People, Pets, and Pét-Nats
Sommelier Libby Burk pours creativity into her wine-focused programming at Common Thread.
At Common Thread in Savannah, the restaurant sources “everything locally from small farms and fishermen. [We] support small, locally owned businesses,” says Wine Director Libby Burk. So, when it came to building the wine program, Burk took a somewhat similar approach by focusing on smaller and family-owned wineries. “First and foremost, the wines need to adhere to certain practices in terms of being low intervention. They should focus on terroir, the sense of place of the grapes, and the story [the wine] has to tell. That is super important.”
Building on the agriculture imperative of her list, Burk has also been focused on expanding the wine knowledge of her guests and her staff. “I love to open people’s eyes to varietals or regions they are not familiar with,” she says. Her monthly wine dinners, which guests can buy tickets for via Resy, tend to highlight unexpected bottles. A Spanish and Portuguese-focused event as well as a Hungarian wine dinner were both successful, she says. So was her event on Island wines, which featured bottles from Corsica, Hvar, Sardinia, and the Canary Islands, just to name a few. And last March, for Women’s History Month, she hosted a dinner that featured wines from only women winemakers at the group's sister restaurant, Wildflower Cafe.
Education and inclusivity are central to Burk’s approach. Her new wine club stretches that mission beyond the confines of service. The $70 to $130 monthly subscription includes two or four bottles of wine, plus the option to add an extra ‘somm pick’ bottle for another $50, as well as a note card breaking down the “history of the varietal, region, or family; tasting notes; and pairing suggestions,” says Burk.
One of her most successful events, though, was Pets and Pét-Nats. Taking advantage of Common Thread’s open courtyard, which “we can’t use for regular service,” Burk partnered with One Love Animal Rescue to create a fun, community-focused event. “I am such a big animal lover,” says Burk. The rescue brought a half-dozen dogs that were up for adoption to the event while Burk doled out about four different sparkling wines alongside some snack plates cooked up by Chef Joseph Harrison. “It was springtime, so I thought it would be nice to have fun, fruity, and floral” wines, says Burk, as well as “some with more complexity and texture to them.” She used the event as an opportunity to taste the public on some exciting wines, including a Hungarian pét-nat, which turned out to be a surprise hit among the attendees.
By the end of the evening, one dog was adopted and two others were fostered. “I thought that was a success,” says Burk, and it was “a great opportunity to pour unconventional, funky, outside-the-box wines for people who wouldn't normally order that themselves.”
Tips on building a wine list that works for everyone from Sommelier Thibaut Idenn of Alla Vita and Boka