For lovers of mature fine wine unconcerned by budget, the highlight of Oceanique’s 800-bin wine list is the “Chef’s Reserve List.” This is where the acclaimed seafood restaurant keeps its real treasures: multiple back vintages of storied producers from classic French and Italian regions, from a 3-liter bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands Échézeaux 1988, to Château Montelena Estate Chardonnay 1993.
For the vast majority of diners at chef-patron Mark Grosz’s consistently impressive Chicago-area operation, however, choices to match his menu of “French classics with an American twist” are more likely to come from the preceding pages. And they won’t be disappointed: the list has been put together with flair and care, an international selection that is as good at domestic Chardonnay as white Burgundy, as comfortable with Australian Shiraz and Zinfandel as red Bordeaux, and that is not afraid to mix clever picks from Portugal, Austria, and South Africa, among many others, in with the more familiar names.
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