The Resy Guide to Natural Wine in Boston

Even before you settle in at a picnic bench on the sunny patio of Gray’s Hall, you know the wine at this South Boston establishment will be spot-on. That has everything to do with general manager and wine director Mira Stella, whose career has taken her from slinging sherry at Tres Gatos in Jamaica Plain, to building a program of funky whites and racy reds at Fort Point’s Row 34. Matt Thayer and Andy Fadous, who also own American Provisions, the cheese and wine shop next door, were smart to hire Stella. From day one, the Dorchester native has been doing what she does best: divining what wines will resonate with the neighborhood, and chatting with guests about what to pair with the elevated tavern fare coming out of chef Marcos Sanchez’s kitchen. Of-the-moment bottles include a Calabrian orange wine, made from the thick-skinned pecorello grape, perfect with a Treviso salad studded with tangy Maine chevre. Also on board is a Mendocino-grown sangiovese, fragrantly fruity from carbonic maceration. It’s just the ticket with a platter of Rhode Island-style fried clams, cherry peppers, and marinara for dipping. And the latest breaking news at Gray’s? You can now sip and nosh at the bar inside.

Natural wine bar haley.henry is the drinks establishment Boston didn’t know it needed. Nowadays, no oenophile can think of Downtown Crossing without it.

Haley Fortier opened her intriguingly-named spot five years ago. (“Henry,” it turns out, is her father’s middle name.) At the time, Bostonians were eager to do a deep-dive into natural wines, but lacked a spot downtown to try them. So Fortier, an alum of Barbara Lynch’s Sportello, rolled out a policy that continues today: She and her team will open any bottle on the list if you commit to purchasing two glass pours. That genius practice lowers barriers for anyone who is natty-curious, but hesitant to spring for a full bottle. And speaking of bottles, you’ll spy a whole loft’s-worth of them, housed above the open kitchen. When you’re seated at the polished wood-and-riveted-metal counter, those vessels gleam in the ambient light shining through floor-to-ceiling windows.

The rapidly cycling rotation of tiny-production pours includes a biodynamically-farmed welschriesling from Austria’s Burgenland, and a soulful sangiovese, aged in amphora, hailing from Tuscany. And there’s plenty to keep the vibe high. A killer hip-hop soundtrack provides the backdrop for shareable snacks called Biggie Small Plates, glossy tins of fish, and fully-loaded frankfurters on Wiener Wednesdays.

Situated just a couple of blocks away from Fenway Park is Haley Fortier’s second wine bar, nathálie, named for her grandmother. Describing its ambiance is challenging because it depends on where you focus your attention. In one corner, pussy willow branches stand in elegant glass vases. On a concrete column nearby is a patchwork of bumper stickers, one an advertisement for Thrasher Magazine, and another declaring, “I BRAKE FOR UNICORNS.” Across the room, near a plush banquette, is wine storage, discreetly hidden by floral wallpaper and gilded screens. And playing on the sound system? Ludacris is telling you to “shake your money maker.” You may not know where the interior designer was going with all of this, but you like it. And you like the wine here — a whole lot.

Frequently described as the little sister of haley.henry, Fortier’s flagship bar downtown, there’s nothing “little” about nathálie. Sixty-plus bottles are on offer, and all of the glass pours are made by female winemakers. That list recently included two from central Italy (a fizzy, elegant pignoletto, and a strawberry-scented centesimino) plus a qvevri-aged orange wine from Georgia. And, just like haley.henry, your bartender will open any bottle on the list if you commit to two glasses — giving you plenty of choices to sip alongside executive chef Alex Bhojwani’s seared octopus, citrusy ceviche, and mezze board with beet muhammara.

“I feel like a kid in a brand-new candy shop,” says Katie Hubbard, the new wine director and assistant general manager at Pammy’s.

If you don’t know this beloved trattoria of Pam and Chris Willis, you must visit. Hubbard, formerly of Brookline tapas destination Taberna de Haro, is eager to sustain the program of natural and small-production pours conceived by her predecessor Lauren Hayes. That expansive list, with category headers like “Fresh & Chilled” and “Oxidative & Orange,” is full of selections that feel just right, whether you’re dining among pansies and native grasses on the restaurant’s Mass Ave. patio, or settled inside at a leather banquette, watching patrons bump elbows at the bar. (Fingers crossed that the centerpiece communal table will re-debut soon.)

Wherever you’re seated, what you’re eating and drinking suits the warm weather. Soft-shell crab, battered and fried to offer satisfying crunch, is plated with avocado, Persian cucumbers, and a zippy turmeric aioli. The dish finds its match in an Italian red, made from organically-farmed brachetto grapes. Hubbard is flying through her stash, and it’s no wonder. “It smells like Fruity Pebbles and tastes like summer,” she says.

Talking about his longstanding love for natural wine, Stan Hilbert draws an analogy between the vibrant produce you find at a farmers’ market and the low-intervention bottles he serves at Forage, his restaurant in Cambridge. He says you can feel the vitality of the soil and care of the grower in both. “There’s definitely some energy in wine that you can taste,” he observes, “but then, maybe I’m just an old hippie.” (For the record, Hilbert is nowhere near the age of a senior citizen, and too polished to be mistaken for a flower child.)

You can experience vibrant wines like the ones he’s talking about — several of which he imports through his company Satellites Imports — in three different settings: in Forage’s snug dining room; on its front patio, framed by bamboo fencing; or on a courtyard out back, tucked away like a secret garden. Chef Eric Cooper’s field-and-sea-centered fare is a delight. One evening, locally caught monkfish, wrapped in sugar kelp, was paired with a richly textured white from southern France, crafted from organically farmed chenin blanc, clairette, and chardonnay. And at a recent Tuesday wine dinner, featuring wines from Hungary, bluefish with lemon brown butter was complemented by a whole-cluster-fermented kékfrankos, grown in volcanic soil, offering flavors of crushed cherries, rosemary, and black pepper.

