Peak wine season does exist.

and it's upon us.

Hello, all.

I know many of you are extremely upset about the cooler temps this week, but I fear I can’t commiserate. In my heart of hearts, I don’t love summer—sure, the beach and the vitamin D are undeniable. But at the end of the day, I prefer muddy boots and a whisper of wood smoke in the air to mosquito bites and 90% humidity.

And then there’s the wine. Truth be told, I don’t particularly enjoy drinking good wine in the summer; in general, from June to August, I’m reaching for whatever is cheap and freezing. This is not an ideal situation for really relishing a bottle of something special, and so I’m sort of stuck camping squarely in the realm of cheap (good) rosé, pét nat, and the occasional Kölsch. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but the first turn in the weather does have me thinking “Ah. Burgundy season.”(Also Anjou season, Piedmont season, Sierra Foothills season, Umbria season, Collioure season… )

It’s not just a personal preference. The lower barometric pressure that arrives with the cooler temperature tends to present a little atmospheric buttoning-up for what’s in our glasses—it’s hard to get a good handle on a wine’s complexities when the phenolics are floating away before we have the chance to get our heads around them. So while I have little regard for suggestions that there’s a “rosé season,” I will argue that there’s a very good wine season—and it’s right around the corner.

A few stunners I’ve enjoyed in the past few days include ‘21 Maison Valette Macôn-Chaintré (an absolute BANGER of a white Burgundy that remains an all-time favorite for its reliably pithy structure and slightly rustic edge), ‘24 Stein ‘Weihwasser’ Riesling Feinherb (a Mosel classic with pleasantly ripping acidity from an undeniable icon), and the always impeccable Tissot Crémant du Jura Rosé, a dark and moody bubble that’ll do nicely to segue us into Champagne season, the holiest of season of them all.

Before we accept fully summer’s denouement, we do have one last hurrah planned at Rebel Rebel.

Let us banish those summer scaries together, no?

We bring you: LA PISCINA—the day party of your dreams. The drinks will be flowing, the grills will be firing, you’ll be dipping your toes in (inflatable) pools. There will be PLENTY of specials from our Bow Market neighbors, including Hawaiian Pizza from Hotbox, Mojito Popsicles from La Todosantera at Nibble Kitchen, and Wasabi Ice Cream (!) from Nagomi. Tix are free, but if you RSVP it’ll help us gauge attendance!

See you at LA PISCINA.

A few more things:

Because we live in Boston, I am contractually obligated to send a newsletter with some kind of back-to-school reference. So, here we go:

WINE SCHOOL IS BACK IN SESSION

That’s correct! After a brief summer hiatus, I’m back in the saddle at Wild Child, making you wear blindfolds and forcing you to question everything you thought you knew about wine. I’ve posted September’s classes, and I’ll have October up shortly, too. Coming up next month:

Your Palate Personality Test: Why you like what you like and how to talk about it.

Grand Cru Natural: The tension between prestige terroir and low intervention ethos. (I just posted this 4 minutes ago and we’ve already sold a few tix so hop on it, I guess.)

The Blindfold Class: A new classic for us. Get weird with me.

My goal is to have the rest of 2025’s classes up by Labor Day, so if you have a request/thought/desire, leave a comment and let me know!

FAMILY MEAL AWAITS

Might as well ride the back-to-school wave here and suggest you take a peek at Dear Annie’s Family Meal offerings, which are very lunchbox-adjacent and up for preorder through September, too. On the menu:

Camarones Al Ajillo

Roasted Featherbrook Farm Chicken + Mole Verde (a request following last month’s extremely popular whole roasted chicken with Mole Rojo)

Brothy Beans with Tomato + Chilies

Turmeric-Roasted Cauliflower + Chickpeas (shown above!)

And lots more! A reminder that Family Meal is locally sourced, ready-to-eat, and way better than takeout :)

That’s all from me. Here’s a little something to get you through the lunch hour:

XOXO,

Lauren