Miami sommeliers have a challenging job. The tropical heat and seafood-centric menus lead many diners to prefer white wines. By my estimation, pinot grigio is more popular than water in many parts of the city. Yet many diners still prefer red, especially at restaurants like Boia De in Miami, a romantic spot in the Little Haiti neighborhood (currently open for al fresco dining and takeaway).
Making things more complicated, according to Anthony Alvarez, sommelier at Boia De, is this: “A lot of people in Miami want red wine served at room temperature,” he says, “but room temperature here is 90°F.
No matter, the 29-year-old Alvarez says that one of the more popular wines on his list, and a personal favorite as well, is Cos Cerasuolo di Vittoria, a Sicilian red that is 60% Nero d’Avolo and 40% frappato.
“There’s a ton of good values in Sicily and that’s a fantastic producer,” he says of Cos, singling out their Cerasuolo di Vittoria. “It has a lot of darker fruits from the Nero D’Avola, like blackberry notes, and then frappato is a thinner-skinned grape, a lot more vibrant and floral.”
As such, Alvarez adds, it’s a wine that stands up on its own and becomes phenomenal with certain food pairings.
Pappardelle from Boia De. Credit: David Bley
At Boie De, which chefs Luciana Giangrandi and Alex Meyer opened in summer 2019 after moving from New York City—and following a stint running a taco truck for a couple of years in the nearby Design District of Miami—the elevated Italian menu offers many opportunities for Alvarez to recommend the Cos.
(It's probably worth noting the Tuscan connection. Giangrandi, a native Miamian, grew up going with her family to Livorno—where Boia De is slang, roughly, for “Oh, my.")
The life-partner chefs have a résumé filled with experience at inventive restaurants, with Meyer, an Angeleno, working at Los Angeles favorites Animal and Son of a Gun before moving to New York at three-star Michelin Eleven Madison Park. Meanwhile, Giangrandi cooked at Scarpetta. She then landed at the NoMad, where the couple met, before she went on to Carbone, helping the restaurant earn its first Michelin star.
At Boia De, their first restaurant together that isn't a taco truck, they pair sophisticated cooking with a Tuscan-influenced approach to elegant simplicity, resulting in dishes like pappardelle with braised rabbit, a perfect foil for the Cerasuolo di Vittoria.
A bottle of Cos Cerasuolo di Vittoria.
“It’s a tomato-based sauce that we add rabbit stock to and fresh rosemary,” says Alvarez. “I feel like with Nero d'Avola, you want to pair it with richer meats. Even lamb or oxtail. The frappato and stewed tomatoes is a classic pairing. For a richer white meat like rabbit and tomatoes, it pairs really well. It’s heavenly symbiotic.”
Another recommendation he makes with the Sicilian red is a starter. “It’s a beef tartare, a play on this classic dish out of it Italy, veal tonnato. We do beef tartare tonnato and serve it on a beef tendon chip. It’s a dehydrated beef tendon, deep-fried. You get this crispy and yet soft texture” that pairs exquisitely with the Cerasuolo di Vittoria.
Crispy tiramisu from Boia De. Credit: FujiFilmGirl
It’s easy to imagine enjoying the dish and the wine, moving on to other courses, and then dessert, maybe trying the crispy tiramisu for dessert. After dinner, it’s back into the warm Miami air, feeling sated and happy from the food and wine at Boia De.
Alvarez suggests that the restaurant, often described as “dimly lit"—Miami code for sexy— provokes an emotional response, even among the staff. “It’s very love-oriented,” he says.
Alvarez portrait by Carolina Menendez