Hey guys!
This week we've got a little bit of everything: a wine lover's guide to surviving the NBA Finals, a hidden bar in Albania pouring decades-old Campari, and a Piedmont producer whose bottles have become increasingly difficult to ignore. Enjoy 🥂
What We’d Drink During an NBA Finals Game 🏀
Or at least how we’d attempt to go about it
Full disclosure, my brother and I are Brooklyn Nets fans, though in our hearts they'll always be the New Jersey Nets (RIP).
That said, New York doesn't get many moments like this. The New York Knicks in the Finals has the city buzzing, and for the first time since I’ve lived here, it feels like every conversation I’ve had in the past week circles back to basketball.
So in honor of the occasion, we put together our completely unofficial guide to drinking wine during an NBA Finals game:
7:30 PM - The Pre-Game Pour
The hour before tip-off is always the most nerve-racking.
The game lineups are out. The group chats are active. Every sports pundit has suddenly become an expert on what the Knicks need to do differently.
This is when we'd pour a small glass of Chartreuse.
Pictured: Chartreuse Bottle
Not in a cocktail or even a super heavy pour. Just enough to take the edge off. Think of it less as a drink and more as a transition into game mode.
8:30 PM - Tip-Off
For the first bottle, we're opening a white.
Normally we'd reach for France without much thought, but with the Spurs’ Frenchman Victor Wembanyama currently serving as public enemy number one in New York, we're looking elsewhere tonight.
Pictured: Esmeralda Garcia Verdejo
A salty Spanish or Italian white feels like the right call.
Verdejo. Albariño. Maybe a crisp Catarratto from Sicily.
Pictured: Ferracane Guanciabianca Catarratto
Something with plenty of acidity, enough freshness to keep you engaged, and enough character that you'll still be paying attention to what's in your glass during the first half.
The opening quarters are when the energy is the highest. The wine should reflect that.
9:30 PM - Halftime
Halftime is dangerous. You start overanalyzing everything. Either the Knicks are up eight and you're convinced they're going to blow it, or they’re down six and you're convinced the series is over. Neither is usually true.
If the white is running low, we'd probably open the second bottle here. Something red we’re thinking
Pictured: Scar of the Sea Syrah
Not massive. Not a Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec that demands your full attention; that belongs to the game.
Pictured: Rinaldi Barolo
A California Central Coast Syrah feels perfect. Maybe a lighter Barolo if you're feeling a little more ambitious. A wine with enough structure to sit on for the rest of the night.
10:00 PM - The Fourth Quarter
At this point, the wine becomes secondary. The bottle is open, the glasses are poured, and now you're pacing.
Nobody is discussing tasting notes of the wine anymore. The wine is simply there to accompany the experience.
After The Final Buzzer
Win or lose determines the final move.
If the Knicks win, we're opening something we've been saving.
Pictured: Selosse Champagne
Champagne or Bubbles is the obvious answer, but honestly any special bottle works. The whole point of saving wines is to eventually drink them, and a Finals win feels like a pretty reasonable occasion.
If they lose?
The French wine might have been a good choice after all.
All that said, we're still taking New York to win the series and bring home the title 🏆
The Secret Campari Bar in Tirana 🇦🇱 🥃
Inside a Tirana speakeasy with one of the world's deepest collections of vintage Campari
A few weeks ago, after my time in Austria, I found myself in Tirana, the capital of Albania and I really wasn't too sure what to expect from a from a food and wine perspective.
During my time there, however, we got a tip about a speakeasy in the center of town that supposedly housed one of the deepest and most comprehensive collections of Campari in the world. Naturally, it immediately jumped to the top of my list.
Pictured: Entrance to Spy Speakeasy
The bar was called Spy Speakeasy, and getting in felt appropriately clandestine. Reservations required messaging their Instagram account to receive a password. We arrived at a set of stairs descending beneath street level, where a heavy metal door opened into a dimly lit room occupied by only a handful of other guests.
