The Wine Hit List, Early Summer Edition: Vinegar Hill House, Clay, Bar Bête, and More

There is a strong pull these days toward the comfortable and cherished. And if you spent time in south Brooklyn over the past decade, Jean Adamson’s Vinegar Hill House likely has been just that. The Red Wattle pork chop haunts the memory, as does the arrival of farmhouse chic, before that was a thing. And after VHH spending the past near navigating the steep turns (we were particularly keen on them hosting Ha’s Dac Biet) things are shifting back toward normal. 

Yes, the pork chop is back. So is a newly refurbed list from longtime wine director William Fitch. His work here has never taken sides — it’s quietly about low-intervention and, yeah, there’s some natural zeal, but never overtly so. And, crucially, there’s never a slack pick, including right now, despite the fact Fitch had to rebuild the selections almost from scratch. So once again, Austrian zweigelt is hanging with Greek rosé and makgeolli from Brooklyn. Everyone gets along. Just as it’s always been here.

Montrieux Picrochole Côteaux du Vendômois Red, 2018 ($68)
Even if you’ve heard of the obscure red grape pineau d’aunis — imagine if mezcal and cabernet franc had a love child — you likely won’t know the Vendômois. Why would you? Situated at the very north of the Loire, nearly as close to Paris, it’s both totally unknown and paradise for this grape. And Ariane Lesne has mastered it as few have. Smoky, peppery, almost poetic — a bottle of this in VHH’s backyard garden will make everything feel like 2020 (almost) never happened.

Walter Massa Derthona Timorasso, 2017 ($78)
Timorasso isn’t much less obscure than pineau d’aunis, but as Piedmont’s other other white grape, it has had a minor renaissance, namely thanks to Massa, who crafts examples that are briny and oily and deeply herbal all at once. Derthona is his benchmark, and just as Lesne’s reds are ethereal, here’s a summer white with both lift and substance.

The opening of Clay in 2018 was exciting for a number of reasons, not least the arrival of serious culinary talent on a stretch of Manhattan Ave. that needed some restaurant love. But a big part was wine director Gabriela Davogustto adding her wine skills alongside husband Gustavo Lopez’s cooking.  The Venezuelan-born Davogustto had already carved a path through standout restaurants — Boqueria, Locanda Verde, and nearby Vinateria, another uptown wine star — and Clay would be a place to plant her own flag. 

Davogustto’s selections were stellar before the pandemic, and now she’s rapidly rebuilt a new list that reflects her deep fondness for Spain and Italy (and beyond). The strong move here is to sit back, order Lopez’s chicken liver with preserved figs, and let Davogustto drive. There are discoveries everywhere on her 140-bottle-strong list.

Maturana Naranjo Colchagua Torontel, 2019 ($64)
Colchaugua is of course where in Chile you go if you’re thinking cabernet. But the 2010 earthquake rebooted José Ignacio Maturana’s family property, sending it on a more avant-garde path. Namely with wines like Naranjo, made from the intensely floral grape known in Argentina as torrontes, but here macerated 8 months on its skins. The result is astonishingly subtle and bright for an orange wine, and, yes, downright summery.

4 Monos Aguja del Fraile Vinos de Madrid,  2016 ($107)
From New Chile to New Spain (Davogustto’s list is like a road map through both) here’s one of the newer, more ambitious projects in the Gredos mountains, with its high-elevation vineyards outside Madrid.  Mostly grenache, this got the heartiness of mountain wine with a zesty edge from the altitude.

The arrival of this neobistro in Carroll Gardens has been more than welcome, in part because New York needs more cooking like this from chef Marc St. Jacques — think skate wing with grapefruit kosho and spring-vegetable labne — but also because of the wine list from Nick Ferrante (ex Terroir, where you might also recall his musical skills, now witnessed in Bar Bête’s soundtrack). This joins the Franks and Buttermilk Channel for batting way above average, wine-wise, in this part of Brooklyn.

Selections here certainly aren’t expansive — just shy of 90 — but not a weak one in the mix. And there are big swings on Meursault (Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey) and Pauillac (yes, that Pichon Longueville is from 1994) in addition to a great vetting of contemporaneous good stuff. Who can even say what a great neighborhood wine list should be, but such as a thing exists, this is it.

Von Winning Pfalz Pinot Noir Rosé, 2019  ($48)
Yes, things here tilt French, so that bottle of Tempier is the rosé call, oui?  Mais non, friend. What you truly want is two lines above — a prime example of how Germany is making some of the best pink wine on the planet, in this case from organically farmed pinot produced by one of the country’s rising stars. Chill enough for summer on Smith St., intellectual enough that you’ll dwell on it. 

