Maison de Madeleine — named for Paris's Place de la Madeleine, the storied square where lovers meet; brought in by Tri-Vin, a family importer sourcing quality European wine for almost 40 years.

Château Dompierre — Michel Aroldi trained under legendary Loire vintner Didier Dagueneau before landing in the Médoc. His Sauvignon Blanc still tastes like it wandered in from Sancerre.

Château Latour-Martillac — one of only a handful of Bordeaux châteaux classified in 1959 for both red and white. Some of the Sémillon in this blend comes from vines pushing 140 years old.

Château d'Esclans — Sacha Lichine basically invented the luxury rosé category here in 2006. LVMH bought control in 2019, the same house behind Dom Pérignon and Hennessy.

Il Poggione — one of Montalcino's oldest estates, its winemaking traced back to Piero Talenti, a founding father of modern Brunello. The Franceschi family's held it since 1964.

Sandrone — Luciano Sandrone spent 20 separate purchases patiently assembling the Valmaggiore vineyard from local growers. He passed in 2023; his daughter and brother now carry the estate forward.

Cakebread Cellars — Jack and Dolores Cakebread's very first vintage back in 1973 was a 157-case Chardonnay. This 2023 bottling is the 50th-anniversary heir to that original wine.

Cakebread — Jack Cakebread shot Ansel Adams and Julia Child before he ever made wine, and this Sauvignon Blanc still gets a splash of Semillon, an old Bordeaux trick almost nobody in Napa bothers with anymore.

La Staffa — Riccardo Baldi named Best Winemaker Under 35 at the 2021 Food&Wine Italia Awards, and he ferments this Riserva in concrete, the way Verdicchio was made before everyone switched to steel.

Tenuta Sette Ponti — the family didn't bottle under their own label until 1998, and this Oreno just pulled a 99 from James Suckling.

Krug — Joseph Krug quit a good champagne job in 1843 because he refused to believe the best bottle had to come from the best year. This one blends 163 wines across eleven harvests, back to 1990.

Tenuta Ulisse — the Abruzzo brothers who bottled Cococciola on its own, a grape growers once used only to add acid to Trebbiano. Crisp grapefruit-and-salt white, fresh as the coast.

Château Pegau — Laurence Féraud's everyday Rhône red, named for the Osage orange trees on the property. Made four miles from her Châteauneuf estate the old-school way: native yeast, no destemming.

Jean Laurent — a third-generation grower whose pink Champagne is 100% Pinot Noir, colored the old saignée way, from nothing but his own vines. Bold enough to drink with dinner & it's Grower Champagne!

Cantine Povero — the Piedmont family that keeps as much forest as vineyard and has farmed organically since 1998. Priore is their Barolo: violets, dried cherry and truffle, 28 months in oak.

Loire shellfish wine. Dry, salty, lemon-and-wet-stone Muscadet aged on its lees. Oysters' best friend.

Tavel: the only Rhône appellation that makes nothing but rosé. Dry, dark-cherry, food-first pink from a family that's been at it since the 1500s.

Duckhorn turns 50. The Napa Merlot house has made Sauvignon Blanc since 1982, and this one is ripe, silky, and tropical, with a splash of Sémillon.

Sonoma Coast Pinot with a pedigree. Patz & Hall, founder-owned again since 2024: cherry, rose petal, and silky.

White wine from an active volcano. Pure Carricante: salty, citrusy, mineral. Chablis and Albariño drinkers will get it in one sip.

Vietti didn't just make this wine, they saved the grape. Piedmont's classic white: pear, white flowers, almond, crisp and easy.

Piedmont's 'white Barolo.' A nearly extinct grape, revived by Walter Massa, now made by Vietti, a Barolo legend. Rich, mineral, built to age.

Northern Rhône Marsanne from old granite vines. It drinks like a white Hermitage for a fraction of the price.

Hundred Acre cult-Cab guy, cold-coast Chardonnay. Saline, tense, oyster-shell white from Pacific ridgetops.

Hundred Acre’s Woodbridge goes cold-coast Burgundian. Silky West Sonoma Coast Pinot with red fruit and brown spice, scored 96 (Decanter).

Sancerre’s quieter neighbor. Organic Loire Sauvignon Blanc with the same crisp citrus and chalk style, at a Menetou-Salon price.

Baby Brunello from the Biondi-Santi family’s old Riserva vineyards. Juicy, organic Sangiovese.

The Biondi-Santi family’s old Riserva vineyards, now an organic, traditional Brunello. 95–98 points.

One vineyard, one wine. It’s a 50-hectare Sangiovese cru in Radda, and it’s what I pour with steak night.