Pictured: Campari Shelf at Spy Speakeasy
Once we got settled, the bartender could tell I was eyeing the enormous collection of vintage Campari bottles lining the cabinet behind him. Generously, he asked if I'd like to taste a few different vintages side by side.
There was really only one possible answer.
A few minutes later, he returned with three glasses: a 1956 Campari, a 1960 Campari, and a pour of modern day Campari for comparison.
Pictured: 1956 Campari, 1960 Campari
As it turned out, the bartender was also the owner. He explained that one of the biggest differences between vintage and modern Campari is the use of carmine (cochineal), a natural red dye made from crushed insects that gave the spirit its iconic crimson color. Campari switched to artificial coloring in 2006, making the product vegetarian. Beyond that, the recipe itself was adjusted over the years, particularly around the 1980s, resulting in noticeable differences between the older bottlings and what we drink today.
Pictured: 1956 Campari Label
The contrast was fascinating. The vintage versions felt dramatically more herbal, savory, and complex, with notes that reminded me of mushrooms, roots, and umami. Modern Campari, by comparison, showed more of the sweet citrus, star anise, and licorice character that most of us are familiar with.
It was one of the more memorable spirits tasting experiences I've had, and a place I'd enthusiastically recommend to anyone who finds themselves in Tirana.
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!
Philine Isabelle Dienger 🍷
Location: Piedmont, Italy📍
Pictured: Piedmont, Italy. Image by Britannica
Piedmont has never lacked for talent, but every so often a grower emerges whose path feels particularly compelling. Such is the case with Philine Isabelle Dienger, a German-born vigneron whose route to the Langhe wound through some of Europe's most respected vineyards. Raised in Mannheim, she initially studied politics before discovering that life in the vineyard suited her far better than life behind a desk. Work at estates such as Odinstal, Bürklin-Wolf, Alois Lageder, and Heinrich gave her a deep foundation in biodynamic farming, viticulture, and cellar work.
Pictured: Philine Isabelle Dienger. Image by Polaner Selections
A formative chapter came through her time with Simonit & Sirch, the renowned pruning consultants whose work has transformed how growers think about vine health and longevity. By the time Philine arrived in Piedmont in 2019, she had accumulated an unusually broad range of experience. There, alongside her partner Marta Rinaldi, she began shaping her own vision of what great wine could be.
Pictured: Philine Isabelle Bottles. Image by Barolo Wine Club
Her first vintage was released in 2020, and today she farms just 1.5 hectares across Barolo, Verduno, Roddi, and the Alta Langa. The scale is tiny, but the farming is ambitious, incorporating biodiversity, livestock grazing, and regenerative practices rarely seen in the region.
Pictired: Philine with her vines. Image by Polaner Selections
Rather than chasing growth, Philine seems focused on something more difficult: developing a deeper understanding of the relationship between soil, vine, and place. The wines remain scarce, but her influence is already extending far beyond her small collection of vineyards.
Pictured: Philine Isabelle Bottle at Lei
I've been noticing Philine's wines more and more over the past year. Her distinctive labels feature what I can only describe as some sort of porcupine, field mouse, or mysterious woodland creature seem to be popping up everywhere lately. So when I stopped into Lei the other night and spotted one on the list, ordering it felt mandatory.
The bottle was her Langhe Nebbiolo, and it was everything I'd hoped for: vibrant, energetic, and packed with crunchy dark fruit, currants, spice, and it paired extremely well with the food at Lei. Highly recommend trying it if you can.
Wine Club Updates 🍷 📦
June's shipment will be heading out soon, and we're really excited about this month's lineup. Can't wait for you to open these bottles and let us know what you think.
As always, if you have any questions or run into any issues, feel free to reach out to [email protected] and they'll get you sorted quickly.
Not a member yet? You can sign up here:
That’s it for today! Enjoy the game tonight if you're tuning in for the Finals, we hope you have a good bottle (or two) open by tip-off 🏀
Thank so much for reading, and as always, drink responsibly! 🥂