Saks is a place which can exhaust shoppers-so much so that a little sustenance re-invigorates the credit card. My amazement was the shop fitout for shoe sales-bit like an open plan wine bar with lots of plush. The Saks diner, cleverly badged as Sfa (Saks Fifth Avenue, not slang!) is on the 8th floor; swish, waiters in black shirts, ties and aprons serve salads, grills and burgers as you would need for retail therapy. The order was chicken salad and prawn salad; well plated and flavoury, though the caramelised walnuts were an unwanted ingredient.

Wines were two glasses: Bouchaine Napa-Carneros Chardonnay 2007 (AUD 17.25 glass, 69 bottle); straw, green, punchy nose of very ripe chardonnay and charry oak, the palate very chunky, oak quite dominant and drying, and charry, acid in harmony but a thumper style; 13.9%. www.bouchaine.comSecond glass was Raphel Estate Merlot 2006, North Fork Long Island NY (AUD 9.20 glass, 36.80 bottle) 12.5%; a muddy colour typical of many merlot which do not fully ripen or achieve colour and tannin maturity (the world is full of them). It’s nose had the telltale sweet and sour (ripe and unripe mix-hints of cassis muddled with green tomato bush); again quite a normal occurrence for cool climate merlot trying to get there. On the palate quite good, tight tannin but not much unripe, more herbal tannins, sweet on finish, oak in the background, fairly decent, would have preferred the hint of brett to not be present. Just acceptable for merlot, and showing similarities to Tasmanian-grown Bordeaux varieties. www.raphelwine.com

Across the road in the Rockefeller Plaza was the wine merchant Morrell. This operator clearly dealt in blue chip Bordeaux and Burgundy although I noticed Heathcote Estate Shiraz for sale. The staff told me everything was “really nice” and who is a Master of Wine to argue with such subjective knowledge-wine untasted. Chose Beckmen Vineyards Syrah 2007 (AUD 31) from Santa Barbara County south of SFO, Santa Ynez actually. What a terrific wine; value, colour, integration and total impression (92). This company specialises in Rhone varietals-this being a blend of 11 micro-vinified lots which made up a 1500 dozen vintage. Surprising for me the natural cork was fine as the wine turned out so good (ten per cent won’t and I am dumbfounded by the choice of cork). The wine was complete for such an early age, oak was un-obtrusive, flavours seamless and not alcohol hot; 14.8%. Will have to return to Morrell to find another as “nice”. www.beckmenvineyards.com

Now here is a restaurant pumping during lunch on a busy Tuesday-downtown in Soho this French style bistrot was squeezed tight with diners-all 221 of them as the fire ordinance sign displayed. Then there was the iced-up oyster bar jam packed with oysters, clams and lobsters and the organised mayhem as waiters (some French-speaking) re-arranged the seating in a seconds notice.

The starter was frisee lettuce, lardons and very soft poached egg, good but light provencale stuff, vinaigrette (top olive oil); and Balthazar bakery (next door) eye bread. Next was some rare calves liver topped with red onion, delicious and tender, though a steak knife was provided. No frites requested, but there were many served around me, no doubt encouraging New Yorkers to dine here with a straddle menu including fancy burgers and French chips.

Wine was Chateau du Rouet Cuvee Reservee Tradition 2008 Cotes de Provence Rose (AUD 28.75 for 375 ml) which came with a lookalike plastic cork (Normacork) so there was no great serious pre-tasting just to make sure of no dodgy natural cork. USA did not figure in the wine list-very Francophile which is understandable, although there were a couple of local beers. French importers must be fairly happy to have establishments such as Balthazar as US imports of French wines have been copping a beating of late. The wine was fresh and aromatic for young wine; orange and salmon colour (much different from the accepted New World approach of violet-pretty pink); very white wine-like save the finishing bitter nectarine tang, important for rose made traditionally from red grapes. In this wine 60% grenache 40% shiraz. www.chateau-du-rouet.com

The restaurant looks well-worn as a leather warehouse before 1997, has a dramatic presence with high ceilings and giant wall mirrors which exaggerate the grandeur of the dining room holding so many loud diners. Although located at 80 Spring Street, it also backs on to the corner of Crosby;www.balthazarny.com and joins in a ritzy district undergoing a retail makeover. Stroll down this part of Broadway and notice the wall to wall fashion shops (spied our Aussie Billabong shop) jumping out all along this famous stretch. It’s work in progress. At 560 is a slick and shiny Dean & Deluca deli shop (their flagship) with lunchers in the front amid coffee stands, chilled fish and meat dispensing, piles of cheese and bakery, glistening fresh fruit, and at the rear, the kitchen wares. www.deandeluca.com

Under Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan is a wonderful old restaurant set under a scalloped tile roof which reminds me of the underground cellars of Barolo-though bigger spans.