Domaine Giacometti Cru des Agriate Patrimonio Red, 2016  ($68)
Christian Giacometti and his kids are not only remote by way of being in northern Corsica, but doubly so for their vines being planted in the midst of the Agriate desert, a protected and largely roadless stretch of coast. That only boosts the intensity of their red wine, here almost entirely niellucciu, the local form of sangiovese. It’s tangy and marine and brooding, and just what you want with that wagyu brochette.

James Kent’s FiDi gem has been a consistent bright spot through COVID times — turning Pine St. into a small haven of relative tranquility. (We miss you, yurts.)  As dining returns to its airy indoor space, wine director Kristen Goceljak keeps up a list that works as well in the depths and the shallows.

You can dive on Bordeaux (magnum of 1989 Cos d’Estournel for $1,100 anyone?) but just as easily splash around with Beaujolais or postmodern Spain or even Eben Sadie’s hard-to-get wines from the Swartland. It all maintains Crown Shy as one of the most wine-happy spots in the city — so we suggest a stop now, in advance of Kent and team swinging even bigger with their forthcoming rooftop project, Saga.   

Mouzon Leroux L’Atavique Champagne ($80)
One of Crown Shy’s winning traits since opening has been a deep roster of Champagne (currently three pages worth) with a surprising number of picks sub-$100 — in a zip code where that seems bonkers. The message? Champagne is here to drink, not as table accessory. You could choose any of dozens of picks here, but let’s go with Sébastien Mouzon’s nonvintage brut, biodynamically farmed and based around pinot noir from the grand-cru town of Verzy. Always somber in its flavors, serious, a prime example of postmodern Champagne.

Maitre de Chai Stampede Lodi Zinfandel, 2017 ($80)
Want something to go with Kent’s must-have grilled chicken with hot sauce? We’d vote for this exemplary take on contemporary Lodi — which, get any thoughts of Seven Deadly Zins out of your mind. This is from the duo of Alex Pitts (French Laundry, Scholium Project) and Marty Winters (The Restaurant at Meadowood), two Napa friends with a knack for zesty, complex wines, in this case from one of Lodi’s best vineyards.

Miguel de Leon’s list at this Soho staple has been one of the highlights in New York wine for a while now. And what a better time to tap into de Leon’s talents, given that he was just honored with the inaugural sommelier award given by a certain tire-enabled restaurant guide.

The gestalt here should be clear: “Don’t be cheugy” is the motto de Leon slapped on the current list’s front page, and his proliferation of riesling, orange wine, and merlot (arguably de Leon’s holy trinity) remains in effect. True, the current roster is less expansive than the early 2020 edition, but it’s growing — and already has plenty of strong moves. Which is to say, not everyone can hop easily from Turley’s White Zinfandel (actually dry rosé, and a rare find) to Milan Nestarec’s If God Exists — Czech riesling that takes no prisoners. But hey, that’s why we’ve loved Pinch all along.

Salomon Undhof Wolke für Zwei, Kremstal, 2017 ($55)
Fizzy wine is what you want when you’re doubling up on Pinch’s finessed xiao long bao. And did we mention riesling? That’s the base material here, made as pét-nat by one of the top names in Austria’s Kremstal. It translates to “cloud for two,” and there’s not much we could add to that.

Piedrasassi ‘Bien Nacido Santa Maria Valley Syrah, 2016 ($88)
All the pro tips for you: You’re going to want to order Pinch’s Peking duck (do so in advance), and then you’ll want to drink this with it. Sashi Moorman is a maestro of Santa Barbara wine, with a particular fixation on syrah. Here’s his  personal take on Bien Nacido, one of California’s most famous vineyards. Inky,  briny, and just the perfect amount of dank.

You know Gage & Tollner is finally open, right? We might have mentioned it once or twice. And there is reason upon reason to be there, from deep history and pristine reconstruction of one of the city’s great dining halls, to the martinis worked to perfection by St. John Frizell, one of Brooklyn’s cocktail talents. 

Not as widely discussed so far is the quiet stunner of a wine selection, thanks to Montreal native Étienne Guérin, who landed in New York thanks to his fellow Canadians at M. Wells Steakhouse. Here he demonstrates that tricky bit of doing more with less — just over 60 selections — finding a way to be as classic as the setting without feeling stuffy. 

Domaine Vincent Carême Cuvée T Vouvray Brut, 2017 ($64)
Sparkling Vouvray can be unmemorable, unless it’s made with love and attention — and you’d expect nothing but the latter from Carême, one of the Loire appellation’s modern masters. Here’s a fruit-fresh, vivacious way to start into a meal. We’d suggest going long on the raw bar.

Francesco Rinaldi Brunate Barolo, 2015 ($151)
Quite simply, no red wine gives you a sense of timelessness like Barolo. This particular Rinaldi is always slightly under the radar, which means drinking one of the region’s best crus, Brunate, for a relative song.  The proud New York tradition of steaks is on full display at G&T, and we’d say here’s your play when the veal chop calls.