mix, mingle and make meaningful connections.

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon is located at the Four Seasons Hotel on East 57th St.  Chef Robuchon focuses on the highest-quality ingredients, prepared with clockwork precision and abundant creativity.  His casual French style shows a strong affection for Asian cuisine, with its simplicity of presentation, pure and flavourful sauces, and concentration on single, perfect ingredients.  His dishes in New York are executed by Executive Chef Xavier Boyer.

Wine lovers can also stop by the just-opened Garden at the Four Seasons, where they offer over 200 wines by the glass.

Check Wine-Searcher for a retailer near you.

Alto’s wine list boasts over 2500 labels and includes a strong northern Italian selection to complement Chef Michael White’s celebrated cuisine.  If you have been looking for a venue to open a prize bottle from your personal collection, Alto is currently waiving the normal corkage for a single bottle through September 2009.

  “People discover wine in many different ways; touring a wine region, attending a trade tasting, at a restaurant or retailer.  My recent nirvana moment was discovered while frequenting one of my favorite wine bars, Terroir, where I was offered a 2001 Auxerrois from Rolly Gassmann of Alsace.

 ”I was skeptical at first not because of the wine maker – Rolly Gassmann is one of the stars of Alsace – but because of the vintage, and because the varietal is a sleeper grape that most people don’t pay attention to.  I was immediately converted by this white though.  It had a rich, unctuous texture and aromas of violet and dried rose petal.  It was not only complex and still going strong after 8 years, but showed the potential to mature well into the next decade.

“The moral of this story is that it is often worth taking a bit of a risk on wines from a lesser known region or varietal, especially one made by the hands of a 5-star producer.”

  Rolly Gassmann’s 2001 Auxerrois retails for about $27 a bottle, and can be found using Wine-Searcher.  Michael Green has worked in the wine trade for over 20 years, and most recently began hosting WINE DOWN in New York City.

Kyle was excited to pour this lush, fruit driven, medium-bodied wine from Ribera del Guadiana. “Crianza” translates to the aging process of wine to maturity. Two years of barrel aging allows this Tempranillo to produce aromas of vanilla that leap from the glass. The fruit comes from a vineyard plot planted by the Alvear family, one of Spain’s most notable producers of Sherry. This wine costs about $18.