Bourbon isn’t just a category of spirits—it’s a culture. The best bourbons are highly sippable and collectible, which is why this beloved category of American whiskey lends its signature smooth flavor to everything from maple syrup to candles. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, over 28.4 million cases of bourbon were sold last year. Clearly, it’s not going out of fashion anytime soon. 

If you haven’t sipped much bourbon without a mixer, learning quality and what’s worth collecting for your home bar can be a steep task. “What’s most important is that it’s subjective,” says Bill Thomas, a renowned whiskey expert and the owner of Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Washington, D.C. “If you think it’s amazing and you enjoy drinking it, start there.” 

In order to make your shopping a little easier, we consulted the experts to find the category standouts varying in budget, availability, and use. Although we do choose the best straight sipper, we’d happily serve any of these neat, no ice or mixer required.

• Best Expression of the Category: New Southern Revival Brand Jimmy Red Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Best Value: Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond
• Best for Cocktails: Four Roses Bourbon Yellow Label or Single Label
• Best Enjoyed Neat: Willet Pot Still Reserve
• Best Gift: Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year
• Best Everyday Drinker: Buffalo Trace 
• Best Innovative Bottle: Wilderness Trail 6 Year

Our Top Picks

Best Expression of the Category: New Southern Revival Brand Jimmy Red Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Tasting notes: graham cracker and vanilla with a baking spice finish

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“This bourbon is totally different from any other bourbon on the market, but what’s so interesting about it is that High Wire has really gone back to literal tradition and thought inside the box,” says Thomas. It defies the modern tradition of mixed mashbills and long aging by going back to the source: corn.

Distilled in Charleston, S.C. with a landrace corn called Jimmy Red, High Wire Distillery’s bourbon has a 100 percent corn mashbill and is only aged a minimum of two years (some bottlings might vary a little beyond that), and yet it has complex tasting notes of baking spice, graham cracker, cinnamon, and vanilla. It’s also aged in seasoned oak. “If there is a must-have bottle that most represents what ‘bourbon’ means, Jimmy Red has the benchmark of oak, vanilla, and caramel,” says Thomas.

Best Value: Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond

Tasting notes: classic vanilla and oak with a dry finish

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Thomas is a fan of Evan Williams B-in-B because it will hold up to whatever you want to do with it. It’s retail price typically ranges from $15-19 a bottle, making it a great low-cost entry point. A double gold winner at this year’s San Francisco Spirits Competition, it has classic bourbon notes of vanilla and oak, followed by a warm, dry finish.

 Bottled-in-Bond is a US Government standard that guarantees a whiskey has been aged four years, bottled at 100 proof, and clearly labeled with the name of the distillery who made it and Distilled Spirits Plant (D.S.P.) number in which it was made and bottled. While Evan Williams, which comes out of the Heaven Hill Distillery in Bardstown, is by no means the only bottled-in-bond bourbon on the market, it’s one of the most delicious and accessible countrywide.

Best for Cocktails: Four Roses Bourbon Yellow Label or Single Barrel – 80 proof / 100 proof

Tasting notes: maple syrup, cherries, long finish

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The Four Roses family of bourbons has “something for everybody,” says Demi Natoli, a Nashville-based bartender who currently splits her time between LA Jackson and Attaboy. “The Yellow Label is great for shaken cocktails that skew a little more refreshing—it provides great results and great value—and the single barrel is wonderful for stirred and more spirit-forward cocktails.” 

The Yellow Label is aged a minimum of five years and its slightly lower proof (ideal for many whiskey cocktails) while the Single Barrel sits in charred oak for seven to nine years and is bottled higher proof. Both have won a bevy of awards throughout the years, including the Tried & True Awards from Ultimate Spirits Challenge. 

Best Enjoyed Neat: Willet Pot Still Reserve

Tasting notes: vanilla lemon cake, with light spice

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Creamy, dreamy, and a stunner on the bar cart, Thomas says the nose on this beaut is reminiscent of vanilla lemon cake. This Kentucky straight bourbon comes in a signature bottle modeled after the original Willet still blueprints. The contents are a blueprint for how pleasurable an unadulterated sip can be. “I’ll pour this when I’m in the mood for sweet, spicy creaminess,” says Chris Hannah of Jewel of the South in New Orleans. 

Best Gift to Impress: Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year Family Reserve

Tasting notes: dates, warm tobacco, and caramel with a tinge of success if you can actually find a bottle

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This is the bourbon that has transcended the category to become a cultural icon. It’s significantly aged (23 years!) and made in limited quantities (just a few thousand cases a year!), yielding a special reputation and high price to match. The demand outweighs supply, resulting in perhaps the most desirable bourbon around. Ribbons of vanilla, honey, and sweet maple weave their way through the palate, accented by citrus and spicy notes. One sip makes it obvious that you’re drinking one of the most iconic spirits in the world—one that has been crafted carefully and matured slowly in Kentucky.  It’s an amazing way to say “welcome to the family,” “thanks for the support,” or “let’s sign that deal.” 

Best Everyday Drinker: Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 

Tasting notes: brown sugar, dark fruit, with a spicy base

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Multiple brands come out of the Buffalo Trace Distillery (including the aforementioned Pappy), but for sheer pleasure of everyday bourbon drinking with friends, Thomas suggests this namesake spirit. “There is really no bigger gift to the market than Buffalo Trace,” he explains. “It’s one of those bottles you can drink with friends without having to really think about it, and the deliciousness just enhances the overall experience with them.” A low rye mash bill creates a smooth taste with notes of mint and molasses that’s complex enough for a round sip and good neat, on ice, or even in a cocktail.

Best Innovative Bottle: Wilderness Trail 6 year Silver Label

Tasting notes: cinnamon roll, toasted oak, and if you’re going for the rye, subtle, spicy finish

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“[Shane Baker and Pat Heist] are the smartest two guys in the industry,” says Thomas. “They have reverse engineered the bourbon-making process, they ask the right questions, and they have an academic way of looking at tradition.” The two former rock band members meld science with tradition, most notably in their unique infusion mashing process, which applies a precise amount of heat to gelatinize grains’ starches without degrading quality. Combined with their sweet mash process, it brings out the delicious nuances of naturally sweet corn and peppery, spicy rye. 

The silver comes in two styles: wheated bourbon (64 percent corn, 24 percent wheat, 12 percent barley blend) rye bourbon (with 24 percent rye instead of wheat). Thomas predicts this distillery is only going to get more renowned, so this is a star bottle to add to your collection now.

Runners-Up

Our top picks are heavily based in Kentucky, and with good reason since that was bourbon’s birthplace, but it is by no means the only good bourbon-making region in the country. Here are a couple of our runners-up, and a wild card for good measure.

Hudson Whiskey Four Part Harmony Bourbon

Tasting notes: Sugared nuts, a touch of nutmeg, and vanilla

Hudson’s newest release—and oldest bourbon to date—is a reimagining of its popular four-grain bourbon that debuted a few years ago. The distillery held a few barrels back to age longer (at least seven years), and with good reason, as the four grains —corn, rye, wheat, and malted barley—have melded into a hit song. This distillery in the heart of the Hudson Valley was the first to open after Prohibition, and it is still a leader among distilleries who choose to focus on local grains suppliers. So although it may not be a Kentucky bourbon, it’s definitely of its place and time, and that’s worth a hearty cheers.

Belle Meade Reserve Bourbon

Tasting notes: caramel-drizzled stone fruits with a spicy finish

A high-proof bourbon (108.3) with a lot of rye in the mashbill, this spirit plays well for both bourbon and rye aficionados, with a rich, full mouthfeel and hefty spice notes. Brothers Andy and Charlie Nelson launched their brand with this spirit when they decided to revive their ancestor Charlie’s Nelson Greenbrier Distillery, and although they are now producing many more spirits at their downtown Nashville location, Belle Meade is as popular as it once was when ol’ Charlie debuted it in the Tennessee town in 1878. Try it in an old fashioned when you’re torn between that and a rye Manhattan. It will satisfy both sides of the palate. 

