One glass is not the cheap option. It is the right one.
A short by-the-glass list is not a limitation. It is the only way an open bottle is still good on Thursday.
Ordering a single glass makes you look sensible, not poor.
There is a small social pressure at every table to order the bottle, because a glass can read as being careful with money. So people order more wine than they wanted, and a third of it goes home in the bottle or does not go home at all.
You are two people, you are eating pizza, you are driving back to Nicosia. One glass each is the correct amount and nobody here thinks anything of it.
Ask what is open. That question is normal and it gets you a better answer than the list does.
Because an open bottle has a clock on it.
The moment a bottle is opened it starts changing. A day or two is fine; a week is not, and low-intervention wine — most of what we pour — is more fragile than the industrial stuff, not less.
A restaurant with twenty wines by the glass is either using preservation equipment or serving you something that was opened a while ago. We would rather open a small number and finish them.
So the by-the-glass list moves. What is on it depends on what is open tonight, which depends on what people have been drinking.
Something from each end of the shelf.
There is normally a Cypriot white — the Xynisteri from the Troodos mountains, which is the one we hand to anybody who says "surprise me".
Usually an Italian white with more body, the Pecorino from Abruzzo, for pizzas with anchovy or anything salty.
The Cypriot rosé and the Cypriot red from the same mountain family are normally both open in summer, and the Malbec covers anything cured.
And there is bubbles by the glass, because sometimes that is simply what the evening wants.
A can is a glass that never had to be opened early.
Natural wine in a can solves the by-the-glass problem completely. It is one large glass, sealed until you want it, with no open bottle behind the bar losing quality on your behalf.
Three of them: a crisp white, an amber, and a red made to be drunk cold. On a hot evening the cold red is the one worth trying.
It also means the table can drink three different things without a single bottle being opened.
- XynisteriTsiakkas · Pelendri, Pitsilia
- PecorinoTenuta Ulisse · Crecchio, Chieti
- Grenache · Shiraz · Vamvakada · XynisteriTsiakkas · Pelendri, Pitsilia
- MavroTsiakkas · Pelendri, Pitsilia
- MalbecMatías Riccitelli · Las Compuertas, Luján de Cuyo
- Trebbiano · Grillo · MontepulcianoDjuce · Stockholm, from European growers
Come and ask what is open.
Tell us what you ordered and we will pour the glass that goes with it. That is the entire system and it works better than a list. We stop at a hundred pizzas a day — the earlier you come, the better your chances.
The things people actually ask.
Q.Where can I drink wine by the glass in Larnaca?
Filomena Pizzeria Napoletana, at 1 Aristotelous in Larnaca, Cyprus, pours a small rotating selection by the glass, usually including Cypriot Xynisteri, an Abruzzo Pecorino, a Cypriot rosé and red, a Malbec and sparkling wine, plus single-serve cans of natural wine. It is open Tuesday to Sunday, 6pm to 10pm.
Q.Why do some restaurants offer so few wines by the glass?
Because an opened bottle deteriorates. Without preservation equipment, a bottle is at its best for a day or two, so a short by-the-glass list is usually a sign that the wine will be fresh rather than a sign of a limited cellar.
Q.How long does an opened bottle of wine last?
Generally a day or two refrigerated and resealed, sometimes a little longer for tannic reds. Low-intervention wines with little added sulphur are more fragile than conventional wines and are best finished quickly.