Snails

White · Light · Dry

Citrus, cut grass, and a wire of acid. Marlborough makes it loudest; Sancerre makes it most refined. Either way, it cuts cleanly through goat cheese, herbs, and anything with shellfish.

Works with Snails · Garlic Snails · Snails With Carmelized Onions

Burgundy's minor white grape — lean, citrusy, mineral, made for crémant and Kir cocktails but seriously good on its own. Bouzeron makes the reference bottlings.

Works with Snails · Snails Wine

White · Medium · Dry

The most-planted white grape and the most chameleon-like. Crisp and steely from Chablis; rich, oaky, and tropical from California. Read the label, then match the style to the dish.

Works with Snails Wine · Snails In Garlic Butter

White · Light · Dry

Italy's everyday white — light, lemony, neutral by design. Pleasant with anything; profound with very little. The best Friuli bottles are quietly excellent.

Works with Garlic Snails · Snails With Carmelized Onions

Rosé · Light · Dry

Provence's gift to summer — dry, pale, faintly strawberry-and-citrus, with low alcohol and crisp acid. Made to drink cold, with food, in the shade.

Works with Garlic Snails · Snails With Carmelized Onions

White · Medium · Dry

A medium-bodied dry white in the European tradition — crisp acid, citrus and orchard fruit, a clean mineral finish. Pairs reliably with most lighter dishes.

Works with Snails · Snails Wine

White · Medium · Dry

Burgundy's minor white grape — lean, citrusy, mineral, made for crémant and Kir cocktails but seriously good on its own. Bouzeron makes the reference bottlings.

White · Medium · Dry

Alsace's everyday white — Pinot Bianco's French expression, all apple, pear, and a soft mineral finish. The reliable house-wine alternative.

White · Medium · Dry

Aromatic, racy, and shapeshifting — bone-dry in Alsace, off-dry on the Mosel, syrupy and ageless when late-harvested. The single most versatile wine for spicy food on earth.

Red · Medium · Dry

Piedmont's everyday red and Italy's secret food wine — high acid, low tannins, juicy red cherry, and a touch of earth. Pairs effortlessly with anything red-sauce.

Veneto's pale, friendly red — the same Corvina-based blend as Valpolicella, made lighter and fresher. Drinks like a serious rosé; serve slightly chilled.

Red · Medium · Dry

Tuscany's most serious wine — pure Sangiovese aged at least five years before release. Cherry, leather, tobacco, dried herb; immensely structured, immensely age-worthy.