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Wine list of the week: Locale Firenze
Douglas Blyde continues his trip around Florence with a visit to Locale Firenze, where "medieval stonework and Renaissance grandeur rub shoulders with cocktail lab wizardry". The post Wine list of the week: Locale Firenze appeared first on The Drinks Business.
Douglas Blyde continues his trip around Florence with a visit to Locale Firenze, where "medieval stonework and Renaissance grandeur rub shoulders with cocktail lab wizardry".
Framed within the historic Concini Palace, Locale Firenze is less a restaurant and bar, and more, as The World’s 50 Best Bars describes it, “a time machine that takes you both backwards and forwards.” Back to the 1200s, when the palace was built, and the 1500s, when it gained its elaborate Renaissance features recalling the time of the Medici. And forward, to a bar ranked 36th best in the world, where cutting-edge mixology uses lab tech to craft low-waste cocktails which harness seasonal produce.
Step into the lounge bar, and as Condé Nast Traveler notes, you’ll find bartenders in vests and ties, surrounded by “mini-greenhouses that store micro garnishes, eccentric glassware, dry ice, and foamed ingredients.”
Michelin praises Simone Caponnetto’s “creative, innovative cuisine”, from globally influenced plates to standouts like “Risoni pasta with cuttlefish liver and cherry tomatoes.” The Sybarite’s Lucy Corcoran simply calls it “an otherworldly dining experience.” But be warned, as TripAdvisor’s “sbh56” from Los Angeles put it: “if you’re not an adventurous eater, you should probably choose another place.” This is Florence at its most daring – and delicious.
Next, deer tartare, heightened by anchovy sauce, is theatrically finished at the table with fermented summer blackberries and served on a dish which mimics an inverted lunar landscape. It finds cheerful companionship in Franz Haas’ 2022 Pinot Noir. Then, tuna belly, treated as if it were pork belly, is paired with candied pepper, beef fat, and confit bergamot, presented on a rose-gold plate - excess in its finest form.
Caponnetto’s Japanese stage is represented by a Tuscan-inflected chawanmushi, steeped in fish stock and ornamented with mussels, caviar, and champagne. Sommelier Rizzi notes its liminality - neither wholly savoury, nor sweet - and prescribes a measured pour of Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler’s 2004 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese, its origins in the marine Devonian blue slate of the Mosel lending it an incense-scented equilibrium.
The “staff pasta” follows: cappelletti, suggestive in form and filled with wood pigeon, chestnut, and crushed hazelnuts - the best pairing of the evening, with 2019 Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino, dispensed via Coravin. Then, tripe, vacuum-packed and slow-cooked in Parmesan water, a dish which required some head-scratching to pair, ultimately finding its match in a 2009 Extra Brut Champagne from Bouché Père & Fils. Rizzi recalls that such dishes continue to bewilder locals who, unmoored from the safe harbours of Chianti Classico and T-bones, ultimately find delight in surprise.
The centrepiece is aged pigeon, rested in truffle miso for over 15 days, cleansed at intervals of two. It arrives with a glass of right bank Beauséjour 2008, poured into a Riedel Superleggero. First, the raw baby fillet, then the breast, finished in an oven of Calabrian charcoal, imbued with rosemary, bay, cinnamon, and black pepper. A smoked broth is served in a dainty teacup, accompanied by savoury liver brûlée, while radicchio, tangled like Medusa’s hair, glistens in chestnut honey.
Finally, as Marina O’Loughlin noted, “breakfast” masquerades as dessert, where koji informs rice pudding, caramelised zabaglione, and bitter coffee ice cream, paired with an espresso martini which swaps vodka with shochu and white rum. Hats off, too, to the cassata, its silken texture owed to veal tendons - a whisper of the unexpected. And in a final flourish of hospitality, the team captures guests on a Polaroid, freezing - a souvenir of indulgence, texturally frozen in time.
Design
Stepping into Locale Firenze is like opening a Florentine history book, only with optional disco lights illuminating its warren of subterranean private rooms, and considerably more alcohol. Beneath the bar’s polished floors, where the likes of Leonardo di Caprio hold their parties, an ancient fireplace still bears the insignia of the Knights of Santo Stefano, a symbol once stamped onto loaves before baking, presumably to remind diners who they had to thank for their daily bread. Alongside the rhythmic shake of cocktail tins, the soundtrack includes Buvard by Diskay and Diana Krall’s S'Wonderful.