Our favorite “lights, camera, action” moment of the past year was the evening that Peter Ungár, chef-owner of Tasting Counter, switched on his video camera and taught 50 guests on Zoom how to make rabbit-stuffed agnolotti. This event was part of TC@Home, a series of virtual interactive dining experiences dreamed up by the chef and his wife, Ginhee Ungár, the Somerville restaurant’s co-owner and general manager. Their kitchen prepares and portions out ingredients for that night’s mise en place, packaging everything — including natural wine pairings — for pick-up before the dinner hour. Attendees hop online, and learn how to finish and plate a three-course repast, all under the tutelage of the chef and his team. It’s not surprising that these sessions — slated to continue into the future — are a far cry from mere cooking demonstrations. Ungár, widely acclaimed for his sumptuous, multi-course tasting menus, brings his fine dining acumen to this at-home experience.

But dining inside the restaurant still feels glorious. You settle into one of a dozen cushy, custom-made swivel seats set up around a polished stone counter, while cooks plate and present right in front of you. Naturally, the wines on offer are meticulously chosen. On one evening, a crisp, clean albariño, crafted by a tiny Galician producer in Rías Baixas, was paired with a first course of shima-aji, served like sashimi, with fermented celtuce, black bean miso, and cured mandarinquat. Ungár says the white wine, with its sea-salt finish, “fits perfectly, like a glove” with the dish. He sounds almost as delighted about the wine as he does about the wild success of TC@Home. 14 Tyler Street, Somerville. (617) 299-6362. tastingcounter.com

It’s impossible to imagine Somerville — especially the low-key stretch of Holland Street, on the fringes of Davis Square — without Spoke Wine Bar. And judging by how every seat on the nasturtium-accented patio is filled on a weeknight, it’s clear that folks feel the same way. Owner Mary Kurth is thrilled that all of the neighborhood regulars have returned, even after the wine bar’s months-long hibernation. “I don’t think that any of us realized quite how long the winter felt, and how much we wanted to re-open,” she says.

Now that this peppy wine bar is back at it — albeit outdoors-only, at least for the time being — Kurth and her team, which includes co-chefs Paul Butler and Kelcey Rusch and cocktail maven Katie Weismann, are knocking themselves out to ensure that your time there feels comfy — even celebratory. The wine list is looking fresher than ever, organized into user-friendly sections like “Drink Me” for pours by the glass (Bubbles! Orange + Rosé!) and “Trust Us” for sherry, vermouth, and a dozen styles of amaro. Kurth is especially excited about biodynamic wines from the New World, including Chile. One selection is crafted from old-vine pais, tread on traditional bamboo mats to extract the juice, and bottled without filtering. Ask for this vivacious, earthy red with a slight chill, and get the sunchoke-and-cheddar doughnuts. Follow those with a verdant plate of long beans, grilled spring onions, and orange ponzu.

If a patio with an oasis-like vibe is what you’re looking for, you’ll find that at Field & Vine, located in the heart of Somerville’s Union Square. Nowadays, with all of the dining currently on the patio, it’s much easier to spot than it once was.

The farm-to-table eatery has always felt improbably located, tucked at the end of an alley, next to a tree-shaded parking lot. Stumbling upon this spot feels like a wonderful surprise. It’s currently outfitted with umbrella-shaded bistro tables, potted palms, and flowering yarrow. Chef-owner Andrew Brady is turning out dishes equally as lush, taking hyper-seasonal ingredients like foraged nettles, tucking them into savory hand pies; and Tokyo bekana, searing the celadon-hued greens over wood fire and plating them alongside a bavette steak.

Andrew’s wife and co-owner Sara Markey-Brady and general manager Megan Guidarelli have assembled a perky wine list to complement the vegetable-centric fare. That includes a sassy, thirst-quenching pinot gris, crafted from dry-farmed grapes grown in Oregon’s Eola-Amity Hills; and a floral-and-fruity red from southwest France, a field blend of biodynamically grown grenache, clairette, counoise, and more. Both pours are perfect examples of wines currently on offer. Guidarelli describes them as “light, snappy, and dangerously drinkable.”

In 2020, Lauren Friel transformed Rebel Rebel — her nationally acclaimed, natural wine bar anchoring Somerville’s Bow Market — into a drinks-to-go venue, selling bottles and glass pours out of the bar’s side window. At a time when so many bars were shuttered, Friel’s regulars were delighted that their favorite loud-and-proud feminist drinks space was still in business. They loved getting their favorite pét-nat or Jura ploussard to sip alongside empanadas, bibimbap, and vegan poutine, all on offer to-go from eateries around the courtyard.

With the recent relaunch of Rebel Rebel’s own patio — open at noon every day of the week — folks are positively giddy, sunning themselves on a mix of wooden stools and benches out front. Whoever is bartending chooses the glass pours; so that means you might start the day with a skin-contact white from Vermont, crafted from cold-hardy hybrid grapes; sip an old-school, Loire Valley cabernet franc in the afternoon; then enjoy a Vallé d’Aoste gamay as the sun goes down. Late in the evening, you’ll notice that Rebel’s patio patrons are bathed in a rosy glow, thanks to the neon bulbs inside the bar, casting pink light through the glass windows. Imbibing indoors has yet to return, but no one minds ordering at the window. By now, everyone knows the drill.

(Note: Rebel Rebel’s patio seating is first-come, first-served, but you can reserve a table on Bow Market’s courtyard via Resy—and still get any wine you like from the bar’s window.)