Kingston's best weird wine in a beautiful room
Midtown/Broadway · Kingston · Wine bar with vegetable-forward small plates · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 24, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Chleo’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Take Vibe Match and we’ll tell you what to order here.
Wingman Metrics
The list at Chleo reads like a love letter from someone who actually travels — Georgia (the country), Slovenia, the Friuli, the Touraine — and doesn't feel the need to explain themselves. It's compact, maybe 30-odd bottles, but there's not a Malbec or oaky Chardonnay in sight. This is a room that made a choice, and the choice is correct.
Chleo leans hard into natural and low-intervention wines from underdog regions, and it works because the curation is tight rather than gimmicky. You've got Gotsa Family Wines' Tsitska Tsolikouri from Georgia sitting next to Kabaj's Pinot Grigio from Goriska Brda, a bottle that would embarrass anything called Pinot Grigio at your average Italian chain. Falkenstein's Riesling from Trentino and Antico Broilo's Friulano round out a seriously compelling northern Italian corner. The list has real range for its size — skin-contact, pét-nat, Champagne, and structured reds like the Kolfok Blaufrankisch from Burgenland — without ever feeling scattered.
Ten options by the glass, priced $11–$16, which is honest money for this caliber of wine. The Marie Thibault Gamay Pét Nat from Touraine and the il Folicello Bianco Ancestrale from Modena both show up as glass pours, which tells you everything about what kind of bar this is. Rotation isn't heavily documented, but the list reads like it gets attention.
Cantalapiedra Viticultores Verdejo Rueda 2021 — $14/glass, $56/bottle
Cantalapiedra is one of the most serious Verdejo producers in Rueda — old vines, minimal intervention, a wine that punches well above its weight class. At $14 a glass in a Kingston wine bar, this is a genuine steal for anyone paying attention.
Gotsa Family Wines Tsitska Tsolikouri 2021
Most people at this table will pass right over it because they can't pronounce it. That's a mistake. Gotsa is a family winery in the Republic of Georgia making wines from ancient local grapes with almost no intervention — the kind of thing that costs twice as much once it gets a write-up in a New York magazine. Order it before that happens.
Yann Alexandre Champagne NV
At $150 a bottle with no retail comp to check against, this is the one place on the list where the math gets fuzzy. It may be worth every dollar — Yann Alexandre is a respected grower — but when the rest of the list is so transparently priced, this one stands out as the splurge that mostly benefits the house.
Kolfok Blaufrankisch Burgenland 2021 + Tinned fish and charcuterie board
Blaufrankisch from Burgenland is built for exactly this moment — enough acid to cut through oil and salt, enough red fruit to play nicely with cured meat, and zero tannin to get in the way. It's the wine equivalent of a great supporting actor: it makes everything around it better.
🎲 The Bottom Line
Chleo is doing something genuinely rare for a small Hudson Valley wine bar — a list with a real point of view, honest prices, and wines you won't find at the place next door. If you're in Kingston and you care even a little about what's in your glass, this is the stop.
Route 28/Thruway Corridor · Kingston · Steakhouse
This is a chain wine list doing exactly what chain wine lists do: minimum effort, maximum familiarity, corporate pricing. Order the steak, grab a beer, or spring for the Chateau Ste. Michelle if you need something in a glass.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Route 28/Thruway Corridor · Kingston · Chain American Grill
You're not coming to Ruby Tuesday Kingston for the wine, and the list knows it. But if you show up on a Wednesday and grab a half-price bottle with dinner, it's hard to complain too loudly.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
Route 28 Corridor · Kingston · Italian
La Florentina isn't a wine destination — it's a neighborhood Italian with a wine list that knows its lane and stays in it. Come for the pizza, order the Chianti carafe, and don't overthink it.
Plays It Safe
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Midtown · Kingston · Japanese / Sushi
Sushi Makio's wine list is modest but functional, with honest pricing and a smart nod to Japanese wine options that most spots never bother with. We'd happily send a friend here for a low-key sushi night — just order the Yuzu Wine and leave the Cab alone.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Lake Katrine/Kingston Periphery · Kingston · Italian
Reginato's food reputation is real and the kitchen clearly cares — the wine list does not return the favor. Order the pasta, drink the Chianti, and keep your expectations firmly earthbound.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Rondout Waterfront · Kingston · Italian
Savona's is a reliable neighborhood Italian with a wine list that mostly stays in its lane — nothing offensive, nothing thrilling, and markups that sting a little on the familiar names. Come on a Wednesday when the bottles are half price, order the Millbrook Tocai Friulano, and you'll have a genuinely good night on the Rondout waterfront.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Active Program
Acceptable
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.