FROM FISH TO FERRARI

New York wine buffs have been spoiled by the recent openings of a spate of stylish wine shops, not least Pasanella & Son on South Street. The project of married designers Marco Pasanella and Rebecca Robertson, the shop was once filled with fish sold at wholesale. Now there is a silver-gray 1967 Ferrari parked on the sales floor, its trunk wide open and currently filled with late-summer, easy-quaffing picnic wines.

Next Wednesday, however, comes a dramatic change of pace, when the shop hosts the first of a trio of ambitious tastings highlighting the best wines of the superb 1996 vintage in Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Piedmont. Unusually, each of these Northern European regions, highly vulnerable to bad weather at harvest, enjoyed ideal conditions in 1996. But the vintage’s firm, intense wines required slow maturation. After a decade, they are finally coming into their prime.

Twelve wines will be opened for a maximum of 16 tasters at each of the sessions, held between 7 and 9 p.m. in the shop’s rustic yet elegant back room. Selected by wine consultant Mark Golodetz, the wines come directly from his temperature controlled wine cellar. “The shop is hoping to boost its profile with this tasting series,” Mr. Golodetz said. “For me, it’s a chance to see how these wines are doing a dozen at a sitting. It wouldn’t make sense for me to open that many wines all at once at home.”

All of next week’s Bordeaux dozen were scored at least 90 points by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. Five achieved far rarer “classic” status with scores of 95 points or higher: Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou (96 pts), Leoville Las-Cases (98 points), Chateau Margaux (99 points), Chateau Latour (99 points), and Chateau Lafite-Rothshchild (a perfect 100).

The Burgundy Tasting on September 20 includes such other classics of the vintage as wines at Domaine Jacques Prieur Musigny and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée St.Vivant.The Piedmont Tasting on October 4 includes Bruno Giacosa’s Barolo Falletto di Serralunga Riserva and Gaja’s Sori San Lorenzo.

Pasanella & Son, 115 South St., between Fulton Street and Peck Slip. Each tasting costs $295, or $850 for all three. Reservations: 212-233-8383.

CORK WARS

The principal combatants so far in the battle over how best to seal wine bottles have been the classic cork and the upstart screwcap. Now comes a fresh insurgent called the crown cap. Known best as an old standard for beer and soda bottles, crown caps have long been used to temporarily seal champagne bottles during their second fermentation. Now, in a startling break from tradition, Étoile, a premium label from California’s Domaine Chandon, has released Blanc de Blancs and Rosé sparklers sealed by crown caps, each with a silk ribbon bound over them. There’s no time-honored “pop,” just a faint “snap” as the crown cap is removed with a “church key.”

What’s lost as ritual in shifting to crown cap is more than made up for on the quality-control front, according to Étoile’s winemaker, Tom Tiburzi. The problem is cork taint, a chemical condition that can infect even the highest quality corks. At its worst, cork taint causes a wine to reek as if from musty, damp cardboard. Lower levels of cork taint are more insidious, subtly robbing wine of its freshness without rendering it undrinkable. The unsuspecting sipper knows the wine isn’t especially pleasurable, but doesn’t know why. “As I’ve poured Étoile over the years when it was cork sealed, I’d see 4% to 5% of the bottles with some degree of cork taint,” Mr. Tiburzi said. “Even at low levels, it would knock the fruit out. If you didn’t know the wine, you’d think that you didn’t like it. So I decided to make a change. I mean, would you accept that 5% of the milk cartons you buy are not up to standard?”

Chandon’s Australian counterpart, Chandon Green Point, switched over to crown caps with the 2004 release of its Blanc de Blanc 2000. Sensing that there might be resistance from the parent company, Moët & Chandon in Champagne, Aussie winemaker Tony Jordan never asked for permission to use the new closure. “We know they are very conservative about things like this and we didn’t want them to stop us,” Mr. Jordan told the Weekend Australian at the time of release. Chandon’s Argentine arm has also bottled a sparkling wine under crown cap.

Mr. Tiburzi offered the debut of the crown-capped Étoile at this summer’s Aspen Wine and Food festival. “People in their 50s were a little suspicious at first, but when they understood that the crown cap guaranteed pure flavors, they accepted it,” Mr. Tiburzi said. “The young people, on the other hand, are more used to technological change, and they were jazzed.” Tasting the Étoile Rosé and Blanc de Blancs, each of which rested for five years on their yeasts in bottles before release, I, too, was jazzed. Sourced from fruit in Napa, Sonoma, and Anderson Counties, these are lovely wines with great freshness. They are well-priced and widely available at about $30.

SAVOR SAKE

Even recondite wine dabblers may turn glassy-eyed when the subject of serious sake is broached. Pete Wells, writing in Departures magazine, compared the sake learning curve to “figuring out the workings of the Social Security Trust Fund or deciding which Proust translations are most accurate.” Far more pleasant than all that will be next Tuesday’s “Rare and Artisanal Sake Dinner” at Chanterelle. A nine-course degustation menu prepared by David Waltuck will be partnered with nine sakes chosen by Roger Dagorn, the restaurant’s master sommelier. Mr. Dagorn is a specialist in artisanal sakes, which vary enormously in taste and style. Several producers will be on hand to present their wines.

Warming up for the dinner next Sunday, Mr. Dagorn will host “Sake 101” as part of Chanterelle’s new Sunday Salon series on food and wine. Six sake selections will be paired to small dishes such as deviled quail eggs with caviar, and steamed duck and foie gras dumplings.

Rare Artisanal Sake Dinner, September 12 at 6 p.m., $250 including tax and gratuity.

Sake 101, September 10, 4–6 p.m., $55 including tax and gratuity.

Chanterelle, 2 Harrison St. Reservations: 212-966-6960, chanterellenyc.com.