What's Mystery Wine?

It's a wine we offer by the glass,
but we won't tell you what it is.
At least not till later.

We usually grab a case of a wine – something fun and relatively affordable, made with quality fruit, usually grown organically and vinified with minimal intervention – and a few days after it runs out, we post on our Instagram what the wine was. "If you drank a mystery wine between this day and this day, here's what it was" kind of thing. A nice picture of the bottle, a brief description of the flavor, some info on the farming and/or production methods.

Wine can sometimes be intimidating, confusing or alienating, and it's been really fun to get these wines in front of people who may not order them by name. The idea isn't to guess what it is. I mean, if you wanna speculate, be our guest. But we think it's a lot nicer to just enjoy yourself and move on. Maybe take note of what the wine looked like and when you drank it, just so when we solve the mystery, you can confirm that was hat you had.

Solved:

  • Pipeño País

    Cacique Maravilla

    Farm wine made with the endemic Chileno grape ‘País,’ believed to be descended from vines planted throughout Latin America by Spanish Conquistadores and missionaries. This delicate, gently-handled red is the perfect party wine – light-bodied, tart, subtly funky and bottled by the liter.

  • Gutiflower

    Cacique Maravilla

    From the Bio Valley of Chile. These folks cultivate extremely old vines, some of which were planted in the 1700's. Fascinating stuff right here – very rustic, gently-handled wine, with a distinctively wild muskiness.

  • Rosato

    Sfera

    A big ol' bottle of rosy pink. Made with fruit (Montepulciano) from several small vineyards throughout Abruzzo – all practicing organic farming – and fermented with native yeasts. Irresistible stuff.

  • Costa del Mulino

    Cantina Frentana

    Super crisp, light-n-airy white wine made exclusively with a regional grape varietal more often used for blending. And what a fun word to say – Cococciola (coco-CHO-la).

  • Lambrusco Dell'Emilia

    Azienda Agricola Denny Bini

    Festive, bubbly-purple goodness. Just right for any occasion.

  • Pistemutta

    Rosato

    From Frank Cornelissen, an absolute icon of modern ‘natural’ winemaking. Made entirely with the local Sicilian varietal Nerello Mascalese.

  • Sèt e Mèz

    Mirco Mariotti

    Made with a strange local varietal called Fortana, this light-red sparkler has a lovely cherry pit spice and a wild gaminess from the native yeasts involved in its fermentation.

  • Rosanebbia

    Cascina Pace

    An unfussy pink wine made with the mighty Nebbiolo, a grape more often associated with self-serious Piedmont reds like Barolo and Barbaresco. Delicately floral, with delightful watermelon-y tones and bright acidity. So friggin nice.

  • Terre Siciliane IGP Bianco

    Made entirely with the indigenous Sicilian grape Catarratto. Bright, lemony acidity, anchored by a touch of stonefruity musk and a roundness from a touch of skin contact.

  • Rosé

    Le Bienheureux

    From winemaker Thibault Crespin, who hails from the Languedoc in Southern France. In many ways this is the archetypal rosé – truly rose-colored, delicate in aroma and flavor, and profoundly chuggable.

  • Labrusca

    Lini 910

    A cherry-red blend of Lambrusco Salamino and Lambrusco di Sorbara. Beautifully autumnal drinkin' wine from Northern Italy.

  • Pietrascura Lambrusco

    Azienda Agricola Pezzuoli

    A boisterous sparkling Red made entirely with the 'Grasparossa di Castelvetro' variety of the Lambrusco complex. This stuff is irresistible, and I wouldn't be mad if it made another appearance as a mystery wine in the future.