Mulholland American Whiskey

Tasting notes: oak and maple with a sweet finish

Wheat-colored and without the bourbon designation, this spirit nevertheless has 94 percent corn, 4 percent rye and 2 percent malted barley, which is more corn than many a bottle bearing the bourbon moniker. It’s a wild card, just like its creators, cinematographer Matthew Alper and actor Walton Goggins, that’s been distilled in Indiana, aged in Kentucky, and finished in California. Its highest and best use is found in cocktails beyond the old fashioned, from a Whiskey Sour to a Chilled Cider Punch. And at around $30 a bottle, it won’t break the bank for merry-making for a crowd. 

Features to Keep in Mind When Shopping for Bourbon 

Age

Technically, bourbon can be aged for any length of time, although the aging process often adds prized vanilla notes. “Straight” legally means it has been aged for two years, and “bottled-in-bond” for four years, which are both good places to start. Aging typically translates to an increase in price, as it means distillers must delay profit and dedicate storage space until their product is ready to be sold. Industry folks in-the-know often note that bourbon can be overaged, which can give the whiskey too much of the oak’s characteristics, but we’d never suggest any which suffers from such a malady. 

Blend, Small Batch, or Single Barrel

Each barrel of bourbon roughly yields 250 bottles. The smaller the bottling run (how many bottles are filled at a time), the higher the price—and more distinctive and collectable the bottle. “Blend,” “small batch,” and “single barrel” are all terms used to denote how many barrels were emptied to bottle the particular batch. A blend is a mix of multiple barrels chosen by the distiller to achieve a particular profile (and it’s the most cost friendly of these three), a mid-priced small batch uses fewer barrels for that bottling, and a top-shelf single barrel is bottled from one barrel at a time. 

Ingredients

Bourbon is the official spirit of the United States, so in order to be labeled bourbon, a whiskey must be 51% corn and produced in the USA. Most bourbons are made from a blend of corn and a wildly individual combination of wheat, barley, rye, or even alternative grains such as rice or oats. 

Distillation Process

It’s a little tricky to, well, distill the distillation process down into simple steps. Generally, water is added to grains and cooked in either a sweet mash or sour mash. The mash is then cooled, yeast is added, and the mixture is allowed to ferment. Up to this point, the process is similar to beer production, but then it goes further by boiling the resulting fermented liquid, capturing the steam, cooling it back down to a liquid, then funneling that liquid into barrels to age. 

Cask Strength

By law, bourbon cannot be made higher than 160 proof (or 80 percent ABV), with standard bourbon bottlings averaging between 80–95 proof. Typically, bourbon is “proofed down” by adding water to dilute it to the alcohol by volume the distiller desires. The term “cask strength” means that dilution did not occur and the proof, or alcohol content, is the same when the bourbon was removed from the barrel or “cask.” Cask strength proof usually ranges around 110 proof and up—high octane stuff.

Cocktails Beyond the Old Fashioned

Although the old fashioned is classic for a reason, it’s not the only cocktail that plays well with bourbon. Here are three others to add to your skill set and “wow” guests while impressing yourself a little, too. 

Mint Julep

Most associated these days with the Kentucky Derby, this mix of bourbon, simple syrup, and mint is notoriously hard to perfect. There must be copious amounts of both fresh mint and bourbon, but not simple syrup. And all must be served over crushed or pellet ice, preferably in a silver cup so as it melts, the whole effect is cooling, from the scent to the taste.

Boulevardier

A Negroni riff for cooler months, this stunner of a sipper often packs more of a wallop than its Italian cousin. The recipe was first published in 1927, but as is the case with many recipes, was most likely around long before it was written down. The bourbon provides strong, sweet support for the Campari’s bitter bite, and the expressed orange peel is more than décor—its citrus oil adds a unifying note to the two spirits.

Egg Nog

While our decadent Egg Nog recipe from chef Mary Sue Milliken incorporates rum, the cocktail is such an old recipe–the word “nog” originally referred to a small cup that held alcohol—that many other spirits have been used through its iterations, including brandy and bourbon. In fact, bourbon is such a popular mixer for the creamy concoction that Evan Williams sells a pre-mixed version. There’s no substitute for the homemade version however, particularly when served by a roaring fire. 

Ask the Experts

Q: What’s the difference between bourbon and whiskey? 

All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. Here’s an example to help grasp that deductive logic: There are different types of whiskey as there are different types of birds. A stork is different than a robin like a Scotch is different than bourbon, but they are both whiskeys (and birds, respectively). 

Q: Is bourbon gluten-free? 

This all goes back to the mashbill, the whiskey world’s term for a recipe. By law, bourbon must be 51 percent corn, but that other 49 percent will more often than not include wheat and/or rye grains. Unless the bottle is made from 100 percent corn, then the answer is no. While the distillation process should remove all gluten, many distillers shy away from pronouncing their spirits gluten-free since they err on the side of safety for their customers.

Q: How long does bourbon age before you can drink it? 

There is no age requirement for bourbon. By law, it only has to be stored in a new charred oak container, so that storage technically could be minutes or decades. Once the distillate touches a new charred oak container, it legally becomes bourbon.

Q: Should I keep my bourbon in a decanter? 

“Sure, decanters look cool and all but after a month, it’s the best way to deteriorate your whiskey,” says Hannah. Keep in the original bottle with the original cap for best storage and store the bottle away from a window. If you have a large collection in storage, placing saran wrap over the cap seals can be extra insurance against exposure to air.

The post The Best Bourbons for Gifting, Mixing, and Straight-Up Sipping appeared first on Saveur.

When driving through rural Maine’s hilly countryside, most wouldn’t think twice about the unremarkable low-lying fields beyond the road. But step onto one of those stretches of green and you’ll notice red-tipped leaves alongside emerald-hued foliage, tall white flowers dancing in the breeze, and tight bunches of ripening blueberries huddled together against the bluster. What may have appeared at first glance to be a mere meadow is in fact a kaleidoscope of colors and textures. This is a wild blueberry field, the bedrock of a burgeoning wine industry in Maine that could help save one of the state’s most precious heritage crops.

Wild blueberries—smaller and more tart than the produce aisle’s hybrid varieties, and genetically distinct from them—are indigenous to this state. “Maine wild blueberries are not to be grouped with hybrid blueberries from other states, nations, and continents,” says winemaker Michael Terrien, co-owner of Obsidian Wine Company and founder of Terrien Wines in Northern California, as he confidently threads his way through a blueberry field. Stopping abruptly, the Maine native bends down to examine a cluster of fruit—‘wild blues,’ as they are affectionately called. His eyes, the same color as his prized berries, radiate enthusiasm as he explains that the wild fruit has grown naturally in Maine for more than 10,000 years. Bushes are never planted; rather, farmers establish their businesses around naturally occurring shrubs. “Therein lies the fruit’s sustainability bonafides; we haven’t messed with the genes,” says Terrien, which means wild blueberries are inherently more resilient against pests and disease. 

“Maine is the only state with wild blues in any significant quantity,” he explains. However, “precisely because they have never been bred, they are at a commercial disadvantage to hybrids.” Yields are low: on average, a field can only produce about 2 tons per acre, according to the USDA and National Agricultural Statistics Service, far less than the 10 tons per acre of commercially bred varieties, and wild blues can only be harvested every other year. Competition from Canada—the only other place that grows wild blueberries abundantly enough to be commercially viable—is also hurting Maine’s farmers. In recent years, the value and volume of the state’s wild blues have fluctuated wildly: in 2017, prices dipped to 25 cents per pound (2021 saw some relief, with prices reaching 70 cents per pound), and in 2020, the crop’s yield fell below 48 million pounds, the lowest haul since 2004. 

