One of the great luxuries of dining at top-tier restaurants is receiving the attention of an exceptional wine professional. Whether that takes the form of a tableside recommendation of a memorable bottle, a tasting menu with course-by-course wine pairings, or a thoughtfully composed wines-by-the-glass list, a sommelier's input can make your meal.
Whether presented in tandem with a tasting menu or simply offered as an alternative to buying a full bottle with your meal, "glass pours" need to be palatably priced, for the most part, which means these same wines will often be affordable at retail. If you're the sort of shopper who likes to try new wines or you want to boost your wine-buying confidence, taking sommeliers' picks for by-the-glass wines to your local fine wine shop or other retailer is an excellent strategy.
With the recommendations below for fine fall wines and foods to go with them—straight from the sommeliers at celebrated restaurants in the United States and abroad—you may be inspired to dine out, or just to stay in and pour like a pro. Most of these bottles retail in the U.S. for $40 or less, according to Wine-Searcher.com. For a big night in, there are even a few sommelier selections from small producers that are worth the extra cost and effort to find (although not all may be available where you live). Read on for the reds and whites served by the glass in some of the world's top restaurants this fall, from a "perception-changing" Slovenian Sauvignon Blanc to the Beaujolais that made one sommelier shout out loud, "I love my job!"
Boulevard, San Francisco
John Lancaster, Wine Director
White: Château la Rabotine Sancerre, Loire Valley, France 2010
"It's kind of bright, clean, citrus, lime, mineral, fresh. We do it a lot with salads, and as an aperitif. It's great with goat cheese—just a versatile first-course wine."
Red: Blue Farm Pinot Noir, Carneros, California 2010
"A small-production, single-vineyard Pinot Noir that shows what can be done in Carneros with Pinot Noir. It's got some of that Carneros cool-climate character, with some ripe fruit wrapped around that. It's really good with the pork chop that chef Nancy Oakes does…and with quail and salmon as well. There is structure there, but the tannins are nice and integrated."
Pinpointing Pinot: When it comes to American Pinot Noir production, "Carneros has been there for a long time," Lancaster notes. "It gets a lot of ocean influence, and it's a good place to grow Pinot." Compared with a Willamette Valley Pinot, for example, this pick from Blue Farm has "a little more body and texture," he adds.
Dabbous, London
Charles Pashby-Taylor, Head Sommelier
White: Pegasus Bay Riesling, Waipara Valley, New Zealand 2009
"This is a slightly fuller style of Riesling from New Zealand, lots of rich fruit flavors—apples and pears with some stoned fruit. This dry Riesling is made with a small amount of grapes with botrytis—noble rot—giving it a slight sweetness and ever-so-gentle fizz on the tongue. This wine is a perfect accompaniment to white-fish dishes and more substantial salads, and also light enough for an aperitif."
Red: Clos de la Roilette, Fleurie, Beaujolais, France 2011
"Although light in color, this wine packs a surprising level of flavor and complexity: Hedgerow berries and nettles with softer tones of rose and violet make for an easy-to-drink and easy-to-match wine. Chilled, this wine will sit with just about anything with the exception of the most subtle dishes. It comes into its own with lighter meat, pork, goose, and veal; with these, serve just below room temperature."
Sommelier secret: "Fleurie is often overlooked as a cheap red wine not worth drinking. This could not be further from the truth."
El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, Spain
Carles Aymerich, Sommelier
White: Pedra de Guix Terroir al Límit, Priorat, Spain 2009
"This wine works very well with fish dishes where the garlic is very marked, but without tomato. We pair it with salt-cod brandade, braised salt-cod tripe, salt-cod foam, olive oil soup, shallots and honey, thyme and chile pepper."
Red: Vall Llach, Priorat, Spain 2005
"Pair this with game meats, and even better if you use mushrooms. At the restaurant, it is served with common wood pigeon liver and onion, curry-caramelized walnuts, juniper, orange peel, and herbs."
