2015 Quinta do Regueiro Alvarinho Trajadura 750 ml

Gorgeous Portuguese White... A Tip From Wine Enthusiast’s #1 Sommelier in America

There’s something about watching salesmen trying to impress the gatekeepers of Manhattan’s most discriminating wine lists that we will never stop enjoying. So it was with nostalgic smiles that we took in a parade of salesmen and their sample bottles at Bar Boulud on a Tuesday afternoon in January, where Michael Madrigale, Wine Enthusiast’s #1 Sommelier in America, held court.

We’re not so far removed from those days that we could forget the anxiety churning our stomachs. So we got a special thrill out of watching the fine wine sales guys sweat as Madrigale swirled, sniffed, and swished their samples. While always polite and charming, Michael can also be notoriously cold-hearted at the tasting table. The sales guys talk shop, waiting patiently, fully understanding that a feature placement at Bar Boulud can deplete 50 cases in a single month.

On January 14th, we booked a table for two at Bar Boulud. We needed a paleo fix and Daniel’s charcuterie spread is the best in town. Pâté Grand-Mère, Pâté Grand-Père, and Poulet Aux Agrumes offer up a delicious mix of protein and healthy fats. The requisite pile of Frisée Salad in the center of the cutting board provides texture and crispness.

We ordered the Pâté Grand-Père and a couple Salad Lyonnaises, then waited for Madrigale to provide the finishing touch. When Michael spotted us, he made a beeline for the booth. We talked shop for a few minutes, but with the dining room bustling, the sommelier excused himself and headed towards the stairwell at the front of the restaurant, and the cellar below. He was back at the table in a snap, without breaking a sweat.

Madrigale is an Italian-American who grew up in Northeast Philly. His father is a butcher. Like most families in the neighborhood, the Madrigale family is closely knit, and decidedly blue-collar. After graduating from La Salle, Michael moved to NYC and quickly landed a job with Al Hotchkin and Geri Tashjian at Burgundy Wine Company on 26th Street, where Michael was treated to a crash course on Grand Cru Burgundy. That education would be greatly enhanced during a two-year cellar stint at Domaine de l’Arlot in Nuits-Saint-Georges.

Madrigale’s expertise shines through the wine lists at Bar Boulud and Boulud Sud. Sharing space with the auction-acquired stars of Burgundy is a carefully curated collection of obscure bargains — most from lesser-known European wine routes, almost all discovered on Tuesday afternoons on 63rd Street with Madrigale.

Michael poured three ounces of a brilliant, green-gold Portuguese white into matching Zalto Universal stems (more and more the standard in Manhattan’s top restaurants). Then NYC’s superstar somm did what he always does: He turned on the jets.

“If you taste this wine blind, you might put it in the central Loire. Maybe Alsace. But this is Portuguese Alvarinho, the same variety found in Vinho Verde. The secret to growing Alvarinho is in first controlling yields and then picking at the optimal moment. Pick too early and you lose the mineral complexity. Pick too late and the acids drop out. Regueiro is the region’s superstar. Old school, yet innovative. No CO2 addition. Burgundian in the cellar with one month of bâtonnage. The 2015 Regueiro blew away the field.”

Brilliant green-gold. Mouthwatering aromas of green apple, pear, and quince, bright and piercing. Unusually rich and weighty yet chiseled and almost saline on the attack, filled with a briny mix of apple, Anjou pear, and anise, finishing with great vibrancy and crispness — first accentuating the saltiness of Chef Daniel Boulud’s Iberico ham, then cutting the smoke, salt, and fat like a stiletto.

Of the next 300 cases coming stateside, 200 are destined for Boulud’s wine list. The rest are ours. $54/bottle at Bar Boulud. $13 this afternoon on WineAccess — thanks to a lunchtime tip from the #1 Sommelier in America.