The Dabney, St. Vincent, and More: Introducing the D.C. Wine Hit List

Beverage manager Jess Liberto has put together a well-edited wine list for the Dabney that turns to the most eloquent expressions of classic regions, rather than more ostentatious ones. So, Champagnes from Cedric Bouchard over the grandes marques, Mayacamas’ merlot over Duckhorn’s, and Château Le Puy rather than some overdone Bordeaux classed growths.

There’s an especially strong lineup of northern Rhône and Piedmont reds to drink with red meat and game courses. But also take note of the more broad-shouldered whites (Thomas Pico’s Chablis and Michel Autran’s Vouvray come to mind) that mesh with so much of Jeremiah Langhorne’s Mid-Atlantic winter fare.

Demiere Ansiot Blanc de Blancs Champagne 2006 ($135): Vintage blanc de blancs from Oger, aged eight years on the lees before disgorgement in 2014, seems the only reasonable way to commence this time-skewed year. The richness of buttered croissants is here, and a level of complexity and tension that puts to shame some culty champagnes triple its price.

Calabretta Nerello Mascalese, Vigne Vecchie 2011 ($80): Massimiliano Calabretta’s examples remain among the touchstones from Siciliy’s Mount Etna. For his old-vine nerello, Calabretta vinified much like old-school Barolo; long macerations and aging for over 5 years in Slovenian oak barrels. A brooding showstopper inflected with copper, tar and leather, that feels right at home with winter preparations cooked over the Dabney’s wood hearth.

After much anticipation through the pandemic, Fred Uku’s Columbia Heights wine garden — an homage to Bacchanal in New Orleans — is just the spot to exhale after 2020. Uku has by and large avoided populating the list with overpriced Instagram bait, which would have been the easier play, instead relying on his extensive experience (The Red Hen) to select wines at approachable prices that overdeliver. Sleepers like Domaine des Rouges-Queues’ red Côte de Beaune in magnum come to mind, as does Vineto Saetti’s powerful Lambrusco. Despite conventional wisdom, consider that chilled reds, rosés and whites may drink better on a cool winter patio, versus more structured winter reds.

Alvear 3 Miradas Vino de Pueblo 2018 ($40): This collaboration between Bodegas Alvear, a prolific 8th-generation sherry producer, and the new-wave Spanish collective Envinate, is an absolute must. Unlike Alvear’s baroque sherry wines from the pedro ximenez grape, this one is fermented dry, and judiciously aged eight months under the veil of flor, tempering its fruit and rendering a delectable praline finish. You couldn’t ask for better sitting outside by the fire, snacking on charcuterie.

Dolores Cabrera La Araucaria Tinto 2018 ($40): Made from 100 year old-vine listan negro, grown at 450 meters above sea level on the isle of Tenerife.  For fans of smoky Jura reds and peppery Saint Joseph syrah, trust on this bottle.

For when you’re bored of the classics, and feeling wanderlust for off-piste detours, there is Bill Jenson’s assemblage of oddities here, sourced specifically from “Islands,” “Rivers and Streams,” or the local Eastern seaboard.

The current list is all in on Georgia, with skin-contact whites, reds, and pét-nat on offer. But the Mosel and Nahe river valleys of Germany get love as well, with producers like Carl Loewen and Dönnhoff for the win. And even malbec drinkers are not neglected, with a terrific old-vine Loire côt from Xavier Weisskopf.

Bojo do Luar Tez Vinho Branco 2019 ($62): From the list’s ‘In Between’ section, which embraces every shade of magenta, coral, and amber-hued wines. Tez is a blend of native Portuguese varieties (arinto and avesso), biodynamically farmed in the Vinho Verde region. But the grapes are macerated on skins for four months, with local chestnut flowers — a natural antioxidant — added during fermentation. There’s lemon zest, artichoke brine, and some tannic grip, which beckons for the restaurant’s ‘Fun with Fishes’ tasting menu.

Hervé Villemade Les Acacias Cour-Cheverny 2016 ($92):  The Villamade family was producing rigorous and low-intervention wines in Cheverny decades before the current generation of natural-wine evangelists. Les Acacias is made from their oldest-vine romorantin, a rare variety native to this central Loire area, aged for two years in neutral barrels. If you’re a stan of Jura savagnin or Chablis, this may be your next obsession.