Drinks
Stored wherever space permits, including beside remnants of a Roman amphitheatre, and within a former well, the list is overseen by the ebullient, Burgundy-loving, Stefano Rizzi who spent six years as a sommelier at Florence’s famed Enoteca Pinchiorri, before moving to London, where he worked with Chris and Jeff Galvin. The expansive sparkling selection spans Dom Pérignon back to 1993 (€1,900), alongside Armand de Brignac (€790) for those who prefer their bottles golden. Outliers include Domaine Les Monts Fournois Champagne Grand Cru Vallée 2014, sourced from a single plot in Aÿ (€490), while homegrown options extend to a rare sparkler from Bruno Giacosa – Extra Brut 2018 (€90). Even Sussex gets representation. Still wines open at a democratic €45 for albeit polarising, chestnut barrel raised, flor wine, Contini Vernaccia di Oristano 2018. Around the €60 mark, there are nearly 40 options, including Chapoutier’s Les Meysonniers 2022 Marsanne, a terracotta-aged Castello di Lispida 2019 Ribolla Friulana, and, from across the border, a Slovenian entry – Gredič Movia Exto Gredič 2021 Friulano. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the list peaks, as it so often does in premium establishments, with 2012 Romanée-Saint-Vivant from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (€3,800). That rarefied air is reached via the long lees aged Terlano Rarity 2011 Pinot Bianco (€440), Tenuta di Trinoro Palazzi 1998 with its palm tree label (€1,800), Lafite 1978 (€2,500), Masseto 2001 (€2,600), and Cheval Blanc 1995 (€2,200). For those with a sweet tooth, halves include Petreto Pourriture Noble 1998 from Tuscany (€105) and Austrian Tschida Chardonnay Beerenauslese 2017 (€70/37.5cl). If there’s one criticism, it would be Locale Firenze’s timidity to stray outside Europe, especially given Caponnetto has worked in Australia, Japan, and the USA. Crafted by Fabio Fanni and Alessandro Mengoni, Locale Firenze’s cocktails might include “Giardiniera”, mixing blueberries, pickles, rye whisky, champagne, and chili, while “Locatini” is a briny blend of olive distillate, Fino, and salt. Jars of kombuchas, including one informed by hemp teems away in the depths of the palace, provoking non-drinkers to participate.Dishes
Locale is flamboyant, and so are the dishes of Mugaritz-trained Simone Caponnetto. The tasting menus - ours titled “Awareness” - are blind, a gamble of trust. If you’d rather not take the leap, the à la carte options are printed plainly, no concessions required. The opening assaggio consists of an interpretation of traditional Tuscan stew, reduced to its barest essence, with borlotti beans, alongside a trio of mussels blanketed in spicy butter, bringing depth and warmth. This is followed by more substantial snacks, perched on gilded plinths. A white Americano infused with gentian, citrus, and fennel acts as the transition. A convincingly sculpted vegan burratina, wrought from pine nuts, proves slightly gritty but earnest in its imitation. A tartiflette of Jerusalem artichoke and chocolate is an unexpected but welcome refreshment, while a crisped Parmesan and artichoke wafer with egg yolk offers the most textural pleasure. The bread trolley, handled with white-gloved precision, presents classic unsalted Tuscan slices, doused in olive oil formed from a trinity of olive varieties, alongside olive bread with a remarkable olive butter - aromatised with roasted chicken and apple, its meat repurposed for staff meals, and dusted with fermented black lemon. Later, a powerful bay butter makes an appearance, its potency in need of some restraint. A stingray-shaped bread, however, naughtily evokes a spicy, posh ‘Wotsit’ in flavour – a culinary in-joke?
Next, deer tartare, heightened by anchovy sauce, is theatrically finished at the table with fermented summer blackberries and served on a dish which mimics an inverted lunar landscape. It finds cheerful companionship in Franz Haas’ 2022 Pinot Noir. Then, tuna belly, treated as if it were pork belly, is paired with candied pepper, beef fat, and confit bergamot, presented on a rose-gold plate - excess in its finest form.
Caponnetto’s Japanese stage is represented by a Tuscan-inflected chawanmushi, steeped in fish stock and ornamented with mussels, caviar, and champagne. Sommelier Rizzi notes its liminality - neither wholly savoury, nor sweet - and prescribes a measured pour of Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler’s 2004 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese, its origins in the marine Devonian blue slate of the Mosel lending it an incense-scented equilibrium.
The “staff pasta” follows: cappelletti, suggestive in form and filled with wood pigeon, chestnut, and crushed hazelnuts - the best pairing of the evening, with 2019 Col d’Orcia Brunello di Montalcino, dispensed via Coravin. Then, tripe, vacuum-packed and slow-cooked in Parmesan water, a dish which required some head-scratching to pair, ultimately finding its match in a 2009 Extra Brut Champagne from Bouché Père & Fils. Rizzi recalls that such dishes continue to bewilder locals who, unmoored from the safe harbours of Chianti Classico and T-bones, ultimately find delight in surprise.
The centrepiece is aged pigeon, rested in truffle miso for over 15 days, cleansed at intervals of two. It arrives with a glass of right bank Beauséjour 2008, poured into a Riedel Superleggero. First, the raw baby fillet, then the breast, finished in an oven of Calabrian charcoal, imbued with rosemary, bay, cinnamon, and black pepper. A smoked broth is served in a dainty teacup, accompanied by savoury liver brûlée, while radicchio, tangled like Medusa’s hair, glistens in chestnut honey.
Finally, as Marina O’Loughlin noted, “breakfast” masquerades as dessert, where koji informs rice pudding, caramelised zabaglione, and bitter coffee ice cream, paired with an espresso martini which swaps vodka with shochu and white rum. Hats off, too, to the cassata, its silken texture owed to veal tendons - a whisper of the unexpected. And in a final flourish of hospitality, the team captures guests on a Polaroid, freezing - a souvenir of indulgence, texturally frozen in time.
Last sip
Locale Firenze is what happens when history meets hedonism, where the Medici might have raised a toast to molecular mixology had they known what a centrifuge was. It’s a place which embraces both the ancient and avant-garde - where medieval stonework and Renaissance grandeur rub shoulders with cocktail lab wizardry and menus which demand a sense of adventure. Whether you’re sipping an olive distillate martini under a chandelier that has seen centuries of scandal or marvelling at the alchemy of a truffle-miso aged pigeon, the experience, much like the best stories – is rich, bold, and impossible to forget.Best for
- Acclaimed international cocktails and Europe-led wine list
- Labyrinth of private rooms
- Generous, true hospitality