Drink with the seasons: "Autumn is a melancholic season, of meditation; the rain starts, mushrooms appear, quince, pumpkin, nuts, truffles, wild game, and many other products. The season smells of damp earth, iodine, smoke, dry leaves, so that's why we look for wines to extol these aromas."
Eleven Madison Park, New York
Dustin Wilson, Wine Director
White: Cantina Terlano Pinot Bianco, "Vorberg," Alto Adige, Italy 2009
"As we move away from summer and toward the cooler months, richer whites play a bigger role for us. This is a great single-vineyard Pinot Bianco from northern Italy from a quality driven co-op that shows rich, textured, nutty, and baked fruit flavors but without being heavy or cloying."
Red: Domaine Bois de Boursan Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Rhône Valley, France 2009
"I am excited about this wine because it has warm, rich, ripe fruit, but shows it with a very elegant approach. It is made in a traditional fashion, shows sense of place with great structure, and offers plenty of savory, meaty, spicy tones that work great with fall fare."
Perfect pairings: "Braised and grilled meats, game and fowl work great for the Châteauneuf-du-Pape, especially if they are spiced up with herbs and pepper. For the white wine, butter-poached fish or shellfish line up great with the texture of this wine. Add in some nice sautéed mushrooms and some hazelnuts or bitter almonds, and the wine is a home run."
The French Laundry, Yountville, California
Dennis Kelly, Head Sommelier
White: Mas de Daumas Gassac Vin de Pays de L'Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon, France 2011
"Chardonnay and Viognier provide weight and texture without new oak influence, while Chenin Blanc and Petit Manseng provide a backbone of acidity that gives this wine an affinity for food. I love to pair this with richer seafood courses like monkfish, sturgeon, and lobster."
Red: Jérôme Chezeaux Nuits-Saint-Georges, "Rue de Chaux," Burgundy, 1er Cru, France 2008
"An elegant expression of Nuits-Saint-Georges, from a rising-star producer offering moderate oak and bright, fresh acidity. A wonderful complement to light meat courses like poularde, quail, and squab."
Treasure hunt: "We look for wines that offer balance, typicity, and value for our wine-by-the-glass program.… Our standards are extremely high, and in order to pour the quality of wine that we want at a price that is reasonable, we need to find a high-quality wine that still offers value. Unfortunately, those are two attributes that are usually mutually exclusive…and there lies our challenge."
Hatfield's, Los Angeles
Jonathan Baird, Sommelier
White: Keller Estate Trocken Riesling, Rhine Valley, Germany 2011
"The 2008 vintage of this wine was the one that made me fall in love with dry Riesling. It is the perfect balance of fruit, acid, minerals, and power. The 2011 bottling is delightful with scallops and other 'meaty' seafood, but especially with Quinn Hatfield's signature 'Croque Madame' [yellowtail sashimi, prosciutto, sunny-side-up quail egg, grilled brioche]. The higher acid and tease of sweetness helps balance the richness of the dishes."
Red: Georges Descombes Brouilly, Beaujolais, France 2010
"I've started to become a big fan of Beaujolais lately because I love the graphite—pencil shavings—aromatic element of the Gamay grape. It adds to the wonderful complexity of the wines and helps the fruit play through the dishes. This particular wine is refreshingly energetic and full of blueberry and candied citrus essences. It pairs very well with cheese, charcuterie, and other hearty meat dishes."
Job satisfaction: "Right now, I am pairing the Brouilly with our Thirty-Six-Hour Slow-Cooked Beef Rib 'Pastrami.' When I first tasted this dish with this wine, I was by myself in our office and threw up my hands, exclaiming, 'I love my job!'"
L2O, Chicago
Richard Hanauer, Sommelier
White: Weingut Knoll Grüner Veltliner Federspiel, Wachau, Austria 2010
"This wine goes with everything, bringing life to fall dishes. It has medium body with intense flavors, and a straightforwardness with a heightened minerality. It's amazing to start with, especially at this time of the year, as menu flavors are getting away from the focus of freshness-from-the-ground and more about the focus on the freshness of the proteins."