Baked into muffins, folded into pancake batter, or eaten by the juicy handful are how most people know and love wild blues. But Terrien saw the potential for something more. The winemaker realized he could apply his vintner skills to the fruit—and help revive the struggling crop by increasing demand, generating interest, and providing farmers with more opportunities. 

Fruit wines are not a new concept, but many are cloyingly sweet. Terrien knew blueberries had all the components to make a dry, vinous-like wine. Blueberries contain sugars that can be converted into alcohol—part of the standard winemaking process. Plus, the naturally occurring antioxidants allow wines to age slowly, protect them against oxidation, and help keep the beverage stable, meaning little to no sulfur needs to be added. The one thing missing is tannins, which provide body and texture to wine. Through trial and error, Terrien and his co-founder Eric Martin found that adding bubbles to blueberry wine gave it a texturally interesting mouthfeel that replicated the sensations created by tannins. Finally, in 2014, Bluet was born.

The first sip of a blueberry wine is tart, but distinctly redolent of the namesake fruit. What follows on the palate is an elegant spice, calling to mind black pepper. With its acidity and sparkling texture, the beverage is lively and refreshing, not heavy or syrupy. It is, dare I say, surprisingly wine-like. 

Like all sparkling wines, blueberry wine should be served chilled, and its low level of 7% alcohol by volume (ABV) makes it ideal for the warm summer months. For an extremely easy cocktail, Terrien recommends adding a splash of triple sec and a sprig of mint.

Cognizant of the challenges facing wild blueberry farmers, the state introduced a bill in March to make the state’s Down East area, which is home to a dense population of blueberry fields, a National Heritage Area. If the bill passes, the resulting job opportunities and increased tourism will provide much-needed funding for the region’s agricultural industry.

Small farmers make up about 40 percent of the wild blueberry industry, and Terrien sources blueberries exclusively from these boutique farms to help them increase production and ultimately revenue. But one winemaker can’t shoulder an industry alone, which is why Terrien is encouraging other entrepreneurial souls to start their own wineries.

One protege is R.A.S., founded by Joe Appel, Dan Roche, and Emily Smith. The winery recently released the second vintage of its Arkadia blueberry sparkling wine. R.A.S.’s fruit, sourced from organic farms, goes through a longer maceration period than Bluet’s, which gives the wine a deeper color and more intense flavors. The makers also use naturally occurring yeast to kickstart fermentation. The result is a wine with an earthy and savory quality, and intense herbal notes reminiscent of pomegranate and rhubarb. And the company is not limiting itself to sparkling wine. The makers have also produced an aromatized wine called A7 Americano that infuses wild blueberry wine with organic herbs, spices, and fruit, then fortifies it with brandy. The resulting beverage can be used in vermouth-based cocktails such as Manhattans and Negronis, or enjoyed on the rocks. “We wanted to make a fortified/aromatized wine that could be used creatively as a mixer, but could also provide lots of pleasure when sipped on its own,” says Appel.

In this nascent industry, there’s plenty of room for experimentation. Terrien’s assistant winemaker, Davis Martinec, plans to harvest his first crop of blueberries this year for his own yet-to-be-named label. While he’s still figuring out his style, he knows one thing is clear: the quality will be there. “[In Maine] we don’t have to try and force something into a box, like trying to grow grapes where they don’t want to grow. Here, you’re taking a fruit that loves being here, that wants to be here, and making wine out of it.”

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When you look around Portugal’s Vinho Verde region, which is blanketed with emerald vineyards, it will seem obvious how the area got its name. But verde (Portuguese for green) refers to the style of wine—meant to be enjoyed soon after bottling—for which the region is best known: light, fresh, and quaffable, with just a hint of spritz to tease the tongue. It would be a shame to pigeonhole Vinho Verde, though, as just a place for picnic wines. Throughout the years, a focus on single-varietal bottlings such as Alvarinho, Loueiro, and other native grapes began to reveal a more complex side to Vinho Verde. Quinta de Santiago is among the wineries ushering in a renaissance.

Vinho Verde—including its especially celebrated winemaking subregion of Monçao e Melgaço—is nestled in the northwestern part of the country, where Spain winks at you from just a couple of miles away. This area is renowned for Alvarinho, a distinctive style of wine with bright citrus and tropical notes, not to mention salinity and minerality, that can be attributed to the location’s granitic soils and warmer climate. Bordered by the Minho River, and still relatively close to the ocean, the volley of sea and land provides some of the most soulful cuisine in all of Portugal, and Spain’s influence kisses many of the dishes. (Bacalhau, or cod, is popular—instigated by the Bacalhau Campaign, a mandate set in 1934 to expand the cod fishing industry in Portugal—and the abundance of livestock farms means lamb and pork weigh heavily into the diet.) It’s here in Monçao e Melgaço where Quinta de Santiago got its start.

The land on which this winery sits was purchased in 1899 by the great-grandfather of current proprietor Joana Santiago. Grapes were an afterthought on the family estate; fruit, livestock, and grains were the heart of the farm. The recognition of VinhoVerde as an official wine region in 1908—and the potential for a new agricultural industry—didn’t sway the polyculture on the estate either. It wasn’t until the 1970s, when growers in the region noticed that the Alvarinho grape variety was thriving more than the red grapes, that this type of wine saw a renaissance in Melgaço and began to supplant many of the less profitable red grapes. Joana’s grandmother, Maria de Lima Esteves Santiago, began to take an interest in viticulture—and quietly transformed the estate.

Affectionately called Mariazinha by her family, she was what one might now call a garagiste winemaker (someone who makes wine casually at home). She lacked formal wine training but built upon the rudimentary winemaking knowledge that was freely shared among neighbors to produce small amounts of wine. Flouting government regulations, Maria sold her back-of-house wines through the front door of the family home, while keeping up a legitimate business selling grapes.

The moon and its cycles influenced her work. She followed its rhythms, letting it dictate when to prune and plant. (For example, when the moon is in a descending phase in the sky, energy is directed towards roots and soils; this is the time to prune vines and spread compost.) A focus on natural composting to limit chemical fertilizers helped nurture the soils and the vines. Although her practices weren’t given any particular name at the time, she essentially followed what would today be considered biodynamic farming. 

As a young girl, Joana spent every vacation at her grandmother’s property working alongside Mariazinha in the vineyards and fields. Although Joana says the family was fairly aristocratic, the farm and the winery were Maria’s domain. “I never even saw my grandpa enter the winery,” Joana recalls with a laugh. And when Joana and Maria would retire for the day, they would head to the kitchen. Like her winemaking, Maria’s cooking was also guided by her intuition. Although she had collections of recipes, she still let her senses make the final decision when it came to adding a pinch of salt or extra dash of spice. Joana attributes her love of both cooking and winemaking to Maria. 

It might seem strange to make a life change at the age of 86, but when stars align, certain choices become inevitable. Not only was Monçao e Melgaço gaining popularity for its wines, Joana was then pregnant with her first child and ready to quit her job as a lawyer to build a business. “My grandmother challenged me not to start anything else,” Joana recalls. Maria pointed to the beautiful fruit on her vines and the popularity of her garagiste wines—and announced it was time to stop selling grapes and start making wine under the family name.

Joana’s father joined the ambitious women in the endeavor, and the Quinta de Santiago label instantly became a multigenerational affair. But Maria spearheaded the operation. She was the one to name the estate and put the now-signature hearts—inspired by embroidery styles of the region—on the label. She also worked with a trained winemaker to further refine the operation’s techniques.

Sadly, Maria passed away two years later. “2010 was the only vintage she ever saw in the market,” says Joana. But her legacy lives on through the estate’s winemaking techniques. Quinta de Santiago uses native yeasts for fermentation, which is not a very common practice in the region. Instead of immediately pressing and separating the juice from the skins, the winemakers put the wine through a short period of maceration to give it a bit of texture. And they continue to work as sustainably as possible in the winery and the vineyards, prioritizing water conservation, especially when it comes to irrigating vineyards, and limiting chemical use. The winery also actively participates in the Porto Protocol, an international non-profit organization focused on combating climate change in the wine industry. Joana’s grandmother’s presence still lingers in the estate, with Joana constantly pushing and evolving what is possible with their wines. And because bright acidity runs through all the bottles, the wines seem to channel the very energy of Maria herself. 

