Roberta’s, Côte, Skin Contact, and More: Introducing the Resy Wine Hit List

For a long time, if you came to Bushwick to worship at this pizza altar, you’d be greeted with a quirky, compact one-sheet of a wine list, proportionate to the tight menu (and to it being a pizzeria). That got a step forward when current wine director Kirk Sutherland arrived. Sutherland, who honed his skills at Marlow & Sons and Diner, has long had a knack for rooting out great bottles that evade the usual ideological traps — a bit of New California here, classic Loire rosé there, healthy doses of riesling and chilled reds wines and, yes, orange wines. (Bushwick gonna Bushwick.)

With the temporary closure of sister restaurant Blanca, where Sutherland also is wine director, Roberta’s has received a crazy bounty: a massively expanded list, 200 bottles or more strong, which makes its patio one of the city’s best places to drink right now. Will it last?  Who knows, but seeing as pizzerias have become America’s new delivery device for brilliant wine choices (see also Austin’s Bufalina, S.F.’s Del Popolo), we’re hoping it does.

Nicolas Mariotti Bindi Vieillissement Prolongé Vermentinu 2013 ($65): Bindi is one of the new stars of Corsica, and this long-aged white (like, at least 3 years) shows the intense mineral power the island’s vineyards can offer.

A Tribute to Grace Santa Barbara County Rosé 2019 ($60): Sutherland has long been a fan of the talented Angela Osborne, queen of California grenache. And this heady, texturally rich rosé is a particularly good example of the Golden State shining bright.

Falkenstein Niedermenniger Herrenberg Mosel Pinot Noir 2017 ($56): Yes, pinot, and yes, from Germany’s riesling-riffic Saar Valley. A warming climate means reds are becoming stellar there, too, and Falkenstein’s wines are always sublime.

Simon Kim’s vision for a Korean-minded steakhouse has been prescient — enough that he’s opening another in Miami soon — a key indicator of the rising prominence of Korean American cooking as an important cuisine in this country.

Côte’s wine program has always stood out, too, zagging with great Champagne and white Burgundy instead of the usual beef-friendly zigs. It got a further boost with the recent arrival of master sommelier Mia Van Der Water, formerly at Eleven Madison Park and North End Grill (where she built a remarkable collection of old California wines), to round out the wine team. If there has sometimes been a steakhouse view of wine prices here, expect to see new, affordable additions added as indoor dining returns. Never a better time for a trip to 22nd Street.

Louis Roederer Brut Nature Champagne 2009 ($190): If you think the maker of Cristal isn’t au courant, you might have missed how they’ve taken a quietly radical role in Champagne — including their brisk, edgy brut nature, here from the ripe 2009 vintage … a great Champagne with ample aging priced the same as current release.

Vincent Dureuil-Janthial En Guesnes Rully 2017 ($105): Think red Burgundy has to be a splurge? Nah. This specimen of the epic 2017 vintage, from one of the new stars of the Côte Chalonnaise, is literally the thing you wanted to drink with galbi ribs. (Don’t forget a smear of ssamjang.)

Cristom Estate Eola-Amith Hiills Viognier 2018 ($75): The story of how viognier got to America goes through California’s Calera winery, and the story of how it got to Oregon goes through Cristom’s Steve Doerner, who made the wines at Calera and brought cuttings north. In other words, these vines have pedigree, making this one of the best domestic examples of this flourishy white grape.

If the name feels a touch on the nose for these times, this new wine bar from Eben Lillie, who helped run his family’s store, Chambers Street Wines, and then ran the pop-up wine spot VdT, has powered through these months of outdoor dining, with a compact menu of mortadella sandwiches, Comté, and such. If Chambers hews closer to quintessential Old World regions, Lillie’s list wanders a bit further afield — with the sort of eagle-eyed curation of the natural-wine realm that New York could use more of.  More info here.

Les Cortis Brisure Savoie White ($64): Isabelle and Jérémy Decoster Coiffier’s young estate is showing the impressive depth of Savoie white wines, as with this mix of chardonnay, altesse, and gamay that radiates alpine coolness. 

Populis Wabi Sabi Red ($62): That some of the lighter reds on Lillie’s list come from California is testament to how much things have evolved there. This is carignan, syrah, and zinfandel, in gulpable form, from a trio of natural-minded friends in the East Bay town of Orinda.

Monte Bernardi Fiasco Chianti ($52): Yes, Chianti. And yes — it’s in the region’s traditional flasky fiasco bottle. Yes, with straw around it. In fact, this is the organically farmed bottle responsible for making the fiasco (the bottle, not the state of the world) reputable again.

