Grape Expectations

Every six weeks, June Rodil unsheathes her stash of colored pencils and gets to work creating a fresh wine menu for the Austin, Texas, bistro June’s All Day. Rodil is one of fewer than thirty women in the country to earn the title of master sommelier (she recently announced she’ll be helping to open three new Houston restaurants and assisting with their wine programs). Her wine lists, painstakingly researched, represent some of the best bottles on the market. At June’s, they’re also bedecked in doodles and cartoons. “No, it’s not some tome,” she says. “The menu is literally colored pieces of construction paper stapled together.”

Rodil’s “wine zines” seem to ask: Why should wine be stuffy or intimidating? ¶ As drinkers become more interested in small producers, obscure styles, and even preindustrial production methods, a new generation of Southern wine bars is thriving.

At these bars, zines, quips, and conversations replace the “tomes”; no one is afraid of botching a wine’s pronunciation; and you never know what you might discover.

Ampersand Wine

OPELIKA, ALABAMA

Nelson Marsh