Photo courtesy of The Fontainebleau

Tonight's installment of Fontainebleau's Cellar 1954 Series features one of the oldest family-run wineries in Napa, Chappelet Vineyards. Iwner Cyril Chappellet will be on hand to discuss his family vineyard while explaining the intricacies of each wine as they are paired with a special menu from Gotham Steak's chef de cuisine, Derrick Roberts.

A critic and collector's darling, Chappelet was the first winery to plant vineyards exclusively on high-elevation hillsides. The rugged terrain is renown for producing wines with great intensity and depth, perfect for the decadent five-course menu Chef Derrick has cooked up. While steakhouses are known for bold flavors and rich dishes, tonight's menu features flavors that are ready to pop off the plate.

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drvino.com

Don't sit on your corks, cash them in for food

Are you one of those that collects corks from after a weekend of drinking wine? Maybe you have corks as decoration in your kitchen and you've no more space. Not to worry, wine is never quaffed in vain. Devon Seafood + Steak is introducing ReCORK Mondays. It starts today. So if you opened bottles yesterday to toast to the woman that made you, then thank her for saving you a few bucks on dinner tonight.

See Also:
- Top Ten Places to Take Out-Of-Towners
- George's Kitchen in Midtown Is an Open Book

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Sugarcane's Chef Timon Balloo.

Dinner with Friends at Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill is an event that every foodie must experience at least once. Fortunately, this coming Monday, December 17, Sugarcane will once again delight a small group of diners to a gastronomic gala. Unfortunately, it will be the last DwF of the year.

We attended a Dinner with Friends event last month and were blown away by the experience. Guest celeb chef Hedy Goldsmith teamed up with Sugarcane's Timon Balloo and presented several courses to our group of twelve. Each course paired with a different wine and both the alcohol and food did their jobs - diners felt satiated and content.

This Monday, Clay Conley takes the role of guest chef alongside Timon. Nominated for the James Beard this year, Conley owns Buccan and Imoto in Palm Beach and is the former executive chef of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel's award-winning restaurant, Azul.

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Wine enthusiasts can indulge in an all-you-can-drink wine tasting celebrating the wines of Portugal at Smith & Wollensky tomorrow, Wednesday, October 10. The Tejo Wine Tasting offers 100 distinct wines from Portugal's Tejo region, a hilly place around the River Tagus.

Tejo offers quite a variety, from easy-drinking reds, roses, and fruity wines, to more complex finishes from the drier parts of the region. In anticipation of the event, we spoke with David Bernard, founder of the Miami International Wine Fair, about the Tejo Wine Tasting, trending wines, and the eternal conundrum -- to chill or not to chill.

Follow the jump for our Q&A with Bernard.

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Kareem Shaker

CVZ's white wine Fiano was paired with a cuttlefish dish.

Step off the elevator and onto the third floor at the Miami Culinary Institute's main building downtown, and you come across an impressive facility. About 50 seats surround a stage kitchen where some of the city's finest culinary practitioners and educators lecture on the art and science of fine dining.

This past week, members of the media, foodies and fellow chefs were invited to the complimentary, invite-only August edition of the Italian Culinary Experience, presented by MCI, Cioppino restaurant and winery Casa Vinicola Zonin. CVZ is Italy's largest privately-owned company, with 11 wine estates in seven regions for a total of over 10,000 acres. August's featured wines came from the Masseria Aletmura estate in the heel of the boot Puglia, paired with a delectable five-course meal prepared by Cioppino at Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne executive chef Ezio Gamba.

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Courtesy of The Capital Grille.

There are fewer concepts more pleasing to the palate of a wine lover than the notion of a generous pour. Hence The Capital Grille's annual celebration by the same name, geared to its vino enthusiast patrons.

This summer wine event offers visitors a chance to sample an extensive variety of selections hand-picked by a Master Sommelier -- for a surprisingly reasonable price tag of $25 (with dinner).

George Miliotes is the man behind the juice. The title of Master Sommelier isn't easily bestowed - there are only 186. In the entire world. Basically, the level of expertise expected is unsurpassed. These rare birds have to know everything about everything about everything related to alcohol - not wine alone.

But Miliotes says he's "just a guy who likes wine and enjoys teaching people about wine." He doesn't see his distinction as a fussy title or something to hold over others, but instead views it as an obligation to teach.

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The original boutique burger.

It only makes sense that a boutique burger at a bistro be paired with a glass of Bordeaux. And so starting Tuesday, May 1, db Bistro Moderne is offering a complimentary glass of the austere French wine with every hamburger purchased at lunch or dinner (a pairing long favored by chef Daniel Boulud). The burger goes for $34, but diners may also get an appetizer and dessert along with their burger and Bordeaux for just a dollar more as part of the $35 prix fixe menu. That's really quite a deal (keep in mind: this isn't just any hamburger).

It's also quite the way to make a $34 burger palatable. There are other ways to make it palatable as well...

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The official grand opening of Midtown's Wine Vault, a sexy 2-floor tapas and wine lounge, pairs up this evening with New Times's monthly Tweet Up. Celebrate the end of your work week and give your hurtin' wallet a break with free L'Chaim Kosher Vodka, Palm beer, and complimentary bites. 

Owen Franken

DB is coming to town.

​Jarrod Verbiak of db Bistro Moderne is a talented toque; his recent James Beard nomination as Rising Star Chef of the Year only serves as a prestigious confirmation of this. Dining at db Bistro, in other words, is always likely to yield a wonderful culinary experience. But it's not every day that Daniel Boulud himself is orchestrating and hosting the meal. In fact, in the forseeable future it's only one day: This coming Wednesday, March 7, when Dinner with Daniel will include four courses conjured by the master and paired with Jean-Luc Colombo wines from the Northern Rhone region.

Boulud's menu will showcase the gastronomy of his native city of Lyon. The bistro sommelier Caleb Ganzier will co-host the dinner and present wines from Daniel's good friend Jean Luc-Colombo. These include St. Peray and library vintages of the acclaimed Cornas, poured from large formats. The opportunity to try this Cornas wine is limited -- because it's a library vintage, it will have to be returned by early the following week.

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Will the Mondavi wine dinner be Chef Ruiz's final bow?

​​Don't mourn Philippe Ruiz's departure from the Biltmore just yet; it seems he's got a few surprises still in store, like a much ballyhooed Mondavi wine dinner at Palme d'Or next Tuesday, January 17. And guess who's gonna be in town talking about the heavenly liquid that makes us all swoon? Napa Valley winemaker and proprietor of Charles Krug, Peter Mondavi Jr. His winemaking philosophy, we're told, is "to be true to the variety and land, be minimally invasive, and have balance and honesty, and to produce a wine that is to be enjoyed at the meal, with food." Sold.

Now then, we're not going to tell you the entire menu five-course Ruiz has planned, but suffice it to say it includes shaved and cured foie with sweet Indian curry, farm-raised roasted squab filet (guess he didn't opt to barbecue it like Chopped champ Giorgio Rapicavoli did on Tuesday night's episode), roasted venison chop alongside crispy polenta and grand veneur sauce, and l'opera cake for dessert.

Tickets for the 7 p.m. dinner are $150 for non-members and can be ordered by calling 305-913-3201.

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