Wine

No one demystifies the whole Old World versus New World puzzle for customers better than owner John Passman, who earns his beloved status among regulars with insightful recommendations that never feel like an upsell.

"Big, round, chalky stone muscles.” “Invigorated Clementine candy smells.” “Am I allowed to call this a ‘cascade of flowers’? Am I?” Steven Grubbs is the Beat poet of our wine scene.

Steven Grubbs manages the wine programs at both Empire State South and Five and Ten, and he skews the vino at the latter—Athens’s finest restaurant—to the tastes of a sophisticated college town.

Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison’s farm-to-table pioneer might not seem an obvious place to discover inexpensive vino: Its bottle selection over the years, while often affordable, has vacillated between intriguingly obscure and boringly accessible.

Former Falcons offensive lineman Chris Hinton owns the most comprehensive wine emporium in the northern suburbs, offering $10 Hess Select Chardonnay and $1,200 Château Latour alike.

Kevin Rathbun’s diminutive wine bar opened in 2005 and remains one of the city’s few casual post-work stopovers—a place to catch up with friends, predinner, over a glass of simple wine (from a list dominated by Spanish, French, and Italian varietals) while noshing on simple meats and cheeses.

In the same way that Kyma’s wood-grilled octopus and whole fish lift you to culinary vistas way beyond the average gyro joint, the restaurant’s beverage program cracks open the under-explored world of Greek wines.

Eric Brown’s compact, tidy shop across from the Chamblee MARTA station opened last year and immediately became a darling of the city’s wine wonks. They stock some carefully chosen, often-single-vineyard California varietals, but they really put their heart into procuring obscure, Old World varietals.

Fans of Australian Shiraz2, South African Pinotage, or Argentinian Malbec will note their absence on Miller Union’s beverage roster: Co-owner Neal McCarthy, who compiles the restaurant’s list, avoids the Southern Hemisphere.