Given the estate’s focus on single-varietal whites, especially Alvarinho, it’s no surprise that white wines grace the table more often than reds in Joana’s home. Fermentation in oak barrels and judicious use of malolactic fermentation provides a roundness and structure to the citrus fruits that enable the whites to pair well with Maria’s rich or even unctuous dishes, some of which are preserved in her worn, dog-eared handwritten cookbooks, which are some of Joana’s most cherished possessions. Octopus rice is a must-have during the holidays, while lamb Monção roasted in the estate’s wood-burning oven always fills the kitchen with toasty aromas. One of Joana’s particular favorites is ham pudim, which reminds her of her grandmother’s sweet tooth.

Maria set in motion a new identity for the family—as winemakers. She taught them to take risks, to prioritize sustainability and low-intervention winemaking, and to make drinkers rethink what they know about wines from the Vinho Verde region. Today, Quinta de Santiago has graduated from a backyard project to a full-fledged winery—and Maria’s vision continues to be the guiding light.

Recipes

Foda à Moda de Monção (Portuguese-Style Leg of Lamb with Saffron Rice)

Tomato and Octopus Rice

Bacalao a Monção

Pudim Abade de Priscos

The post In Portugal’s Vinho Verde, Wine Is Green in More Ways Than One appeared first on Saveur.

At an 18-acre coconut garden of Rockland Distilleries in Naththandiya, just north of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, Roy Jayalath begins his work early in the morning. Jayalath climbs tall, swaying coconut trees to collect the white, milky sap of their flowers. Balancing on two coir ropes, he walks across these tightropes from tree to tree until he collects enough sap to fill a pot. Coconut sap is the raw material for coconut arrack, an alcoholic beverage unique to Sri Lanka. Although this method of collecting sap, known as toddy tapping, has existed in Sri Lanka for about 2,000 years, arrack has only recently begun to reach trendy bars and foreign shores. 

High-quality coconut arrack only has two ingredients: sap and water. When it’s fresh from the tree, the sap is sweet, tangy, and slightly spicy, with a strong fragrance of coconuts; it contains natural sugars and yeast, allowing the sap to naturally ferment into a wine-like drink called toddy, with an alcohol percentage of about 4 percent. A few hours after extraction, the alcohol content increases to about 7 percent. The toddy is then distilled like whiskey; the alcohol level goes up to about 60 percent, at which point the drink is then watered down to 40 percent and aged in Halmilla (a tree that grows in Asian tropics) wooden vats for at least three years before the liquid is bottled.

The garden employs six “toddy tappers” including Jayalath, now 56, who tapped his first toddy at the age of 13 after seeing his two uncles climbing coconut palms. Jayalath shimmies up the trees twice a day now: once in the morning to collect sap, and again later in the day to tap each tree’s unopened inflorescence, or cluster of flowers, with a mallet to stimulate toddy flow. He collects sap from 100 trees every day. 

Rapti Dirckze, Head of Conservation at Rockland Distilleries, explains that toddy tapping is a generational craft passed down from father to son, but notes that it’s difficult to find young tappers today—despite the fact that a skilled tapper can earn decent pay of about 120,000 rupees ($470) a month. “People think it’s a job with low status, so the young generation wants to find other jobs,” she says.

Jayalath’s children, for instance, have moved into other labor work, he explains as he presses his palms together and says a prayer before ascending a tree. “[The prayer] keeps me safe,” he says, smiling. “The hardest part is to climb up. Most people think that walking on the rope is scary. Not for me. I’m used to it.”

There’s little evidence to suggest arrack’s origins, but according to oral history, centuries ago, toddy was given to elephants in the king’s army before battle. Robert Knox, a British sea captain who spent 19 years in Sri Lanka as a captive, wrote in his 1681-book An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon that captives distilled arrack to drink.​​ In the mid-1600s, the Dutch began the commercial planting of coconut trees on the west coast of Sri Lanka and exported coconut arrack to Malaysia and several Indian destinations.

“We call this area the toddy belt of Sri Lanka,” says Dirckze, noting that this region extends from Chilaw in the north to Matara in the south. “The best toddy is from here.” 

Sri Lanka has had a complicated relationship with arrack over the past few centuries. When the British took over Sri Lanka’s coastal belt in 1796, they seized control of the arrack trade. Arrack production slowly declined over the following decades. There were many reasons for this, writes Michelle Gunawardana in the book The Adventure of Arrack: not only did importing countries impose heavy duties, but the British East India Company also later banned the transport of arrack and discouraged imports into Britain. By the 1830s, the British had also tightened local production, ensuring that only licensed entities could produce and sell arrack. The British government later established the Department of Excise, which exists today, to control the illegal trade and allow only large-scale producers to produce the drink. 

Around the ‘60s to ‘70s, when the coconut supply decreased due to severe droughts and labor shortages, some distilleries began to produce different arrack blends. Because these usually didn’t include much coconut, they were much cheaper than traditional arrack. The prevalence of such alternatives labeled arrack as a cheaper drink for the masses, explains Dirckze.

In recent years, Sri Lanka has seen a resurgence of interest in coconut arrack, as mixologists around the world begin to champion this once overlooked spirit. 

According to Nadira Jayasuriya, director of development at the Botanik Bistro & Bar in Colombo, local distilleries like Rockland are driving much of this surge, and customers are spreading the word on social media. She believes the growing enthusiasm is a sign that people are becoming increasingly interested in embracing native ingredients. “There’s a global trend to highlight everything local. The pandemic made it even clearer,” she says, explaining that COVID-related restrictions limited imports and drove people to pay more attention to locally available ingredients. 

“Earlier, people wouldn’t come to a bar and order arrack, but now they do, even when we have whiskey or scotch on the menu,” says mixologist Dhanushka Dias, who developed the cocktail menu at ColomBar, an arrack-focused bar housed in Colombo’s Cinnamon Lakeside hotel.

ColomBar’s assistant restaurant manager Mischel Bandara agrees. “ColomBar began as a destination bar to introduce Sri Lankan elements like coconut arrack to foreign tourists,” he says, “but it became so popular with locals. People come and order arrack bottles now, not just glasses.” 

Rockland now produces several coconut arrack varieties, including a new premium blend called Ceylon Arrack, which is a mix of 3-year, 7-year, and 10-year aged arracks. The taste is clean and smooth, with a robust coconut aroma. 

One cocktail Dias developed is called Dodola, made with Ceylon Arrack, coconut milk, jaggery, nutmeg, and cardamom. The flavor is reminiscent of the popular Sri Lankan sweetmeat dodol. “When I told customers that I have arrack cocktails, they were reluctant,” he recalls. “But I was confident. And I was right. They loved it.”

Dias also created a cocktail called Padikkama, which tastes similar to bulath wita, a local betel-leaf-and-betel-nut mix commonly eaten after meals. Dias named the drink after the trays on which his grandparents would serve betel leaves—padikkama. “My idea was to develop cocktails with local elements, and when I thought of the days I spent with my grandparents, I wanted to recreate those flavors,” he says. 

Another factor contributing to the increasing attention around coconut arrack is the growth of tourism. “When foreigners come here, they don’t want to sip a Scottish gin cocktail. They ask for something local, something that is ours,” Jayasuriya says. Botanik Rooftop Bistro & Bar serves two cocktails made with Ceylon Arrack, both featuring many locally sourced ingredients: one includes pandan, king coconuts, and kithul treacle (made with the sap of fishtail palm), while the other includes tamarind and passion fruit. “We had no idea how customers would react, but they are our bestsellers now,” he says. 

