By the Glass

Vistamare is strikingly lively, showing a straw yellow color with green nuances. Complex and layered, based on chamomile and Scotch broom, followed by pink grapefruit and other citrus fruits. Intensely fragrant with hints of peach, apricot and cantaloupe. It is creamy and smooth, with a refreshing acidity and a long intriguing saline finish.

Pale lemon, scented honeysuckle nose, A substantial volume of fruit on the palate, and the framework has held up really well in this noble vineyard, with more structure at the back than Chevalières. Fine length and not at all too sunny.

The Riesling Vinothek 2002 is aged for 17 years in a single old cask before bottling, it embodies the house's patient, monastic philosophy. The wine is dry, and incredibly vibrant with notes of lemon oil, baked apple, white tea, petrol, and crushed stone. Released only in tiny quantities, this bottling is one of the most iconic dry Rieslings ever produced

Comando G's La Brena is a half-hectare of thirty- to sixty-year-old Garnacha rooted in granitic sand and silt high in the Sierra de Gredos, and this 2023 captures the fleshier, more aromatic side of the vineyard's subtle soil shifts—ripe red fruit with the mineral backbone you expect from old vines on granite.

A deep red in color, the nose is presented with complex aromas that are dominated by black fruit and delicate oak sensations. Overall, the nose is pure and intense. The palate transitions with a powerful attack of round and elegant tannins.

Emidio Pepe's Branella carries the mineral signature of its blue clay marls—higher iron and manganese lending a savory grip to dark cherry and plum. This is the second vintage of the single-vineyard release, where pergola-trained vines on Montepulciano d'Abruzzo's distinct terroir speak without apology: structured, earthy, entirely itself.

The wine is incredibly fresh, and the 24 months of ageing in old casks are unmarked; it almost seems like the fruit is still hanging on the vine. Some velvety spicey herbal aromas of the bush come through on the aromatics, and then violets and perfumes followed.

Grenache and Mourvèdre fermented together on Red Mountain, a third of it whole-cluster, bring you blackberries and plums upfront with leather, tobacco, and dark chocolate in the mid-palate, finishing with spice and minerality—the kind of seamless, brooding wine that proves Gilles Nicault's French training and three decades in Washington know exactly what this terroir demands.

Horsepower pulls Cabernet from The Tribe Vineyard in the heart of Walla Walla—2023 vintage from a producer committed to old-school vineyard work and family legacy. Dark fruit and structure in the glass, with the kind of earnest grip that rewards patience. This is wine made the long way, and it tastes like it.

Chardonnay-driven with crisp citrus, white flowers, and a fine persistent mousse. The Laurent-Perrier house in Tours-sur-Marne pioneered the Chardonnay-led Brut style and made it their signature. Proof that you don't need a prestige cuvée to drink serious Champagne.

Traditional-method Cava from the indigenous trio — green apple, lemon pith, and a touch of bread crust. Aged on the lees in Penedès, the appellation that effectively invented Cava in the 1870s. The honest argument against spending $40 on Prosecco.

Savennières from Domaine FL's La Croix Picot vineyard—lively, delicate aromatics with a saline finish that speaks to the Loire terroir and the estate's commitment to organic farming and manual harvest. No malolactic fermentation preserves the wine's aromatic richness, making this a textbook expression of how restraint in the cellar lets the vineyard speak.

A 35-year-old block of Chardonnay on Kimmeridgian clay limestone—the traditionalist's terroir for Chablis. The 2022 shows the minerality and precision you expect from vines that old and soil that honest, with a lean structure that rewards patience. This is what happens when you refuse to chase expansion: unapologetic, unadorned Chablis.

Organic Cabernet Franc from the Loire's Chinon region, Les Petites Roches carries the mineral spine and red-fruit precision the appellation is known for—Joguet's benchmark for the appellation runs deep here. Brisk tannins and a savory mid-palate make this 2021 a natural fit for the table, not the cellar.

Avignonesi's 2019 Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is Sangiovese grown in one of Tuscany's most serious appellations, shaped by an owner who came to winemaking through two years in Bordeaux—precision and structure built into the approach. Dark cherry and dried herb notes play against firm tannin and the mineral grip of Montepulciano's terrain. This is serious Sangiovese that doesn't need an apology or an occasion.

Grenache off Knox Road Vineyard just west of Red Mountain, from a small Walla Walla project chasing balance over bombast. Soft and bright — red berries, kumquat zest, and a salty, savory mineral streak. Proof Washington can do Grenache with a light touch.

Sagemoor's estate red blend draws from over fifty years of minimal intervention farming across six vineyard properties spanning three AVAs—a blend built on deep Columbia Valley terroir and serious viticultural heritage. The 2021 vintage captures the structure and complexity you'd expect from a producer whose grapes have anchored some of Washington's finest programs. This is grown-up Washington red without pretense.