Image courtesy of sfgate.com

Restaurant: Baretta

Location: 1199 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA (map)
Haydn’s rating: A
Haydn’s Synopsis: Baretta’s supposedly known for their mixed drinks, yet it was the wine that took center stage at this Italian eatery in the Mission in San Francisco.

When one thinks of delicacies in the Mission, one doesn’t jump right away to Italian food. However, Baretta’s is changing that thinking. Nestled on the corner of 24th and Valencia sits an overpacked eatery. While the rumor was to go for the mixed drinks, I, naturally gravitated to the wines by the glass. And as the old saying goes—when in Rome, do as the Romans.

The same is true with Italian food. No other country so freely consumes this luscious liquid like the Italians. However, the grapes of Italy are often the most unknown. It’s not that we don’t care about the Italian grapes in America, but rather overlook them. It’s also quite difficult to get Italian wines here in the U.S. Yet, Baretta manages to not only get their hands on single-varietal wines from Italy, but it’s the only thing you can order by the glass. Barbera, Montepulciano, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Vermentino, along with a few others I’m sure (I didn’t take the menu home so the actual wine varietals may vary slightly) could be found on the menu.

At first, the Italian wines may startle you—having no commonplace wines such as Chardonnay or Merlot to rely on. Yet you still can fall back on the fact that their wine list does go from lightest to darkest, in terms of the strength of the wine.

What is also true about the Italians is that they make their wine to go with food. Such was the case with the Sangiovese. While it was good, albeit a tad light on the palate, the wine sparkled when paired with many of the pizzas offered on the menu—it was a wine clearly made for food. In contrast, the Montepulciano was good drinking on it’s own, but fell down when it came up against the pizzas. It was none-the-less a beauty of a wine to drink.

Overall, a job well done when it came to sticking with Italian food and Italian wine. Just remember to get a reservation as this place gets more crowded that a Fiat repair shop on a Friday night.

Cheers,
Haydn

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com