San Francisco is positively drowning in new wine bars. Looking for a chilled Spanish red? Try El Chato. An all-Italian list? Go for Binu Bonu. Interested in the funk and fizz of natural wines? Look no further than Tala. There’s even a surge in wine bars that double as restaurants.
None of these, however, cater to the real aficionados — the ones who know the name David Duband, a rising star of the Burgundy wine scene, or Georges Lelektsoglou, whose Rhône Valley selections have appeared on the lists of lauded restaurants in France, including Troisgros and Bocuse. The kind of folks who might spring for a bottle of 2021 Willamette Valley Chardonnay from Walter Scott, even if the menu price is $240.
For those drinkers, there’s Saison Cellar & Wine Bar.
Opened in late July, the SoMa bar marks a homecoming of sorts for Saison co-founder and beverage director Mark Bright. It’s in the same space where he once operated Los Clos, a European-inspired love letter to Burgundian wines. After he closed Los Clos, the space became French bistro Petit Marlowe, and when that restaurant vacated, the landlord called up Bright.
This time around, he’s widening the aperture beyond a specific region, bringing in bottles from across the new and old worlds and aiming to appeal to both hard-core aficionados and those who just want to pretend to be one for an afternoon.
The selections include an affordable $16 glass of Saison’s proprietary orange wine, produced in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and an $83, 3-ounce pour of Domaine Drouhin-Laroze pinot noir Bonnes-Mares Grand Cru. Basically, it’s a selection of drinkable stuff Bright finds exciting for one reason or another. “They’re wines with age, wines that are unique,” he says. “Wines you’re not usually going to find by the glass at a wine bar.”
Bright kept Petit Marlowe’s tin ceiling tiles and black-and-white checkerboard flooring but washed the walls in rich cobalt blue and added gold accents that round out the Parisian vibe. A small herd of taxidermied animal heads peer across the room, a nod to sister restaurant Angler. Shelves laden with jars of pickling vegetables serve as a reminder that this is a bar backed by a team with serious food cred.
But if the decor and a glass of Krug Grande Cuvée Champagne ($75) don’t readily transport you to a cozy cave à vin in le Marais, the food should seal the deal. The croque monsieur ($18) makes a perfect complement to an acidic white, with fluffy pain de mie buried under a blanket of melted Comté cheese. The bar uses French ham and a liberal amount of creamy mornay sauce, plus dijon and pickles to cut through the richness.
For something lighter, there are pommes Dauphine ($14). The classic French comfort food — essentially, dressed-up potato croquettes — are fluffy as clouds, even with a molten center of Wagon Wheel cheese. Bright’s particularly excited to have truffle fries ($17) on the menu, since neither Saison nor Angler has a deep fryer. “I literally have an order every time [I’m there],” he says. “It never gets old.”
For those deeply committed to the oenophile lifestyle, Saison Cellar & Wine Bar offers a membership program that includes perks like climate-controlled storage for up to 78 bottles, tastings with top winemakers, and access to the cellar (you can host up to six friends). The Founder Level buy-in costs a cool $5,000, though it comes with a $5,000 dining credit.
Fortunately for everyone else, the wine list includes 14 options under $20 a glass and two for just $11. This week the bar even rolled out a happy hour menu (Tuesday-Saturday, 2-5 p.m.) that includes a rotating glass of wine for $8. “‘Affordable luxury’ is the term I like to use,” Bright says.
Saison Cellar & Wine Bar
- Address
- 234 Townsend St., SoMa