Mixologist Nabeel Kenny, who works at the upmarket restaurant Monsoon Colombo, also sees the demand for arrack among tourists. “Customers ask us whether we have arrack cocktails,” says Kenny, who is now also developing arrack-based cocktails.

The popularity of arrack is no longer limited to Colombo or Sri Lanka. Coconut arrack is now a crowd favorite in London, where the ingredient is served in cocktails at trendy South Asian restaurants like Hoppers London and The Coconut Tree. Even celebrity bartender Ryan Chethiyawardene, who was brought up in Birmingham by his Sri Lankan parents, uses the spirit in mixed drinks.

“Arrack, one of the oldest and almost forgotten spirits from my homeland, has a very special place in our bar,” says Indika de Silva, owner of the cocktail bar Toddy Tapper in Germany. His hope is to offer a “cultural taste journey” with flavors and ingredients that are lesser known to the German crowd. One of the bar’s most popular cocktails is Jack & Jill, which features Ceylon Arrack, cardamom, jackfruit, and calamansi, among other ingredients.

Despite historical impediments, Sri Lankan distilleries and mixologists are reclaiming their pride in the centuries-old tradition of coconut arrack—and redefining it in innovative ways. “When someone says Mexico, people think of tequila. I want the world to think of coconut arrack when they hear the name Sri Lanka,” says Dias, “It’s our history and culture blended in one drink. We must celebrate it.” 

The post In Sri Lanka, This Centuries-Old Spirit Is Shaking Up The Local Cocktail Scene appeared first on Saveur.

When chef Sean Brock opened his bastion of classic fine dining, The Continental, in Nashville in 2021, he heralded a new era of appreciation for a certain vintage American style of dining. That means signature dishes like prime rib carved tableside, pâté en croûte, and caviar, plus oysters Continental, a menu item that Brock hopes will join the canon of classics like oysters Rockefeller and crab Louie. It’s an ambitious restaurant from an ambitious chef seeking to cement his place in America’s fine dining history books.

The cocktail program is built to match, with a selection of classics that have been upgraded to Brock and bar director Johnathan Howard’s very unique specifications. For example, a perfectly clear “dirty” martini is one of the cocktail program’s stars, combining vodka, vermouth, salt, and olive distillates (olive juice that has gone for a spin in a centrifuge in the chef’s high-tech culinary lab). The drink is served in a coupe, ice-cold from the freezer.   

With all this in mind, Brock and Howard are introducing another component to the experience at the Continental: The Vesper Club, which offers a martini tasting menu in the restaurant’s lounge. 

“I always said from the first moment that I want to make this bar the American version of [the American Bar in] the Savoy in London,” says Howard. “When you think of the martini in this country, I want it to be synonymous with The Continental in Nashville, Tennessee.” The concept evolved over time, he says. “Originally we’d planned a whole other cocktail experience, but then one day at the bar at Audrey [Brock’s other new restaurant], Sean handed me a Waldorf Astoria cocktail book. I opened it to the the Opera cocktail, which I love.” The retro, spirit-forward recipe sparked an idea, and in that moment the duo decided to make the bar at the Continental an ode to that style of cocktails, specifically martinis.  

For a bar to focus solely on variations of one drink is a big undertaking, particularly when it’s a beloved classic that’s very open to interpretation. “A lot of drinkers are paying close attention to the classic cocktails they’ve been taking for granted,” says cocktail writer Camper English. “We’ve had to relearn what classic cocktails are in their original format after years of drinking cold vodka in a V-shaped glass and calling it a martini.”

The Vesper Club tasting experience is centered around five small martinis served in vintage glassware, each one clocking in at around one and a half ounces. The flight is designed with enjoyment—not overindulgence—in mind, says Howard. “I want this to be something people can do before dinner. The point is to let it reverberate on the palate, followed by a bite of caviar, then another sip of martini to finish it.” 

There is also an educational component in mind, Howard says. And there’s plenty to know: The history of the martini starts in Gold Rush-era California according to most accounts. But wherever that first cold cocktail was poured, it has garnered a rich history ever since, coming to large-scale popularity in the 1960s, thanks to Mr. Bond, who preferred his martini shaken, not stirred—a drink order that would go on to sweep the world. (Of note: The bar’s name is a reference to a martini variation created by none other than 007’s creator, Ian Fleming in Casino Royale, the Vesper.)  Customizing one’s own martini order remains common: shaken or stirred, dry or dirty, vodka or gin, and more. 

Eventually, the cocktail menu at The Continental will offer around twelve to fifteen different martinis. The Vesper Club’s tasting is an opportunity for guests to relieve themselves of the burden of choice, as well as to learn something new about a drink they’ve possibly had countless times before. 

“I think by putting multiple variations on the menu you’re drawing attention to a whole category as opposed to having one signature martini,” says English. “Otherwise people might skip that and just order it how they order it.”

The Vesper Club is taking the category and running with it, according to the menu. The main spirits, at least on the opening menu, are vodka and gin with an intriguing roster of other vermouths, fortified wines, and ingredients like plum vinegar. One example combines Wodka Vodka with Carpano Bianco Vermouth, oloroso sherry distillate, and pistachio, paired with Siberian sturgeon caviar from Poland. Sake, walnut oil, absinthe, and more make appearances, too. So forget your “go-to” order and settle in for five inventive martinis that will change the definition of the classic cocktail, and possibly even cement their own places in cocktail history books.

The post A Martini Tasting Menu with Caviar Pairings Is a Dream Waiting to Happen appeared first on Saveur.

Writer and spirits professional Tammie Teclemariam likes to drizzle a classic Marsala zabaglione over this cloudlike pineapple pavlova. Not only does the pillow of meringue make for an impressive base for the tropical fruit salad—it also uses up all the whites leftover from whipping up the fragrant and frothy Italian custard. While the meringue may be made ahead of time, the texture of the zabaglione is at its best right off the stove. If prepping the components ahead of time, hold off on finishing the sauce and whipping the cream until just before serving.

Featured in “Flavorful and Versatile, Zabaglione Is a Festive Way to Cap Off the Meal.”

16 Meringue Recipes for When You Have an Abundance of Egg Whites

And zero yolks to give.

The post Zabaglione Pavlova with Pineapple and Black Pepper appeared first on Saveur.

Some of the world’s greatest dishes demand a nip of wine or spirits to reach their full potential. Welcome to Splash in the Pan, where writer and drinks expert Tammie Teclemariam teaches you how to bring them to life.

Zabaglione is a true chef’s dessert, a term applied to confections that can be made without much attention to the ratios and techniques that make pastry precise. Things like custards, trifles, and cooked fruit that can be assembled based on one’s knowledge of flavors and cooking with fire on the stove instead of recipes perfected in the oven. Sometimes chef’s desserts are looked down upon as less impressive, but that’s not the case with zabaglione, a foamy, boozy custard, scented with the raisiny fragrance of fortified wine. Even more impressive is that it comes together in 10 minutes on the stove using items that can be found in almost any kitchen. 

Also known as sabayon in France, the method is the same no matter what you call it: whisk together egg yolks with equal parts sugar and wine, then cook over a water bath or flame if you are skilled enough, whisking constantly until the liquid mixture turns pale and fluffy and rich enough to hold its shape when you drizzle it.  

Traditionally, fortified wine is the liquid of choice because it has the ripe flavor of a sweet wine with enough alcohol to make the flavors stand out in this dessert sauce, but you can also use a dry white wine or Champagne for a lighter effect, though if I’m going that route, I like to fortify the wine myself with a shot of Grand Marnier or brandy to boost the aroma. You can also use strong coffee for an alcohol-free version. 

The recipe works with any fortified or dessert wine you have around, like Vin Santo, Moscato, or even a rich Oloroso sherry, but Sicilian Marsala is the classic choice, and an affordable one to boot. While there is very inexpensive Marsala sold in some grocery stores expressly for cooking, a decent bottle of Marsala that you wouldn’t mind drinking isn’t that much more expensive, about $20, and will last in your cupboard for a while, so it’s worth the extra money. Your best bet is to buy it at a trusted wine store. Usually these Marsalas come labeled sweet or dry (dolce and secco in Italian), where sweet versions contain more grape must or juice, but even dry Marsala has a touch of sweetness, so I just buy that so I can use it across savory and sweet applications. 

