Top 10 hipster wines at The Ritz

A hipster thinks deeply about lunar cycles

As revealed by the drinks business earlier this week, The Ritz – that iconic bastion of old-style luxury and classical gastronomy, now includes the hipster’s favourite tipple, orange wine, in its Livre du Vin. This radical (or should that be Radikon?) departure from tradition has been instigated by the Ritz’s head sommelier, Giovanni Ferlito, who, with impressive boldness, has introduced as many as 150 new wines to the establishment’s 800-strong list, many of them showcasing lesser-known indigenous varieties – and many of them dripping with ‘hipsterific’ appeal.

Admittedly, no one knows the precise meaning of the term ‘hipster’, other than it having something to do with a certain homogeneity of appearance, habit and opinion rendered ironic by their conscious striving to express their individuality. Hipster wines are a similarly loose concept. Some are hipster, according to the impenetrable logic of ‘cool’, just because they are (Muscadet appears to be one). They will, however, tend have the following characteristics in common:

• Low or no sulphur
• Funky aromas (volatile acidity, acetic acid, horse’s fundament)
• Grape varieties only 12 people have heard of
• Ageing in ancient, excavated pottery
• 150-year-old bush vines grown on live volcanoes
• Vineyards farmed by donkeys
• Occult worship
• Rock star manqué winemakers who wear tinted sunglasses

While Ferlito’s excellent and excitingly diverse new references do not necessarily meet all these criteria (there are none, for instance, with aromas of horse’s fundament) at a tasting held to celebrate the launch of the new Ritz Livre du Vin, the drinks business couldn’t help but notice how they would have delighted those of an extravagantly bearded persuasion. Here we pick out our top 10…

1. 2013 Benanti Etna Rosso 

Etna is a big draw for any hipster worth his or her salt: old vines, a live volcano, winemakers like Frank Cornelissen – it ticks many boxes. Etna is also where The Ritz’s head sommelier, Giovanni Ferlito, hails from – and indeed where he owns some vines. This Benanti Etna Rosso is a classic Etna blend of mainly Nerello Mascalese and a bit of Nerello Cappuccio. Unoaked and perfectly balanced, it’s as fine an introduction to Etna reds as you’ll find on any wine list.

2. 2011 Dagueneau et Pautrat ‘Les Jardins du Babylone’ Jurancon Sec

Definite geek appeal with this cuvée, overseen by Domaine Dagueneau, which, as well as making sensationally good and highly sought-after Pouilly-Fumé, is well known for using draft horses to plough its vineyards. Hipsters love both of these things. This Jurançon Sec shows all the quality and poise that characterise Dagueneau’s Sauvignon Blanc, but in a fuller-bodied style made possible by the warmer climes of France’s South-West.

3. 2011 Domaine Comte Abbatucci Barbarossa

Obscure, unusual, delicious – the hipster trinity. Corsica, like nearby Sardinia, is firmly on the Penny Farthing rider’s radar thanks to its high-quality wines made from little-known indigenous grapes. This one from Domaine Comte Abbatucci scores extra points for being both biodynamic and a blanc de noirs of a sort, made from the red Barbarossa grape.

4. 2014 Domaine de L’Ecu ‘Gneiss’ Muscadet

Muscadet is cool. No one knows quite why. Somebody just said so one day with a hispter in earshot. Cool or not, Muscadet is a superb and under-rated wine. This one from the biodynamic-certified Domaine de L’Ecu is almost in a league of its own; aged sur lie for up to 18 months, resulting in a texture and complexity that sets the domaine apart from most others in the appellation.

5. 2013 Pietra Cupa Greco di Tufo

If a wine is made from grapes grown on volcanic soils, it’s a hipster winner. Greco di Tufo is one such, which also has the added attraction of being associated with the Ancient Roman ‘cult’ Falernian wine. Pietra Cupa winemaker Sabrino Loffredo has a reputation for making some of the best expressions of it in Campania. This 2013 is superb: taut, focused and thrillingly mineral.

6. 2012 Clos Stegasta T-Oinos Assyrtiko

Volcanoes again. Vying with Etna’s Nerello Mascalese for the coolest grape on the block status is Assyrtiko from the Greek island of Santorini. Appropriately enough, Assyrtiko wines will generally be made from old, ungrafted vines, and have an intense, peachy, mineral profile. This one as a beguiling coconut-y character thrown in – and by the beard of Zeus it’s good.

7. 2013 OPP Mouton Noir Pinot Noir

A stunning garagiste Pinot from Oregon – the state in which we find the hipster Mecca of Portland. OPP stands for ‘Other People’s Pinot’, but is also a reference to a ‘joint’ by 90s rap group Naughty By Nature. The phrase ‘Down wit’ OPP’ has something to do with erogenous zones and cheating on your woman. And this in The Ritz!

8. 2012 Domaine de la Tournelle Arbois

What hipster wine list would be complete without a reference from Jura? Why in certain parts of Hackney it comes through the tap. In all seriousness though, this is an absolute winner from natural wine specialist Dynamic Vines. Biodynamic and brilliant – a prime example of what Arbois has to offer.

9. 2008 Radikon Jakot

Orange wines at The Ritz – truly it’s the world turned upside down. Radikon, based in Friuli (where three of The Ritz’s four orange wines are from), is one of the original ‘mavericks’ of the modern natural wine movement, making wines that spend an astoundingly long time fermenting and maturing in contact with their skins. An amazingly complex and challenging wine. A very bold move from Ferlito!

10. 2013 Iago Bitarishvili Chinuri

And here we have it, the apogee of the hipster wine drinking experience: an extended skin contact wine made according to an unbroken 8,000-year-old winemaking tradition in the very cradle of wine, Georgia. Cloudy, bizarre-smelling (by conventional standards) and unlike anything The Ritz wine list has ever seen before. Mr Ferlito, we salute you.