Osteria 500 has become a desirable destination for diners seeking authentic Italian cuisine. Patrons rave about the restaurant’s traditional dishes, where every mouthful transports you straight to Italy. But beyond the food, it is the meticulously curated wine list that elevates the dining experience even further. Co-owner Carmine Ussano is in charge of the wine program at Osteria 500, and over time he has built up an impressively comprehensive wine list that is filled with hidden gems. While the wine list is extensive now, it started off much smaller.
“The list has been a process,” says Ussano. “I wanted to introduce customers to new varietals that are still maybe unheard of here, but I didn’t want to overwhelm anyone, especially at the beginning when we first opened. Every month or so I would add more wines to the list, so as people would return I would introduce them to some new varietals and some new wineries.” Many of those new wineries are ones that Ussano discovered in the course of his other business. For the past twenty years he has run a private tour company in Italy, a venture he still maintains. Commercial tour companies will often take tourists in by the busload to visit mass-production wineries, but Ussano has a very different approach.
“Doing private tours, I always wanted to take the customers to what to me was authentic, which was a family that has been producing wine in that area for maybe five generations,” Ussano says. “That business gave me the opportunity to take clients to so many wineries throughout Italy and make a lot of connections with the winemakers or winery owners that are almost impossible to find in the US.” That direct connection to vintners gives Ussano an edge over other restaurateurs, who tend to rely on distributors that work with multiple wineries. In the course of his tour business, he has been able to sample wines and find ones that would be a good fit for the wine list at Osteria 500. He works with wine importers he is friendly with to bring those wines stateside. Many of the wines on the menu aren’t available through distributors in the United States, and in some cases the winemakers don’t even have a website. It is only because of Ussano’s connection to Italy that these wines have come to the United States at all.
“We do have a lot of wines that a lot of the other restaurants won’t be able to have,” Ussano says. “We’re one of the only places where people can come and find certain wines on the wine list. They cannot buy these wines online, and in most cases they cannot even find them in wine shops in the area.” When asked if there are any wines at the restaurant that are particularly special to Ussano, he has an immediate answer.
“The name of the winery is Tenuta San Francesco. I love their wine, but the fact that the winemaker is my grandfather’s cousin is something special that I’m really really proud of,” he says. “It brings me very nice memories because I was very little when my grandfather or my mom and dad took me to the vineyards. Now my family is no longer with me anymore. So I’m very happy and proud to have this wine over here and represented in my restaurant, almost like a tribute to my family.”
It’s clear that Ussano has a deep love for wine, and he works diligently to pass his knowledge along to the rest of the team at Osteria 500. The employees have a group chat, and whenever a new wine comes in Ussano shares a fact sheet and important information that servers can share with the customers. “I’m hands-on at the restaurant, so I’m often there,” he says. “All the staff knows they can call me and I will go to the table or bar and talk about wine.”
That hands-on attitude extends to the wine room which Ussano designed himself. The temperature controlled room holds between 2,000 and 2,500 bottles at any given time, and it is designed in a way that most of the bottles have their labels on display, like a high-end wine shop. The vast majority of the wines at Osteria 500 are Italian, however, there is a section of the wine list called “The Rest of the World” highlighting some select wines from places like Italy, France, New Zealand, Washington and California. “We have a system that preserves wine for 21 days and can be used for sparkling wines as well as still wines,” says Ussano. “Because of that, we have the opportunity to have wine like Amarone or Barolo or even Brunello as well as some other unique wine blends that you don’t usually find on a wine list by the glass because maybe they’re too exclusive or the price is too high.”
An enormous amount of thought has gone into the wine menu at Osteria 500, and people are taking notice. This year the restaurant received the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, an honor given out by Wine Spectator magazine. “It’s really incredible,” Ussan says. “We do a lot of hard work, so there are many sleepless nights. When we get awarded and we get recognized, it all makes sense.”
