Wine program director at the new Heights restaurant recommends 2015 Uccelliera Rosso di Montalcino.
Who: Jeb Stuart, general manager and wine program director at new La Vista 101, which recently opened in the Lazybrook-Timbergrove neighborhood
Background: From a young age and on through his high school years, the Houston native participated in football, baseball and basketball. After high school — and midway into pursuing a degree in history — Stuart pivoted his life, starting to work the front of the house in the hospitality industry, where he found “the explosions of energy, teamwork and quick problem-solving required to run a restaurant took me back to my team-sports days.”
He spent almost a decade in New York spots as diverse as Riverstreet, the Plaza Hotel’s Edwardian Room and Rusty Staub’s — the latter owned by the late Astros player and celebrated for its ambitious wine list — before returning to Houston to become the executive chef at the Daily Review Café, then later at Shade in the Heights. He was a wine consultant for Plonk before taking over at Coltivare as the general manager and wine guy, earning Service Person of the Year honors at the 2016 Houston Culinary Awards. What: 2015 Uccelliera Rosso di Montalcino
Why: Stuart generally favors high-acid Old World wines — especially from Western Europe — that have been made first and foremost with food compatibility in mind. “One of the reasons I’m in love with wine from this region is because it’s 90 percent about where it’s from and how it’s grown and 10 percent about who makes it,” he said. “Wine should really represent its sense of place over all other elements.”
This wine from Uccelliera fits the bill perfectly. The producer owns a small, centuries-old farm in the heart of Italy’s Brunello di Montalcino country, but Stuart says he chose “to highlight a rosso, Brunello’s less celebrated sibling. This one is 100 percent sangiovese made from the youngest vines planted in the coolest parcels in the vineyards that shows off the typical earthiness of the region with hints of tobacco and leather on the nose. On the midpalate, it exhibits bright cranberry and cherry fruit wrapped in beautiful silky tannins that carry you to a lipsmacking juicy finish.” Vineyard owner Andrea Cortonesi cultivates his grapes exclusively by hand, reinforcing Stuart’s belief that great wine is grown, not made.
Stuart recommends pairing the Uccelliera with his restaurant’s burrata, house-pulled mozzarella stuffed with a mix of chèvre, Tellicherry pepper and herbs atop a beet purée, or the pappardelle pasta with mint, wild mushrooms, smoked tomato, confit garlic, goat cheese and herbs. “The smoked tomatoes against the bright cranberry fruit and smoky undertones of the wine are beautiful together,” he promises. Stuart also suggests “finishing big” with the heritage pork chop, served with apricot port mostarda. Price: $52 for a bottle at La Vista 101, 1805 W. 18th