The fanciful neo-Hawaiian cooking at this East Village stalwart has shined under the radar (the pork-jowl musubi is a thing you need in your life, trust us) and so has the wine list managed by co-owner Jin Ahn, for years one of those true insider’s secrets. Hence Noreetuh was, in the Before Times, where you often could find the city’s top wine folk drinking on their nights off.

It has returned for dining indoors and outdoors, with the wine list as strong as ever — and marked off 25% through the end of the year. Ahn’s tastes run to the classic, including a thing for aged riesling which, yes, goes perfectly with chef Chung Chow’s food. (Like, Dönnhoff back to 1989.) But also New World gems, and great inexpensive Bordeaux, and two pages of magnums. 

Franz Künstler Hochheimer Kirchenstück Spätlese Riesling 2001 ($95): If you don’t want to check out 19-year-old riesling from the master of the Rheingau, I can’t even help you, son.

Paolo Bea Santa Chiara 2016 ($89): Please, tell us again about orange wine being a fad. Better yet, tell it to Giampiero Bea, who’s been doing skin-contact wines in Umbria since today’s fun kids had training wheels. (If you’ve heard of the “nun wine,” that was his.) In other words, this blend remains the O.G. benchmark.

Château Cantemerle Haut-Médoc 2007 ($96): This is, weirdly, the young gun amid Ahn’s Bordeaux selections. (Alternately you could have Gruaud Larose from 1979.) But this property, just beyond the borders of Margaux, always outperforms — back to it squeaking into the original 1855 classification.

Billy Durney’s ode to the great old Brooklyn pubs of yore has, since its opening last year, excelled with one of the borough’s most thoughtful wine programs. Until recently, it was overseen by general manager Kenneth Crum; in his place now is Rebecca Flynn, an alum of O Ya and Eleven Madison Park (and a beer nerd, too).

Flynn has only continued to build on Crum’s exceptionally strong list, which covers as much ground in a concise two pages as most Michelin-starred spots require a tome for. As the Tavern’s menu shifts into fall — French onion soup that could out-ooze many a lava flow — her current selections offer endless good choices.

Domaine Nowack La Tuilerie Extra Brut Champagne 2014 ($120): The fame curve in Champagne moves fast these days. Here’s a chance to experience a serious talent on the upswing. Flavien Nowack has brought biodynamics and single-parcel winemaking to his small village of Vandières. Tuilerie is all chardonnay, with a laser intensity; think great Chablis with bubbles.

Matthaisson Napa Valley White 2013 ($140/magnum): One of the game-changing wines in California — a Friulian-style white from one of Napa’s top talents — here with a bit of bottle age, and in a double-size format. The wine to linger over with friends on a cool fall night on the Sullivan St. patio.

Prà Morandina Valpolicella 2019 ($48): Graziano Prà is best known as one of the maestros of Soave, the beloved (if not enough) white wine of the Veneto. Here, he applies both his organic farming and cellar talents to the Veneto’s cherished red — its pretty fruit and quiet vegetal tones just right for the Tavern’s roast chicken.

After pivoting to serve as a wine shop and much else throughout COVID, this sliver of an East Village wine bar might actually be more spacious with its outdoor setup. (And can we talk about the gilded statue of a reverse centaur?)

The vegetable-focused cooking, like a smoked-beet bao and fall-produce pierogies, and the beautifully eclectic wine selections from beverage directors Patrick Cournot and Alexis Percival, are as strong as ever. (Cournot is slightly more focused on this list, with its slight glance to eastern Europe, while Percival spends more time at sister restaurant Kindred, which skews a bit more to Italy and Slovenia.) Just please don’t ask us to explain the list categories; we’re not mood-altered enough to explain how orange wine falls into a taxonomy of “sativa,” “indica,” and “Dutch.”

Tschida Kapitel I Burgenland Red 2017 ($75): Christian Tschida has mastered the art of rugged, aromatic reds near Austria’s large Neusiedlersee lake. This mix of zweigelt and cabernet franc winks at the Loire while having the full-formed fruit of new-wave zinfandel. 

Palffy Pank Abnormal Orange Pét-Nat 2019 ($18 glass/$68 bottle): Fizzy skin-contact traminer (same thing as savagnin, cousin of gewurztraminer) from the shores of Hungary’s Lake Balaton is the thing that needs to be drunk this fall.

Montbourgeau Étoile 2014 ($99): This old-school producer in the Jura appellation of Étoile has been available in the U.S. since the early days of the craze for that region. This is savagnin made in traditional style — barrels never topped up — for a classic oxidative jag. Yes, two savagnins in a row. It’s a very Ruffian move.