For those wondering what “geekiness” means in reference to wine, look no farther than the list at The Cleveland, a new restaurant in New York’s Nolita neighborhood. Deemed “New York’s geekiest wine list” by The Wall Street Journal, wine director Paul Shaked’s selection includes orange wines as well wines made with whole-cluster/carbonic maceration (“a wine-making technique closely associated with Beaujolais that can produce slightly fizzy reds”) denoted on the menu with an asterisk. The WSJ singles out a white wine from the Loire, 2011 Jean-Pierre Robinot Chenin Blanc Jasnières (‘oxidative, layered by bright minerality and lemon’), as the single nerdiest choice.
Shaked asserts his list is no more obscure than anything you’d find at other wine-centric restaurants across the city, and that he’s simply sharing wines he and his colleagues like to drink (several Cleveland staffers also work at wine shops). For those not necessarily seeking the funkiest of times, Shaked just as happily points guests toward something like the 2012 Jean-Paul Brun Terres Dorées Côte du Brouilly for $58. [The Wall Street Journal]