Early spring is always a tricky time for seasonally-appropriate drinking. There’s more than enough cold weather left for another few meaty reds, but after four full months of winter, is that really what you want?

It’s time for wines that herald the coming of spring in all its fresh, exuberant glory. Wines of substance and promise, that also leave room for the true warm weather bottles to follow along in due course once the temperature becomes unbearable.

So here are seven house favorites that should make for deeply interesting drinking as you watch the leaves start to poke out from hiding.

Domaine Rimbert Cousin Oscar ($15)

Countless wines have been damned with the faint praise, “It’ll go with anything.”  But here’s a truly delightful bottle that actually will. 

Domaine Rimbert sits in the village-sized AOC of Saint-Chinian in France’s Languedoc and has been farming correctly for far longer than most. Cousin Oscar is their “entry level” offering, and it’s all of the warmth, bounty, and easy living of southern France one could possibly want from a red wine. The schist-rich soils give a floral edge to this light, easy drinking Cinsault. But it’s not just a splashy simpleton — there’s real character here. It’s exactly the kind of wine you want flowing into your glass next to a Niçoise salad or bowl of green olives on a clear spring day. 

2017 Talenti Brunello di Montalcino ($50)

Brunello is a wintertime wine, no? 

Not when it’s bursting with fresh (and stewed, but mostly fresh) cherries and plums, along with fascinating herbal undertones, and a long, vibrant finish. Brunello di Montalcino has had so many terrific vintages in the last 10 release years that it’s easy to overlook 2017, which was still quite decent, particularly among talented winemakers that knew exactly what to do with the scorching late-summer heat. 

Enter Talenti, a reliably excellent Brunello house (that also turns out a frequently-great Rosso). This 2017 is built to last, and should stay in its sweet spot for at least another decade. But right now it’s got the structure and richness to stand up to the last of your big, hearty, winter meals — but with fruit that’s so alive, it’ll have you turning that springtime corner you’ve been looking forward to.

Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy Sancerre 2023 ($36)

Sancerre Season is almost here again. Cue the dead-eyed glares from sommeliers nationwide. 

But maybe let’s just hold on for one minute:  Sancerre, we’d do well to remember, is here for a reason — not just because everyone grew tired of Pinot Grigio. So before the parade of hot-weather bottles arrive, get yourself re-oriented with a wine that transcends whatever capricious summer drinking trends may befall us. 

Few Americans know Sancerre better than importer Kermit Lynch, so when he says that Domaine Hippolyte Reverdy has become “the benchmark domaine of our day,” it’s worth listening. But don’t take his word for it — or ours — just go get a bottle, pour it before and during a meal of slightly rich fish spritzed with lemon, and enjoy the sunshine that spreads out quickly across your palate as you sip this crisp, fine-laced, standard-bearing Loire wine. Sancerre, it’s worth remembering, belongs in shoulder season just as much as it does wilting in an ice bucket in the July heat.

Wildersatz Pur 2023 ($26)

We’re easily 15 years into this whole natural wine thing. Maybe it’s time to get reacquainted with the kinds of wines that got people excited in the first place. Wines that don’t just dip a toe into the water. You want capital-N Natural? You want all sorts of different macerations? You want skin contact? Opacity? Salt? Some approximation of “orange”? You want something so alive it practically crawls out of the bottle? Well here you go, friends.  

Wildersatz (“wild blend”) is a firecracker of a wine. A mostly-Müller-Thurgau blend of (probably?) seven grapes, this stuff explodes out of the glass. It’s not even worth trying to associate its flavors with fruits and herbs and rocks or whatever. You just have to try it, and open your brain, and get on this wine’s wavelength, and see where it takes you.

Is it filtered or fined or processed? Of course not. But here’s the real secret of this kicking bull of a bottled beverage — the thing the natty kids-who-at-this-point-aren’t-actually-kids-anymore aren’t going to say too loudly around their Raw Wine brethren: when you put this particular wine in your mouth, then swallow it, you’ll actually enjoy the way it tastes.

2020 Armand Heitz Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru La Maltroie ($107)

Burgundian vintners since the 1800s, Armand Heitz’s family made their living selling grapes to Joseph Drouhin until 2012. Today, under his own name and label, Armand’s wines have become quiet touchstones among the cognoscenti of Burgundy’s new guard. This is not the rich, opulent Montrachet of Burgundian lore. This is sleek, stylish, yet still classically-minded Chardonnay. One Burgundy-knower at a recent blind tasting pegged this for a Grand Cru Chablis, given its energy and finely integrated oak. And when it was revealed to be a Heitz, they said “Aha — that makes total sense! God, he’s good.”

2015 Kapcsandy Family Winery Roberta’s Reserve State Lane Vineyard ($130)

Blah, blah, Sideways, etc. Want to see what American Merlot is capable of? Try this stunner of a wine. All of Kapcsandy’s wines are interesting and beautiful in their own way, but this sits on a different plane. 

Lush, velvety and filled with earthy fruit, this is an unmistakably Californian wine. But its complexity and finesse stand right up against the very best Bordeaux’s right bank has to offer. It’s a wine that turns any normal meal into a special occasion. You could call it a thinking person‘s Merlot, except it’s just too delicious. 

2019 Domaine Tatsis Macedonia Xinomavro/Negoska Young Vines ($19)

Serve this blind to your favorite northern Italian wine lover and see what they think. 

Will they like it? Yes. Will its cherries remind them of high-toned Nobile di Montepulciano and somehow also Langhe Nebbiolo? Yes. Will it have a certain unplaceable element of funky wet soil that confounds their expectations of Sangiovese’s dry, dusty tannins? Yes. Be sure to decant it first and give it some time before drinking alongside pasta with a rich ragu, salty cheese, or good charcuterie.