Part of the 500 px restaurant is an oyster bar sporting a selection of 20+ regional origin oysters (AUD 2.50-3.00 each) with numerous shuckers at work. In the restaurant section (split-part is long trestle tables holding up to 50, the remainder is tables) I took a 12 oyster selection (AUD 37.75) from 4 regions. I asked for the most popular and received Blackberry Point (Prince Edward-Canada); Kumamoto (Oregon); Meximoto (California) and Wellfleet (Massachusetts). The west coast was saltier than the east, which is creamier and milder, though also more subtle in the sea flavours, and smaller. As a Sydney rock lover I prefer small, creamy mouthfuls rather than the overly aromatic, large, flat Pacific oyster which can miss on delicacy. Washing it down was a Leib North Fork Reserve Pinot Blanc 2007 from a manicured vineyard on Long Island, NY(AUD 11.20/glass), 12.5% alcohol, pale, aromatic, unwooded, less flesh than grigio, mildly acidic and a great local oyster flusher. I chose to miss the accompaniments due to my love for the subtle seaflavours, yet the spiced red fruits vinegar was very good, no VA.http://www.liebcellars.com/

Next had to be a fat-clawed 350 g Maine lobster which grinned at me from the live lobster tank on arrival, steamed (AUD 55.50); and easy to eat natural with the bib provided. Selecting a Highland “Seco Highlands” Pinot Noir 2006 (AUD 20/glass), Arroyo Seco in Monterey was a waste of time exercise; dull colour, blues, little pinot aroma, without the telltale sweet fruit, and bitter-finishing. The accompaniment was a huge jar of home-made coarse horseradish paste as well as various chilli sauces that did not fit the subtlety of this top lobster taste experience.

The wines were not poured at the table so there is no recall of bottle shape, label nor closure (if anything else but cork – in this bizarre land that misses on what cork does to wine character). And when inquiring about the local rose, Bridge Lane Merlot 2008, North Fork, Long Island, NY (AUD 10.60/glass), the staff were very protective about it being an orange and not purple rose, obviously being a bled juice from the company’s mainstream merlot production-a common activity for this grape to chase concentration. Probably it would have better matched the lobster.

The wine list held 10 sparklings, 25 chardonnay (Cullen 2004 and Phillip Shaw no 11 2006), 21 sauvignon (Cloudy Bay 2008), 20 rieslings (Jacob’s Creek Steingarten 2005), 6 viognier (Shinas 2007), 7 chenin, 5 white pinots (Robert Oatley Pinot Grigio 2008), 6 Traminers, 18 other whites (St Hallett Poachers 2007, Arrowfield Sophie’s Bridge Verdelho), 8 sherries, 28 cabernets (Vinaceous Raconteur 2007), 15 merlot, 11 zinfandel, 23 pinots, 6 shiraz, 7 cabernet franc, 12 other reds (1847 Home Block Petit Verdot 2004), 3 rose, 2 dessert table and 9 ports.

Given the global warming that is happening New Yorkers have a greater supply of top eastern Americas wines from a range of superior grape varieties. And they ought to support them as much as their “I love NY symbol” now. Grand Central Oyster bar is trying, it just needs more dollars spent by the locals on top of us wine tourists in order to blossom.

The verdict-AUD 120 px with tips-grand ingredients, not great value, still expensive compared with an equivalent Oz seafood serve, fabulous deco architecture, worth the experience to taste local drops, 14.5/20.http://www.oysterbarny.com/

The big Australian-Wine Australia in the Aussie wine vernacular, instigated the inaugural Landmark tasting series this year. There was a lot of media noise on Twitter and Facebook and a lot of good wine. That is what this Landmark is-a tutorial showpiece of the top shelf of Australian wine, all styles, all ages and out there to taste.

And who tasted? Well it was advertised widely internationally, received 1000 enquiries, not quite the frenzy that Tourism Queensland received when they went to the waves with their “Greatest job in the World” to be paid to live six months on the Barrier Reef.

The twelve invited landmark visitors; from Hong Kong, Japan, China, USA, Finland, Ireland, Canada, Germany, Singapore, UK, tasted 248 wines over five days alongside a series of style tutors, basically some the senior industry leaders with hundreds upon hundreds of hours of experience in the Australian wine show system.

Held in the Barossa Valley, a fitting Australian destination, and one so well known, were intense flights of wines. They were Cabernet Sauvignon, Semillon, Semillon Sauvignon Blends, Our Fine Wine History, Sparkling, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Shiraz and Fortified, Blends, New Varieties and dinner wines.

In 2010 a next generation Landmark tasting is to be held in Victoria’s Yarra Valley in September; international applications close on 31 December 2009; http://www.landmark-wineaustralia.com/2009/09/17/apply/; hope you make it.