The Sommelier

Skin-contact reference. Four weeks on skins, aged in botti. Argues the whole orange category by itself.

Rosé pét-nat-adjacent from the Basque coast. Salt, pressure, and something like green apple.

Under-veil-aged rosé from an obscure grape. Drinks like a light red with an argument.

Frappato and Nero d'Avola in amphora. Chillable, red-fruited, no makeup.

Acid-driven Barbera with no oak agenda. The red-sauce answer.

The gateway bottle for an entire generation of natural drinkers. Still holds up.

Barolo's grammar at a Tuesday price. Tar, rose, grip.

Elisabetta Foradori's biodynamic reference. Dark, cool, savory.

The bottle that converted the somm. Pale, wild, impossible to find.

Dry Chenin with chalk and quince. Bends around almost any table.

Sauvignon Blanc rescued from its reputation. Smoke, salt, no grapefruit cliché.

The natural-wine founding document. Chill it fifteen minutes.

Grower Champagne that tastes like a place instead of a brand.

Volcanic Listán Prieto. Ash, red fruit, altitude.

Bone-dry, saline, alive. The most underpriced great wine on earth.

Single-vineyard fino, butt-aged, chalk to the finish.

Dry Riesling with tension you can feel in your teeth.

California proving it can do pale and nervy. Serve at cellar temp.

Fog-grown Pinot with cranberry bite and no California weight.

Burgundian in build, priced like it isn't. Flint and lemon curd.

Cider from a former three-star somm. Twenty apple varieties, granite soil.