Welcome to our second annual BIG HOLIDAY December. These are the wines for the party. The office party, the family party, the party party, the wine-in-the-shower party. These are the things we are psyched to see when we hit the bar, the *wink wink* where we know somebody has good taste in wine and hosting/guesting. From high acid grüner veltliner to a spritz-ready bitter aperitivo for the bar, this club is for the party people. Happy holidays, friends. We really love having y’all.
ZAHEL GRÜNER VELTLINER, VIENNA AUSTRIA 2023
The Viennese have a wonderful term for the ultimate hospitality, meant to convey the convivial spirit of warmth, friendliness and good cheer; Gemütlichkeit. In 1784, Emperor Joseph II gave Austrians the official green light to sell homemade food and wine and, in doing so, carry on the tradition of Gemütlichkeit in their local taverns and coffee houses.
In 1930, the Zahel family started their own traditions in this national spirit, growing a variety of wines to serve in their Heuriger (taverns). The matriarch, Irmhilde, still bakes for the tavern. Her grandson, Alexander, helms the family legacy. Their vineyards stretch from southeast to wouthwest Vienna and still grow unique varietals like orangetraube and many classics including, of course, grüner veltliner.
At their Goldberg vineyard in the Oberlaa region you’ll find Vienna's oldest terrace formed during the ice age. Here 45+ year-old grüner vines are tended to with modern biodynamic practices, with special attention paid to the regeneration of soil, water, air, and biodiversity for the whole ecosystem.
This wine sees 12 hours of skin contact, and is left to age for 6 months on the lees, balancing its zip with a warm, silky weight in the middle. Dried apple skins and wild flowers flutter on the finish. Refreshing enough to keep you chatting, thoughtful enough to enjoy in peace and quiet. I close my eyes and I’m laughing with a friend in front of Irmhilde's tavern fireplace looking out to the Austrian winter wonderland. Or maybe I’m just slowly wrapping presents with a little Vince Guaraldi playing in the background. Wherever you go, it can’t help but be Gemütlichkeit. —Beth Altenbernd
AMPELEIA “UNLITRO” ROSSO TUSCANY, ITALY 2023
With its squat rustic bottle and sweet, handmade label, Unlitro is perennial fan favorite of our shopgoers (and our own team). Marco Tait of Ampeleia is old-school in terms of natural and biodynamic winemaking; the vineyards themselves are located in a UNESCO Global Geopark , and are a wild ecoystem of diversity—animals, olives, vegetables, woodlands.
Unlitro is a blend of alicante nero, sangiovese, carignan, and mourvedre—midweight, totally pleasant red wine that will make no one unhappy. Bright cherries and herbal undertones conjure a youthful fruit roll-up quality, a sans souci soul perfect for the gathering of your peoples. —Allison Whittinghill
BREAKING BREAD “AL DENTE” MOURVEDRE, SONOMA COUNTY 2022
Rare is the time you see a mourvedre in a liter from Sonoma. I can think of one. And here you have it. Made by Erik Miller of Kokomo in Dry Creek California, Breaking Bread leans into the easygoing side of low intervention wines, bottling Dry Creek’s famed zinfandel as pèt-nat and whole cluster gamay from Erik’s own backyard. Erik happened to visit us recently, and his full body enthusiasm was infectious; he’s deeply technical as a winemaker, which seems to allow him a measure of creativity and delight. Breaking Bread is cheeky, but personal, playful and heartfelt. This is the kind of stuff we can’t get enough of at the shop.
The “Al Dente”—or “to the tooth”—was made to be food’s ideal match. Light, lovely red with complexity that can handle flavors while also holding its own own. It’s fermented whole-cluster without any pressing to maintain freshness and sees three months in used French oak barrels. This wine was a HIT this summer when we put it on by the glass. Wonderful for stormy summer evenings, even better for stormy winter evenings. —Leslie Pariseau
DISTILLERIA QUAGLIA “BÈRTO BITTER”
HEADLINE: We now have a small library of spirits on the shelves that spans from nerdy mezcal and armagnac to smoky pineapple amaro and allocated nocino. Among these high-proof things we hold dear to our hearts is Bèrto bitter.
Distilleria Quaglia has been distilling spirits in Piedmont since 1890 and is one of the few spirits brought into the U.S. by legendary Berkeley importer Kermit Lynch. Introduced to Mr. Lynch by a winemaker who entrusts the Quaglia family to make their Barolo chinato, the distillery produces a line called Bèrto, which includes a traditional sweet red and white vermouth as well as this fantastic bitter.
Whereas Campari (inarguably the most famous red bitter) can veer sweet and quite viscous, Bèrto is leaner with a bright citrus backbone. To create this beguiling balance of bitter and swee, quaglia harvests local sweet oranges, rhubarb, and rose petals, which are delicately and quickly extracted and infused to preserve the delicate floral aspects. A slight grapefruit pith rounds out the back palate.
This is the only red bitter I keep on my home bar. It’s meant for holiday entertaining and the rest of the year to come (re: Mardi Gras). Elevate your Negroni or spritz or pour it over ice with your favorite bubble water. —Drew Clowney
COLLECAPRETTA “TERRA dei PRETI” UMBRIA, ITALY 2022
I had a regular once who, whenever he came in, bought a bottle of wine, drank half the bottle and left the rest for us, insisting that wine should be shared. I can’t say I always adhere to this myself. But thinking about who might like what and why does give me joy when choosing bottles for a guest or my friends and family. There’s a place for “they said what?!” bottles or a quiet sunset bottle and then there are bottles like this: Collecapretta’s “Terra dei Preti,” which, to my mind, is a memory lane bottle—something to be revisited and handed down.
The Mattioli family is Collecapretta. They have lived in southern Umbria, in a hamlet just outside of Spoleto, since the 1100’s. Anna and Vittorio Mattioli with their daughter Annalisa have cultivated the land and tended to their wines with a heirloom touch and an eye on the lunar calendar. Here, they celebrate single varietal bottlings of which the trebbiano Spoletino is cherished. Of the (widely varied) trebbiano grape family, Spoletino is a thick-skinned, late ripening varietal, meaning it can develop deep and nuanced complexity on the vine. Terra dei Preti is vinified with a 10-day skin maceration, a process called ribollito in Umbria, and aged in cement tanks. What it becomes is a deep amber wine with notes of dried apricot, green apple skins, terracotta minerality and just a hint of evergreen freshness. A wine to savor and think on.
At the shop, we often get asked what is this new, trendy orange wine? There is definitely a selection of orange wines that are new and trendy, but this is not one of them. Wines such as this are the roots of that growing category, deeply traditional and tended to over the generations. Its own story is a trip down memory lane. So while enjoying nod to your ancestors, appreciate the complexing of your own roots and share a little with your friends. —Cassandra Vachon