The New House Wine: Bespoke Bottles with a Personal Touch

Finding Solutions in Unexpected Places

While Flour + Water’s wines tell a story through the liquid, Michelin-starred Kato extends its narrative through the label.

Pairing Asian fare with an acid-driven Riesling or aromatic Gewürztraminer may be an easy (if predictable) choice, but Kato’s intricate Taiwanese-inspired menu demanded more thoughtful consideration. When the restaurant moved from a strip mall in West Los Angeles to a larger space in Downtown LA’s Arts District—complete with a liquor license—co-owner and wine director Ryan Bailey seized the opportunity to expand the cellar and curate more esoteric pairings for chef-partner Jon Yao’s complex dishes.

Bailey recalls struggling to find a match for one in particular: a delicate fish dish in a savory broth accented with fermented mustard greens.

After some trial and error, he discovered an unexpected fit in Savagnin, a white grape from France’s Jura region. The breakthrough came via his friend, winemaker Mike Lucia, who had recently acquired Cole Ranch—one of the only single-vineyard AVAs in the United States. Situated at higher elevation in Mendocino County, the vineyard had newly grafted Savagnin vines, a rarity outside of the Jura.

“Stylistically Savignan has good weight and body and high acidity,” Bailey says. “As it develops it gets a savory character to it. Most importantly it has texture and ripeness that gives it body that can hold up to a heartier sauce like a smoked fish bone broth or dan dan noodle with pork, or umami and soy flavors.”

Now in its fifth vintage, Kato’s Savagnin features label artwork by Yao’s grandfather—adding a deeply personal touch to this highly specific collaboration.

“We get to do something fun for the restaurant that you can’t find anywhere else,” Bailey says. “And it also skews toward the food.”

Breaking New Ground

Like pairing wine with Taiwanese fare, Indian cuisine can pose similar challenges. But Ajit and Sukhu Kalra, owners of Indus Progressive Indian in Highland Park, Illinois, understand that Indian food has far more to offer than just heat.

They created a menu that showcases popular Indian dishes like biryani and curries, while also showing the breadth of the cuisine with dishes like a spiced lamb burger served with their “chimmi-chutney” and halibut marinated in ginger, garlic, young coconut, and raw mango paste all steamed in a banana leaf. The self-proclaimed oenophiles wanted a light-bodied red wine that would go well with the various sauces and proteins on their menu.

“We wanted a wine that was more plush and soft, and something that would always complement and never try to compete,” explains Ajit Kalra. “We wanted something easy on the palate.”

Their answer came through a collaboration with winemaker Mike Kush of Chasing Harvest. Together, they developed The Indus Pinot, a terroir-driven 2021 Pinot Noir from New Zealand’s Central Otago region. The wine—light-bodied with cherry and raspberry notes, balanced acidity, and an herbaceous quality that pairs with cilantro and mint—has become the restaurant’s best-seller just four months after its debut.

 “By and large, overwhelmingly people have expressed a love for the pairing of this light bodied new world Pinot Noir with our food,” he adds.

Seeking Wine of a Certain Time and Place

Yes, wine can sometimes be tricky to pair with specific cuisines. Other times, it’s as natural as looking out your back door. There’s a familiar adage in the wine world: “What grows together goes together”—and that rings especially true in the heart of wine country. In this case, it’s Northern Virginia.

At Field & Main, a farm-to-table restaurant in Marshall, Virginia—about an hour west of Washington, D.C.—owner Neal Wavra has embraced local wine as a natural extension of his mission. Inspired by European neighborhood restaurants where house wines arrive in casual carafes and pair effortlessly with the food, Wavra set out to create a similar experience closer to home.

“We use local food and drink to connect with people and share a story, which makes the dining experience more impactful,” Wavra says. “Our guests can leave here and go visit that place.”

Since opening in 2016, Wavra has launched a wine-on-tap program in collaboration with Early Mountain Vineyards and expanded it to include a range of Virginia wineries. These include red, white, and rosé offerings from producers such as Michael Shaps, Pearmund Cellars, Anterra Wines, Slater Run Vineyards, and Boxwood Winery.

"It's a driving desire of having the pomp and circumstance of wine being taken away where it's well thought out and intentional, but doesn't require knowledge," explains Wavra, adding that, “One of the unique propositions of Virginia wine is people are drinking the arc of discovery” of an emerging wine region through these collaborations.

Celebrating Tradition and a Commitment to Quality

New Orleans is a city that celebrates joie de vivre on every corner—and nowhere is that more evident than in the storied French Quarter. At Brennan’s, the iconic restaurant dating back to 1946, tradition, festivity, and Champagne go hand in hand.

Dubbed “The Champagne House of the South,” Brennan’s boasts a cellar of 16,500 bottles, including around 100 Champagne selections. But it’s their own private-label Champagne that brings the celebratory spirit to life. The restaurant first partnered with Delamotte in 2018 to create a custom cuvée, then followed in 2024 with Brennan’s Essential by Piper-Heidsieck, an extra brut Champagne that extends the legacy of Ella Brennan.

"Champagne has always been essential to Brennan's," says Braithe Gill, beverage director for the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group, who helped select the prized juice. "Ella wanted people to come in to celebrate. Happy noises were important to her—glasses clinking, laughter, etc."

The blend (45% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Meunier) was created specifically to pair with Brennan’s signature sauces and rich breakfast fare. At $24 by the glass and $120 per bottle ($95 during Bubbles at Brennan’s happy hour—a steal!), it’s a joyful expression of the restaurant’s enduring spirit.