Simultaneously rich, airy, and sweet, zabaglione is the perfect way to end a meal. You can pour it still warm, directly over sliced fresh fruit and serve immediately, or broiled for some added color. My favorite way is to float a layer of zabaglione atop an espresso and dust it with cocoa or cinnamon. You can also cool it over an ice bath while whisking for a minute and then fold it into some whipped cream for a mousse to fill cream puffs or eclairs. 

Zabaglione can also be used as a part of desserts like in a tiramisu cream, but since the recipe always leaves you with extra whites, I like to whip them into meringue for a pavlova, which serves as a canvas for the warm zabaglione. When garnished with whipped cream and a bright pineapple salad spiked with crushed pepper and tangy lime zest, it becomes a grand dessert worthy of your swankiest shindig.

Recipe

Zabaglione Pavlova with Pineapple and Black Pepper

Get the recipe >

The post Flavorful and Versatile, Zabaglione Is a Festive Way to Cap Off the Meal appeared first on Saveur.

Some of the world’s greatest dishes demand a nip of wine or spirits to reach their full potential. Welcome to Splash in the Pan, where writer and drinks expert Tammie Teclemariam teaches you how to bring them to life.

If you’ve tasted any Sicilian wine, it was most likely a robust fruity table red with the slight bitterness typical of the Nero d’Avola grape. Wines made from Sicily’s traditional white varieties are less renowned and made in smaller production, but they give another perspective to this diversity of the region’s viticulture. On the western side of the mountainous Mediterranean island, high-altitude vineyards allow grapes to fully ripen without losing their acidity, resulting in fresh and structured white wines. White grapes like grillo and catarratto varieties thrive here, as does zibibbo—a grape historically used for dessert wines, and which local winemakers are currently rediscovering for its dry potential.

Outside of Sicily, zibibbo is best known as moscato, the same variety that ends up in bottles of spritzy-sweet Moscato d’Asti and many Southern French dessert wines. Even nearby, the cultivar is used in sweeter bottles; about 100 kilometers southwest of the Sicillian coast, on the island of Pantelleria, producers make a dessert wine called Passito by partially drying zibibbo grapes to concentrate their sugars before pressing. Also known as Muscat of Alexandria, this ancient grape is believed to have first been cultivated in Egypt. It was eventually brought to the island by North African Muslims who ruled Sicily off and on from the 9th through the 11th centuries. “Of course, they didn’t make wine with it,” notes Marilena Leta of Tenuta Gorghi Tondi winery in the coastal Sicilian town of Mazara Del Vallo. Instead, she explains, the grapes were typically either eaten fresh or dried for raisins and stored. (The variety’s local name likely comes from the Arabic word for raisins, zabīb, which stuck around even after local producers started using the fresh grapes for wine.)

Tenuta Gorghi Tondi was created in 2000 and its first zibibbo harvest came in 2006. “Zibibbo is one of our most sought-after varieties, especially in this area,” Leta tells me. When asked about its increasing popularity, she credits the grape’s aroma, as well as its tendency to thrive on the island, a “well-ventilated place with a lot of sun and salty air coming from the sea.” 

Beyond local dialect, Sicilian culture is still heavily defined by centuries-old Arab influences and the island’s proximity to North Africa. Less than a century ago, Mazara Del Vallo was a booming port town where fishermen from all around the Mediterranean—particularly from nearby Tunisia—docked to sell their catch. Today, seafood couscous is one of the most famous dishes in this part of the island, and Leta notes that the towns of Mazara Del Vallo, Trapani, and Marsala, each have their own versions. Unlike in North Africa, she adds that in Sicily, it’s not unusual to serve couscous with wine. 

As for the wine, most Sicilian zibibbo has the same rose and ripe lychee aromas that you might expect from sweet moscato, but dry and more restrained‚ like fruit at the peak of ripeness rather than cloyingly overripe. This crisp finish is ideal for pairing with savory and heavily spiced dishes like the local couscous. 

On a recent visit to Sicily, I had hoped to find a local dish including zibibbo that would also pair well with the wine. It turns out, while it is not uncommon to add a splash of Sicilian Marsala to the pan in Italy, chicken Marsala is far more popular back in the U.S; there isn’t much tradition of cooking with wines in general on the island.

So when I got home, I decided to develop my own recipe. Rather than seeking out substitutes for the Mediterranean fish used in the coastal seafood dishes, I chose to make meatballs, which are also popular all over the island—not in the oversized, Italian American Sunday sauce sort of way, but smaller, and frequently made with fish or eggplant pulp as well as meat. I also decided to add raisins, which appear throughout Sicillian cuisine—most commonly in the lemony breadcrumb stuffing used to fill sardines. With a nod to the region’s North African roots, I seasoned the meatballs with tabil, an earthy Tunisian spice mix, then I simmered them in a light zibibbo wine sauce. 

Saffron is another flavor brought to Sicily by Arabs centuries ago, though now it is also cultivated on the island, so to tie the dish together, I served the meatballs over saffron-scented couscous (saffron risotto, or even plain basmati rice would also work well.) Together, the wine, fruit, and spice in the dish harmonized with the layered aromas in the glass and evoked the flavors of Sicily, both historical and complex.

Recipe

Meatball Couscous with Raisins and Zibibbo

Get the recipe >

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The labels are a dead giveaway: Gentle Folk “Rainbow Juice.” Maloof “Where Ya PJs At?” Schmitt Frei Korper “Kulture Rot.” Dirty & Rowdy “Clothing Optional Orange Enz.” These aren’t the wines your grandparents sipped at dinner parties, or bought at a pricey auction house to stash like a dragon’s hoard in their temperature-controlled cellar. 

A new generation of sommeliers and wine sellers are championing the small batch, quirky blend, biodynamic, orange, and “drink now” bottles produced by their nonconformist peers, who have gleefully shed the gravitas that once characterized imbibing the divine grape. Some even moonlight as sake or bourbon specialists.

The places these wine professionals inhabit are big on community, with mascot pets, sustainability and ethics codes, and in-store tasting tables where customers can snack on paired goodies. Most have affordable wine clubs and online ordering platforms. Occasionally, the next-gen bottle shop also serves as a drop-off for a friendly neighborhood fishmonger, or as a backalley portal to a ham bar. They might even sell artisan frozen pizza on the side.

Here are 14 in North America where we’re shopping now.

Angels Ate Lemons

Baltimore, Maryland

Owned by restaurateur Lane Harlan, whose Fadensønnen beer garden is around the corner, the name of this airy white “workroom” on the second floor of a brick townhouse in Baltimore’s Old Goucher neighborhood references a poem by Lebanese American artist Etel Adnan. Angels Ate Lemons is hyper-focused on natural wines, sake, cider, mead, and an artisan-baked frozen pan pizza collab (a far cry from Totino’s, thankfully). Ring the buzzer for entry, and join daily pours. Follow the staff’s advice on building out mixed cases, or join one of the monthly subscriptions, starting with the People’s Cup ($40 for two bottles) for beginners’ palates.

2223 Maryland Avenue; +1-443-955-4817

Bacchanal Wine

New Orleans, Louisiana

Bacchanal calls itself a wine laboratory, but everyone in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward knows it’s really a speakeasy at heart. Yes, they even got raided once, and that’s saying something in a city famous for excessively lenient beverage regulations. Come here for the now-sanctioned backyard parties with live jazz performers, but first browse through the wine shop for pours by the glass or bottle, and build-your-own cheese plates from the cooler. The wine list is heavily skewed to smaller producers of Old World varietals, with the occasional detour to South Africa and Oregon. 

