Chardonnay may be the most popular wine in the U.S, but there are many different styles of the varietal. That’s way The Rickey cocktail lounge inside the Dream Midtown hotel in New York is offering special chardonnay wine flights.
The seasonally rotating program, which launched in March, offers chardonnays hand-selected by The Rickey’s managing partner Matt Strauss. The first part of the series offered two different flights of three 2-oz. pours. One flight included Lioco, Sonoma County (California) 2014; Hamilton Russell, Walker Bay (South Africa) 2014; and Planeta, Sicily (Italy) 2012, priced at $20.
A chardonnay flight reserve, priced at $60, includes selections that rotate based on availability and season. The initial offering included Ruinart Blanc de Blanc, nonvintage, Champagne (France); Criots-Batard Montrachet Louis Latour, Côte de Beaune (France) 2006; Kistler “Les Noisetiers,” Sonoma (California) 2013. Guests can also opt to sample all six wines for $75.
The Rickey aims to help guests discover new wines: Every bottle of wine on the list is offered by the glass. What’s more, the bar has several important wines, such as first-growth Bordeaux and California cult favorites, that are available in 3-oz. and 6-oz. pours. The bar has the Coravin system, which uses a needle to puncture the cork and argon gas to replace oxygen in the bottle, and keeps the wine fresh between pours.