Red: Château Lynch-Moussas Pauillac, Bordeaux, France 2006
"This wine, when released in 2006, wasn't an exceptional vintage, but six years later it is fully integrated and shows a halfway point between its youth and adulthood. Its tannins are round and soft, with its fruit-set split between fruit and earth. It has some age, so it isn't going to fight food, but also has the muscle to stand up to our meat courses and the grace to complement seafood. It's drinking more mature now, showing secondary flavors, more spice flavors, more spicy bacon flavors—which go really well with the fall flavors you see on our menu."
The challenge: "Glass pours don't have the ability to mature like a bottle of Burgundy will through the course of the evening, so you have to find a wine that is 100 percent right out of the bottle."
Le Bernardin, New York
Aldo Sohm, Chef Sommelier
White: Domaine Savary Chablis, "Vieilles Vignes," Burgundy, France 2010
"The Chablis is mineral-driven, with a focused acidity which will cut the richness of the scallops in chef Eric Ripert's Warm Scallop 'Carpaccio'; Snowpeas and Shiitake Lime-Shiso Broth."
Red: Copain Syrah, "Tous Ensemble," Mendocino County, California 2010
"I picked the Syrah because it has balance in the fruit, and has soft and silky tannins which won't interfere with the fish but hold up to the sauce in our Crispy Black Bass; Roasted Shishitos and Acorn Squash 'Ceviche', Peruvian Chicha Sauce."
Sweet spot: "Both should retail around $30 or less."
Le Grand Véfour, Paris
Patrick Tamisier, Head Sommelier
White: Domaine de la Roche Bleue Jasnières, Molières, Loire Valley, France 2010
"Despite coming from an unrecognized designation, this is a wine with a great delicacy when we are talking of balance and freshness. There is a good denseness and ripeness due to the Chenin grape variety."
Red: Les Celliers d'Orfée Cuvée Sextant, Corbières, France 2008
"Perfectly matured, with a touch of black fruits, of undergrowth, and sweet spices. Its roundness and persistence make it a wine for the fall season."
Sommelier secret: "The magic moment of the wine service is a delicate gesture by which we aerate and ventilate the wine in the glass so it will offer an aromatic subtlety when the customer raises the glass to his nose."
Noma, Copenhagen
Mads Kleppe, Head Sommelier
White: Domaine Peggy et Jean-Pascal Buronfosse Blanc, "Entre-Deux," Côtes du Jura, France 2010
"For me, Jura is one of the most interesting regions in Europe at the moment.… The whites especially are world-class. My pick here is made of Savagnin, one of the local white varieties. Made in a fresh, crispy style with beautiful minerality, it of course pairs very well with seafood. It was last served at Noma with pike perch, cabbage, and lemon verbena."
Red: Domaine Sauveterre (Jérôme Guichard) Creuse Noir, Montbellet, Burgundy, France 2011
"This really juicy, concentrated Gamay is from a relatively new, tiny producer in southern Burgundy. It is quite light and vibrant, but still has a very good concentration and depth. It will be served with veal sweetbreads, mushrooms, and bitter greens."
When in Copenhagen: "The larger part of our guests actually choose our wine-pairing menu, which gives us a great chance to play around with our pouring wines."
North End Grill, New York
Jason Hopple, Beverage Director
White: Gaia Estate Assyrtiko Thalassitis, Santorini, Greece 2011
"The saltiness from the sea breezes and the island's volcanic soil maintain the grape's acidity, making a perfect pairing for seafood and fish."
Red: Mas Martinet Menut, Priorat, Spain 2009
"A primarily Grenache blend with Merlot and Syrah completing the bottling, the warm climate of this region and its iconic wineries make a great pairing with chef Floyd Cardoz's Grilled Rabbit.… Ripe fruit, stony minerality."