600 Poland Avenue; +1-504-948-9111

Bar Norman

Portland, Oregon

Sommelier Dana Frank is the pro behind this neighborhood bar and “bottle library” in bike-friendly Southeast Portland, where you can pedal past and grab her daily selects to go, or park your Linus Roadster and pop a cork on the new outdoor patio facing Clinton Street. Pair a clay amphora skin-contact Trebbiano or a Pinot from Bow & Arrow in the nearby Willamette Valley with snacks from Olympia Provisions and Little T bakery. The bar is big on social activism, and regularly schedules awareness events for causes like the Chúush Fund or a raffle to boost Oregon Vineyard Worker Relief. Bottles in the shop are global, skew natural and biodynamic, and often sell out warp speed fast, including rarities from Australian cult winemaker Tamara Irish, but also much closer to home, from Kate Norris of Division Winemaking.  

2615 SE Clinton St.; +1-971-229-0290

Bay Grape

Oakland, California

Josiah Baldivino and Stevie Stacionis are the husband-and-wife team behind Oakland’s Bay Grape, where the motto is: “We want to make wine less douchey.” That explains the day-glo pink flamingo lawn ornaments stalking through the rosé selection and a sweet mutt mascot named Napoleon (the shop sells T-shirts emblazoned with his adorably scruffy face.) They turned an adjacent “parklet” into Bay Grape Beach, where you can quaff wine by the glass, can, or bottle, along with Cypress Grove Purple Haze chevre, Torres Black Truffle potato chips, and La Quercia Prosciutto Americano. The wine selection embraces both Old and New Worlds, but at their newly opened satellite in Napa, pop-up winemaker tastings lean heavily local. 

376 Grand Avenue; +1-510-686-3615

Escorpio

Colonia Juárez, Mexico City

This natural wine shop in Mexico City is barely bigger than a corner bodega, but what the place lacks in size is made up for in expertise: Jake Lindeman and Alonso Maldonado stock a tightly curated selection of bottles by Mexican winemakers like Silvana Pijoan of Vinos Pijoan in the Guadalupe Valley, and other friends from Europe, including “pur jus” biodynamic grower Alice Bouvot of Domaine de l’Octavin in Jura. The owners of Escorpio (Spanish for the zodiac sign Scorpio) also reach across the border for wines made by Soto Vino’s Amada Miller and Nicolas Frank in Texas Hill Country. 

Versalles 96, Cuauhtémoc; www.vinosescorpio.com

Forêt Wines

Ridgewood, New York

Nothing but grape, or “zero/zero,” is one of the key criteria for the bottles at Marie-Anna Tribouilloy’s atelier. She’s a co-owner of the nearby Ops pizza restaurant, where the “vin vivant” list sticks to the same principles. Most of the French-leaning labels at Forêt (trans. forest) are by small producers dedicated to low intervention and native yeasts, many Tribouilloy knows personally, so while the quantities in stock are miniscule, that’s sort of the point of the intimacy here. Unfiltered box wine from Anjou that will change your mind about box wine. Sparkling hard cider from Normandy. Lots of orange pet-nat. Magnums for soirées. 

6838 Forest Avenue; +1-718-456-1150

Graft Wine Shop

Charleston, South Carolina

In a city where sweet tea is considered mama’s milk, the 21-and-up crowd gravitates to Graft for their adulting beverages. Created by two young sommeliers, this shop is sited in a low-rise brick warehouse off Charleston’s upper King Street. Femi Oyediran, who emigrated from Nigeria to attend the College of Charleston, received his on-the-job training in the wine program at the Charleston Grill while also moonlighting as a DJ. He now spins the shop’s signature monthly playlist with titles like Free Refills and Wild Ferment. Born on the peninsula, Miles White is the youngest child of a famous Southern biscuit queen. The pair’s wine bar serves by the glass from a list with categories like “Oh My God” and “#Roséseason4ever,” along with tinned seafood and cheese plates. (And yes, Mama Callie’s biscuits.) The bottle shop selection, heavy on Old World labels, ranges from under $20 blends to triple-digit Barolos. 

700 King Street,+1-843-718-3359

Grape Witches

Toronto, Ontario

Krysta Oben and Nicole Campbell are the titular coven, a former sommelier and wine buyer, who have made their natural wine shop a women-friendly safe space in Toronto’s Trinity-Bellwoods neighborhood. (Men are welcome, too.) Strict licensing laws in Ontario don’t make it easy to create a signature list, but as importers, they’ve managed to obtain treasures from small American producers—Martha Stoumen, Forlorn Hope—that aren’t available at state-run stores. Bottles are broken down into categories like “Freaky” and “Weekday Bangers,” and they also carry non-alcohol wines: Acid League’s Nightshade is a go-to for Sober Sundays. Yes, they have Canadian labels, like Pearl Morrissette’s “Irrévérence” from Niagara, and A Sunday in August vintages from British Columbia. 

1247 Dundas West, +1-416-546-2151

LoLo Wine

Austin, Texas

Owners Christian Moses and Adam Wills opened this natural wine shop in East Austin’s Sixth Street arts and entertainment district, where dogs are welcome in bars and where, when the wind is just right, the scent of brisket smoke wafts from Franklin’s Barbecue and Micklethwait Craft Meats up on 11th Street. It’s a satellite project to their more mainstream Hotel Vegas and Volstead Lounge venues, and the selection here ranges from playful to bragging rights. The proprietors might recommend a hand-harvested, old vine Sassara Esotico “natural born” blend from the Veneto for a hot night on the Riverwalk, or a smokey Marto Al Dente 2019 from Rheinhessen to go with a Bad Larry Burger Club sandwich in the new outdoor bar. Lolo even shows love to Lone Star friends such as Southold Farm + Cellar out in Hill Country. 

1504 East 6th St.; +1-512-906-0053

Small Batch Liquors

Denver, Colorado

The name says it all. Tami and Joe Tumbarello worked with a local architect to create the curvaceous shelving for their emporium in Denver’s Berkeley neighborhood, and the pair’s selection is just as organic, from Superstition Meadery’s “Safeword” mead to Savage & Cooke’s “Second Glance” whiskey. Small Batch also stocks local craft beers from the likes of Knotted Root Brewing and WeldWerks. The wine list leans to California reds and French whites, but also gives a nod to Colorado’s emerging wine industry with unfiltered bottles from Wild Capture. 

4340 Tennyson Street; +1-303-993-8600

Victor’s Wine

Cincinnati, Ohio

Last year, Paul Victor took ownership of a shop originally established in 1989, and the certified sommelier is carrying forward this cozy mainstay in Cincinnati’s White Oak community. In other words, don’t fix what isn’t broken, but spruce it up a bit and infuse it with new energy. He’s a fan of The Strokes, so walk in on “Tunesdays” and you may hear a post punk-inspired playlist paired with albariños, or an acid jazz ensemble from Japan for browsing the sake collection. Victor also signed onto the Gotham Project return-and-reuse initiative, because bottles compose almost 50 percent of a wine’s carbon footprint. 

5872 Cheviot Rd; +1-513-923-1300

Vinos Chidos

Polanco & Condesa, Mexico City

Co-founded by chef Marco Carboni of Sete and Sartoria, this modernist bottle shop and wine bar, with branches in Mexico City’s Polanco and Condesa neighborhoods, focuses almost entirely on the Hispanic winemaking world, plus a couple of other Old World regions, including France. (But then, France once occupied Mexico for six years, when Napoleon III invaded in 1861.) The purpose here is to explore the country’s own vineyards, especially Chenin Blanc blends from Tecate and Nebbiolos from Valle de Guadalupe on the Baja California coast. 

