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- A Wild Night of Italian Wines, the Best Italian Wine Store in New York City, and an OG Piedmont Producer Who Deserves Their Flowers
A Wild Night of Italian Wines, the Best Italian Wine Store in New York City, and an OG Piedmont Producer Who Deserves Their Flowers
Super Vino Bros
July 02, 2025
Hey guys!
The unintentional theme of the week is Italy. It started with a dinner hosted by Italian wine writer, Jeff Porter, complete with smoked brisket, aged Barolo, and a reminder that wine is best when shared. Next, I’m highlighting Eataly Vino, home to one of the best Italian wine selections in the city (seriously). And finally, a spotlight on Roagna, a Piedmont producer that bridges the gap between classic and natural wine. Enjoy 🇮🇹
When a Wine Guy Clears His Cellar 🍷
A night at Popina with Jeff Porter, a BBQ feast, and bottles worth remembering
Last Thursday was a fun one. I was invited to a dinner hosted by Jeff Porter, one of the most respected voices in Italian wine, especially when it comes to Northern Italy. If you’re not familiar, Jeff is a former beverage director, a contributor to Wine Enthusiast, and one of the few American writers who can talk about Italian wine with both precision and real joy. The man knows his Barolo. More importantly, he knows how to throw a party.
Pictured: Jeff Porter at Popina
The premise of the night was simple: Jeff wanted to clear out a few bottles from his cellar, which, as you might guess, is anything but small. The venue couldn’t have been more fitting, Popina, an Italian restaurant tucked into a quiet corner of Cobble Hill, and one of my favorite spots to eat in the city (seriously, I think they make the best Chicken Milanese in New York). Their massive back patio was the setting for the night. Jeff brought in food from Hometown BBQ in Red Hook, that worked seamlessly; brisket with Barbaresco, ribs with Sangiovese. It was pretty close to the perfect pairing.
Pictured: Popina Garden
The wines, though, were the real star of the show. A full parade of heavy hitters: older vintages of Barolo, Barbaresco, and Chianti, mostly from the 2000s and 2010s. A few standouts were a 2016 Rinaldi, a 2015 Elio Sandri, and a 2015 Montevertine. And if those names don’t mean much to you, you’re not alone, I barely knew them before that night. The whole evening felt like a love letter to Italian wine in all its forms. I’ve been meaning dive deeper into Italian wine this Summer, and this felt like the perfect starting point.
Pictured: Montevertine 2018 and 2017, Elio Sandri 2015
This wasn’t a formal tasting. It was a wine party. The kind of night where there’s way too many bottles open, you have three different glasses that are filled to the brim, and your tasting notes by the end are just loose, jumbled thoughts in your Notes app. But that’s exactly the point. These nights aren’t about analysis, they’re about generosity, and what it means when someone who truly loves wine decides to open their cellar and share it. Huge thanks to Jeff for the special night.
One of the Best Wine Shops Hiding in Plain Sight 🛍️
Inside the surprisingly deep Italian selection tucked inside Eataly Vino in Flatiron
Earlier this year, right before heading to a dinner party with friends uptown, I realized I needed to grab a few bottles. I was near Madison Square Park, an area I assumed was a dead zone for quality wine shops, and found myself frantically scrolling through Google Maps before everything closed. The only place that popped up nearby was the Eataly wine store in Flatiron. Naturally, I braced myself for the worst: I assumed it was a big-box megastore filled with name brand Chianti and Prosecco stacked in bulk.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Pictured: Eataly Vino Flatiron, Image by Alamy
What I walked into was, no exaggeration, the most impressive selection of Italian wine I’ve seen in New York City. In hindsight, it makes sense, Eataly is, after all, an Italian market that takes its produce seriously and definitely has a budget to back it. But I was still genuinely surprised by how thoughtful the wine section was. Bottles from Radikon, SRC, Roagna, Montesecondo, you name it, sitting there on the shelves. Upstairs, in their temperature-controlled, rare bottle cellar, there were even more gems. Stuff that even the most serious Italian wine collector would be pleasantly surprised by. The buying team clearly has a vision, and it shows.
Pictured: Eataly Vino Rare Bottle Cellar, Image by Manhattan Sideways
That day, I walked out with a Franco Terpin and an Alessandra Divella (who we need to talk about another time), and couldn’t have been happier.
Pictured: Terpin Ribolla Gialla, Alessandra Divella Blanc de Blancs
Moral of the story: don’t write this place off the way I almost did. The selection speaks for itself.
Producer Highlight ⭐️
One of our favorite parts of wine is the discovery: we’re constantly being put on to new regions, producers, and cuvées from our friends. We’ll never be able to try EVERY wine, but we want to take a moment to mention some producers that excite us!
Roagna 🍷
Location: Piedmont, Italy 📍
Pictured: Piedmont, Image by Britannica
In Barbaresco, where tradition runs deeper than the roots of the Nebbiolo vines themselves, Luca Roagna is the fifth generation to steward his family’s estate. Founded in the early 1900s by Vincenzo Roagna and passed down through Giovanni and Alfredo before him, Luca officially took the reins in 2001 after graduating from oenological school. But his education started much earlier, in the vineyards of Pajè, where the family’s six and a half hectares of old vine Nebbiolo still form the beating heart of the domaine. Like the generations before him, Luca works in the classical idiom: extended macerations, years in large Slavonian oak, and no filtration. But his version of tradition isn’t a museum piece, it’s living, rigorous, and precise.
Pictured: Luca Roagna, Image by Roagna
He’s a perfectionist, known for holding wines back longer than most and experimenting not to innovate for its own sake, but to push the narrative forward. He’s introduced ceramic vessels for long aging in reserve bottlings and doubled the thickness of oak casks for gentler oxygenation. He works in a low intervention style as well, using only native yeasts for fermentation and minimal sulfur only when necessary.
Pictured: Roagna Wines, Image by Leon & Sons
The wines, especially the Barbarescos and Barolos, are structured and uncompromising in their need for aging. Even the “younger” Nebbiolo vines used in the Langhe Rosso are over two decades old. Nothing is rushed. Luca Roagna doesn’t chase modernity, but under his stewardship, the estate’s fame is catching up to the power and purity of its wines.
Our first encounter with Roagna was a funny one. They’re one of the rare minimal intervention producers that bridge two worlds: the classic, old-school wine collectors and the newer wave of natural wine enthusiasts. Because of that, you can find their bottles in both big box liquor stores and tiny specialty shops.
Pictured: Chris with Roagna Dolcetto
I stumbled across them at Total Wine, a large retail chain, while in New Jersey on my way to dinner with our parents. I asked for a recommendation and was pointed toward a bottle of Roagna’s Dolcetto, an affordable, high quality red that completely hooked me. That bottle was my entry point, and I’ve been a fan of their wines ever since.
They produce wines across a range of price points, though their Barolos can get pretty expensive. I haven’t had the chance to try one yet, but I’m definitely looking forward to the day I do. If you see any of their wines, definitely check them out.
What's One Wine Region in Italy You'd Love to Visit? |
That’s it for today! Hopefully you can find time to enjoy some Italian wine this week. Personally, I think a Nebbiolo or Sangiovese would pair perfectly with whatever you’re throwing on the grill this Fourth of July 🇺🇸 🎆
Wishing everyone a fun, safe holiday weekend. Thank so much for reading, and as always, drink responsibly! 🥂