The challenge: "To build a wine list that provides a range of prominent producers while showcasing smaller wine houses that offer superior quality."
Restaurante Martín Berasategui, near San Sebastián, Spain
Antonio Jesus Casares Garcia, Sommelier
White: Pazo de Señorans Albariño, Rias Baixas, Spain 2005
"We prefer to serve fresh wines with medium body. In this case, it's an Albariño, the typical grape from Galicia.… You can feel the influence of the Atlantic, with hints of fragrant herbs, exotic fruits, and minerality. In the mouth, it has a good balance, with medium body, excellent acidity, and a salty point with lots of fruits, like lemon and mango."
Red: Cristoforo Tempranillo, Rioja, Spain 2008
"This is 100-percent Tempranillo. It's a typical Continental wine, very rich in tannins, with a lot of fruitiness and excellent acidity. This confers a very good nose, with red fruits, minerality, and expression from the soil. In the mouth, we can find a medium-body wine, good structure, and length—excellent to share with Martín's food."
Perfect pairings: "For the red wine, meat dishes are the best. In our 12-course tasting menu, we pair it with the 'Gorrotxategi' egg resting on a liquid salad of red tubers and dewlap carpaccio and our grilled sirloin 'Luismi' over a bed of Swiss chard chlorophyll and cheese bonbon. We think the best dishes for the white are squid soup: creamy squid ink ravioli served with squid crouton. The other one is the oyster with cucumber, sour fruit, kaffir leaves, and coconut."
Twist by Pierre Gagnaire, Las Vegas
Will Costello, Wine Director, Mandarin Oriental
White: The Wonderland Project Chardonnay, "La Reine Blanche," Santa Ynez Valley, California 2011
"From California, we offer a wine from a very small producer. This is an only moderately oaked Chardonnay but is packed full of flavor. Much of the fruit is pulled from a small vineyard in Sonoma County. This wine is wonderful with much of the seafood chef Pierre Gagnaire creates because it balances acidity perfectly with richness."
Red: Vincent Girardin Moulin-a-Vent, "Les Hauts de la Rochelle," Beaujolais, France 2009
"This is a fantastic example of an often overlooked wine that flies off the shelves at Twist by Pierre Gagnaire. This is similar to Pinot Noir from Burgundy, but has a different complexity to it."
Texture tip: "In my humble opinion, wines which match the texture of a dish are the most important. It is more about a harmony of feeling on the palate than matching particular flavors."
Vetri, Philadelphia
Steve Wildy, Beverage Director, Vetri Family
White: Simčič Sauvignon Blanc, "Selekcija," Brda, Slovenia 2008
"This is a perception-changing Sauvignon Blanc, which can be said for most Slovenian bottlings, and especially in the case of Marjan Simčič. One of the area's most dedicated farmers, he coaxes a level of concentration and complexity from his vines that is downright astounding. This Sauvignon is fat, textured, and honeyed, but packing all the acidity and baked-stone-fruit quality that defines the grape. A perfect transition from crisp, summery whites like Ligurian Vermentino, and perfectly suited for cabbage, cauliflower, and root vegetables."
Red: Abbazia di Novacella Lagrein, Alto Adige, Italy 2010
"The complex aroma of this wine is immediately suggestive of the onset of cooler weather: dark, wild berry fruits, mushrooms and cedar, forest floor, and a hint of smoky, scorched coffee. On the palate, it's dense and fruity up front, with a wickedly earthy, spicy finish. This particular wine hails from the foothills of the Alps and is crafted by an abbey of monks who have been making wines since the 1300s, and it pairs perfectly with game birds, wild boar, truffles, and other mushrooms."
Bubbly beginning: "We have a house prosecco pour that each guest receives upon arrival as a welcome and way to settle in as they begin their evening. That wine is Elisabet, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene NV, Veneto, Italy."