Polanco: Polanco 8; Condesa: Ámsterdam 297; +52-55-8064-0361

VyneYard Wine Shop

Brooklyn, New York

Sommelier André Hueston Mack, who formerly supervised the wine list at Per Se, has opened this highly specialized shop in Brooklyn’s Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhood. Grapes represented here mostly hail from the major regions—Piedmont, Tuscany, Burgundy, Rhone, Champagne—so if you feel like splurging on a Brunello di Montalcino or a Chambertin Grand Cru, he’s got you covered. But generally, this is a fine place to browse more affordable and esoteric bottles, like a Basque-style hard cider or a Loire Valley pinot noir. On Saturdays, the shop hosts the weekly sustainable CSF fish share from Mermaid’s Garden and recommends pairings; right next door, Mack has also opened & Sons, a 20-seat ham bar, with a tasting menu celebrating American-style cured meats. 

594 Rogers Avenue; +1-718-975-0344

Woodland Wine Merchant

Nashville, Tennessee

In a town that sips a lot of whiskey, this bottle shop naturally has a serious collection of bourbon, rye, and single malts. With branches in East Nashville and Sylvan Park, owner Will Motley has also built a widely diverse wine list, from mostly family-owned domestic producers, as well as many natural labels from small importers. He carries barware from Cocktail Kingdom, loaves from Pump Street Bread, a global selection of tinned fish, Goodio chocolate bars, and other pantry items. He doesn’t ship—danged Tennessee liquor laws—so you’ll have to walk in next time you land in Music City. 

1001 Woodland Street; +1-615-228-3311

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In an excerpt from her new book, Liguria: The Cookbook: Recipes From the Italian Riviera, Laurel Evans introduces the Ligurian wines to look out for, their perfect pairings, and a few of the region’s most innovative winemakers. 

Winemaking in Liguria is not for wimps. In fact, at some of the vineyards I’ve visited, this craft could be considered downright heroic. Most of the region is besieged by rugged, mountainous terrain: poor, rocky soil dominated by steep hillsides that often fall directly into the sea. However, despite the hardships and inhospitable landscape, Ligurians have been producing wine since the Etruscan and Roman eras.

Over the centuries, the rocky slopes have been carved into terraces, reinforced by hand-stacked, dry rock walls. These steep inclines are often entirely inaccessible to machinery, and harvesting must be done by hand, basket after basket of hard-won grapes carried out on strong shoulders. 

Some vineyards are accessible only by boat. I visited the dizzying, mind-boggling vineyard of A Trincea, perched on a treacherous mountaintop in the farthest corner of Liguria, a stone’s throw from the French border. Hundreds of rock walls line the painstakingly terraced slopes, and 35,000 grapevines thrive on the precipitous rows; I was stunned by the back-breaking landscape and humbled by the testament to the will of humans to make wine.

Paradoxically, Liguria’s problematic terrain is also what makes its winemaking possible. The plunging hillsides protect seaside vineyards from cold northern winds and expose the grapes to the warm sea breeze and mild climate, resulting in unique and delicious wines. I have been most impressed by the young winemakers I met on my travels. A new generation is taking over their ancestors’ vineyards, transforming unremarkable family wines into new, unexpected products, and experimenting with organic and natural winemaking techniques.

Davide Zoppi, for instance, left his sleepy, seaside town of Bonassola to pursue a law degree and subsequent career in Milan. There he met his future husband, Giuseppe, a marketing-savvy manager of a multinational corporation. After ten years in the bustling city, they made the radical move back to Bonassola to take over Davide’s family wine business, Ca du Ferra. “I’m sick of hearing about all the difficulties, this obsession locals have with the legend of hard work. I want my wines to be youthful and glamorous, to speak of the beauty of Liguria, not only of its struggles,” he told me as we sipped a cold glass of Luccicante, Ca du Ferra’s vibrant, almost salty vermentino, on a hot August day in the hills above Bonassola. Together, Davide and Giuseppe reinvented the business. They implemented organic, sustainable viticulture and natural winemaking techniques, launched a slick marketing campaign, resurrected abandoned vineyards in the area, and began cultivating ancient and rare grape varieties. 

They are not alone. I also visited Gilda and Edoardo, the young brother and sister team behind Il Torchio, who produce natural wines in Castelnuovo Magra. They, too, were on entirely different career paths when they heeded the call to take over their grandfather’s vineyard and transform it into something fresh and new. “Wine is a living thing, it must change, just like you and I change,” Gilda smiled, “it must evolve with the times.”

Of course, innovation is not proprietary of the young. Piero Lugano of Bisson was in his sixties when he first began to age his wine under water. He produces his sparkling wine with the classic method, then lowers them onto the Mediterranean seabed in metal cages, where they age beneath the waves for thirteen to twenty-six months. He named the resulting, unique sparkling white wine Abissi, or “abyss.”

Not surprisingly, Liguria is not one of Italy’s most prolific wine regions; it’s actually amongst the least productive. However, its wines are worth seeking out as they are delicious, charming, and pair beautifully with the recipes from the region. The most common local wine grape is vermentino, which flourishes in every corner of the Italian Riviera. It’s not a particularly high maintenance plant and thrives on sun and sea air. “The sun, the wind, and the untamable stone are the main characteristics of a deeply Ligurian wine,” mused Davide, swirling his glass and squinting into the sun, “and when you take a sip, you should sense the hillsides plunging into the sea, you should feel like you’re jumping into the waves.”

Some Ligurian wines to try:

White Wine

Vermentino: This is the most common wine in Liguria. I spend my summers drinking Vermentino del Golfo del Tigullio, which is grown and produced in the area around our summer home in Moneglia, and also includes the famous wines of Portofino. Vermentino dei Colli di Luni is also wildly popular in the area. Persistent, fruity, and dry, Vermentino pairs well with appetizers, seafood, and nuts. Try serving it with fritto misto.

Pigato: The pigato grape grows almost exclusively in Ponente, the western part of Liguria, where I recommend trying a Pigato di Riviera Ligure di Ponente. Considered to be more refined and elegant than vermentino, this lightly fragrant wine has delicate notes of aromatic herbs and goes well with savory vegetable tarts, seafood dishes, and pesto.

Bianchetta Genovese: Produced in Val Polcevera, the valley and hills surrounding Genoa, this is the classic wine of the longshoremen and sailors who frequented the city’s port. It is a simple, straightforward, and extremely drinkable white whose famous pairing is, naturally, a crisp slice of Genovese focaccia. It also makes a great aperitivo.

Colline di Levanto Bianco: This delightful white is produced in the province of La Spezia between Levanto, Bonassola, and Framura. Native grape varieties, bosco and albarola are blended with vermentino to create a dry, slightly briny, well balanced wine that pairs beautifully with vegetarian dishes and seafood.

Red Wine

Rossese di Dolceacqua: Made exclusively with the rossese grape, this flavorful, full-bodied red pairs well with rabbit, meat, and mushroom dishes and was a favorite of both Napoleon and Pope Paul III. Try serving it with the region’s classic, homestyle stew, Coniglio alla Ligure.

Ormeasco di Pornassio: The ormeasco grape was imported to Liguria from Piedmont around the 1300s and belongs to the same family as dolcetto. It has a ruby red color, dry, warm flavor, and notes of ripe red fruit, and pairs nicely with meat ravioli.

Colli di Luni Rosso: This wine reflects its geographical proximity to Tuscany and is made with a blend of sangiovese (Tuscany’s principal red wine grape) and Ligurian ciliegiolo. This ruby-colored, fragrant, light, and balanced red goes beautifully with ravioli and meat dishes.

Dessert Wine

Cinque Terre Sciacchetrà: Pronounced “shah-keh-trah,” this sweet raisin wine is as fun to say as it is to drink. Sciacchetra is one of the most famous and exquisite wines of Liguria and is also under the protection of Slow Food. Made from bosco, albarola, and vermentino grapes, that are left to dry naturally for two months on racks, then crushed, the wine is then aged in small oak barrels for one year. The fresh notes of dried fruit and aromatic herbs pair well with aged cheese and  pandolce genovese.

Recipe

Coniglio alla Ligure (Ligurian-Style Braised Rabbit)

Get the recipe >

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