Joe Carroll and Steven Starr’s joint venture, low key steakhouse and tavern, boasts a 50-page wine list, interrupted by the occasional watercolor of wine maps and concise explainer. There are whole pages dedicated to orange wine, chilled reds, vins jaunes, and the memorable catch-all ‘America Does Whatever it Wants.’

Then there is the jaw dropping list of rare sherry and vintage Madeira, poured by the ounce, which alone merit St. Anselm as a monumental wine destination — one that pays attention to the Founders’ wine tastes.

D’Oliveiras Sercial Madeira 1969 ($22 per ounce): The cellars of D’Oliveiras might as well be the Library of Alexandria when it comes to Madeira. The firm has been around since 1850, with current stocks dating back to the 1862 vintage. Its wine is kept in barrels until ready to bottle — usually no less than after 20 years, and upwards of 100 years. This gingery sercial is the dry, savory end of their range, and it’s equally brilliant after dinner as it is for an aperitif, with the blue-crab deviled eggs.

Arnot-Roberts Sonoma Coast Syrah 2018 ($84): Arnot-Roberts was part of the wave of renegades that rejected the late Gilded Age of California wine. Their syrah from the far extremes of west Sonoma is inky, supple, and herbaceous, with more composure and freshness than many Rhône counterparts.

With Brent Kroll, longtime sommelier and partner in Maxwell Park, leading the wine program at this Navy Yard newcomer, expectations were set high. And no doubt exceeded. The expansive list strikes the right mix of classical, esoteric, and accessible.

If not at Albi, with chef Michael Rafidi’s heralded Levantine cooking, where would you find a full page Love Letter to Chateau Musar, with numerous back vintages from the legendary estate in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley? And while wine lists categorized by style (versus region) can be more in vogue than useful, the categories here are on point: Branco Vulcânico from the Azores is under “Savory Whites,” Cruse Wine Co.’s Evangelho Vineyard carignan under “Donnie Darko Reds.”

Los Bermejos Lanzarote Listán Rosado 2018 ($52):  The vineyards of Lanzarote, part of the Canary Islands archipelago, can only be described as a seemingly extraterrestrial landscape; 18th-century volcanic eruptions left the island blanketed in black ash. To cultivate wine grapes, arrays of stone-walled craters dug into the earth are planted with bush vines. And the Bermejos red exudes that stress: pale rusty pink in color, all tart red berries and smoke.

Giovanni Canonica Paigalo Barolo 2016 ($150): It’s Nebbiolo season, and Albi has Canonica, on their list, and you’re welcome. This is young Barolo to be sure, but Giovanni Canonica has such an impeccable touch with his grapes that even in youth the wines have generous aromatics, and their muscles are shrouded in cashmere. Considering the high prices at retail, this is a bargain.

What better way to celebrate the end of inauguration road closures, and the the National Guard troops receding from streets, than with a return to Joe’s downtown?

While most steakhouses in the heart of Gucci Gulch would phone in their wine list with predictable expense-account fare, the Joe’s list far exceeds such expectations, in no small part due to the work of lead sommelier Elli Benchimol. The 2013 Marcassin chardonnay and 2015 Domaine Rostaing Côte-Rôtie is our grail for a surf ‘n’ turf duo, be we’re just as keen on Savennières from Domaine de La Bergerie next to the Domaine Eden Cabernet from the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Clos Cibonne Rosé Tradition 2018 ($76): To channel winter-in-Provence, but bohemian, Clos Cibonne is the move. Made from the obscure tibouren grape, which thrives at Clos Cibonne’s windswept vineyards, just 800 meters from the Mediterreanean coast. It’s then aged 12 months in 100 year-old barrels, under the thin veil of yeast known in Provence as fleurette.

R. Lopez Heredia Viña Tondonia Blanco Reserva 2006 ($125): Lopez Heredia’s white Riojas have become some of Spain’s most coveted. This blend,  aged 6 years in old barrels, then cellared for years before release, has the dense baked fruit of old-guard Meursault and Jura oxidative nuances, with an unmistakable Spanish duende. There could be no better wine for pairing with grilled, butter-basted lobsters, or snow crabs with Joe’s mustard sauce.