Top 5 Wines of the Month (May 2026)

Hey guys!

We’re back with our top five bottles of the month. Between some time back home in New York and travels through Austria, this month’s lineup is a fun one. There were far too many memorable wines in May to reasonably narrow down, but here are a few that really stayed with us. Enjoy!

Location: Jura, France 🇫🇷

Variety: Chardonnay

While this isn’t exactly a groundbreaking opinion, Domaine Labet has become one of my favorite producers in the world, especially when it comes to white wine. Based in the Rotalier subregion of the Jura, the domaine makes exceptional long élevage wines with so much depth, energy, and texture that it’s almost impossible for me not to grab bottle whenever I come across one.

I had this one with some friends in New York during the first week of the month, and like pretty much every Labet white I’ve been lucky enough to try, it completely delivered. It was a long-aged Chardonnay, that had this beautiful zingy lemon acidity, but also incredible length and ripeness.

Again, I’m not reinventing the wheel by praising Domaine Labet here, but if you ever get the opportunity to try one of their whites, absolutely take it.

Location: Burgenland, Austria 🇦🇹

Varieties: Blaufrankisch, Zweigelt

This was easily one of the best wines I had while traveling through Austria. Rennersistas, a family-run project based in Burgenland, is making some truly phenomenal wines right now, but in my opinion, this rosé might be the standout of the entire lineup.

Aged for nearly four years before release, it’s a rosé that almost drinks like a very light red wine, carrying a nice salty freshness alongside a structured, more fruit forward palate.

One of the sisters behind the project, Steffi, told me the story behind the name “Waiting for Tom.” Before starting Rennersistas, she worked harvest for Tom Lubbe of Domaine Matassa, and apparently Tom would often leave the cellar team waiting around for hours while he tended to the vineyards and land. The name became a funny nod to those long stretches spent waiting for Tom to return.

An incredibly memorable bottle, and one I absolutely need to track down once I’m back in New York.

Location: Primošten, Croatia 🇭🇷

Variety: Babić

This bottle was opened with the winemaker himself, Niko Dukan of Vinas Mora, during an afterparty for Karakterre on the shores of Lake Neusiedl. Alongside his business partner, Krešo Petreković, Niko is producing some of the most exciting wines not just in the Balkans, but arguably anywhere in Europe right now.

The reds are made entirely from Babić, a native Croatian grape that manages to balance salty, bright red fruit with darker, spiced, almost mulled fruit characteristics all at once. This particular bottle, especially poured from magnum, had an incredible energy to it that I haven’t stopped thinking about since.

Location: Styria, Austria 🇦🇹

Variety: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay

We enjoyed this bottle over lunch at a quaint countryside restaurant called Winzerhaus during our 24 hours in Styria. One of the people at the table, Elias Muster, shared the story behind the wine with me. For some background, Elias is a winemaker himself (the son of Sepp and Maria Muster) and his uncle, through his mother’s side of the family, is Andreas Tscheppe, the winemaker behind this bottle.

Elias explained that the beetle on the label references an old practice Andreas used during the early vintages of this wine. For the first two years, Andreas would bury a barrel of the wine directly in the vineyard, believing it positively influenced the wine during élevage. On the third year, while digging the barrel back up, he accidentally cracked it open and lost the entire production. After that, he abandoned the burying altogether, but kept the memory alive through the label itself, choosing a beetle as a symbol of something that buries itself underground from time to time.

This is also one of the only macerated wines Andreas produces, and it was my first time trying it. The wine struck a really beautiful balance between orange blossom aromatics and tart citrus fruit, while the light maceration gave it enough texture and structure to work with the food across the entire table. Just a really fun and memorable bottle for the moment.

Location: Štajerska, Solvenia 🇸🇮

Variety: Chardonnay, Riesling, Kerner

We had this bottle at Glacis Beisl in Vienna during their collaboration dinner with Aci Urbajs. As I mentioned briefly last week, Organic Anarchy is a truly special project based in Slovenia’s Lower Styria region. This particular cuvée is called “Radi Calls,” and the story behind it makes the wine even more meaningful.

For those unfamiliar, Stanko Radikon was one of the great pioneers of natural winemaking in northeastern Italy, and his wines have become some of the most iconic bottles in the world. Aci and Stanko were incredibly close friends up until Stanko’s tragic passing in 2019. The name “Radi Calls” is a tribute to that friendship, apparently whenever a wine wasn’t tasting right, or Aci needed advice in the cellar, Stanko would give him a call to help figure things out.

The wine itself was lively, fresh, and packed with bright citrus fruit, honestly reminding me of some of the best Radikons I’ve had. A special bottle with an even better story behind it.

Hope you all got the chance to open some of the wines from May’s club! With the weather finally warming up, we’re officially entering prime “wine outside” season and June’s lineup is shaping up to be another really fun one.

If you run into any issues with your shipment or have any questions, feel free to reach out to [email protected] and they’ll help you out!

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That’s it for today! Let us know your favorite wines of the month if you had any.

Thank so much for reading along, and as always, drink responsibly! 🥂