Though love is timeless, wedding season in the U.S. peaks between May and October. And generally, matrimonial festivities involve a lot of booze. While some couples might opt for generic red, white, and sparkling wine options, oenophiles and industry experts often go all out on baller bottles and niche producers they love to commemorate the occasion.
Whether you’re planning your own big day, looking for a bottle for a special celebration, or just want to live vicariously through a sommelier, this list is for you. We asked 11 wine pros about what they poured on their big days, and their answers delivered. Some went big with custom blends, fine vintages, and top producers while others picked singular wines that meant something special to them and their partner. Read on to get inspired.
The wines sommeliers served at their weddings:
Domaine Bachelet-Monnot Bourgogne Blanc and Rouge
COS Frappato
Quinta do Crasto
Château Thivin Côte de Brouilly
Ovum Wines “Big Salt”
Barone Pizzini Franciacorta
Maison Leroy Bourgogne Blanc and Rouge
Laurent Combier Crozes-Hermitage
Laherte Frères Extra Brut Champagne
Schloss Gobelsburg Ried Lamm 2006
Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune Blanc 2010
Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt Riesling Spätlese Trocken 2004
Lhéraud Grande Champagne Cognac 1971
Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon 1986
Domaine Jamet Condrieu 2017
R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia Reserva Blanco 2007
Zakin Estate Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2022
Zakin Estate Hillside Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2021
Michele Chiarlo Gavi, Barolo, and Moscato d’Asti
J Vineyards Brut
Ferrari-Carano Tresor
Pierre Péters MK11 Champagne
Bodega Agerre Txakoli
Ermes Pavese Blanc de Morgex et de la Salle
Clos Sainte Magdeleine
Val delle Corti Chianti
Maximin Grünhäuser Riesling Trocken 2020
Domaine de Montille ‘Les Sizies’ Beaune
Domaine Le Moodie Ba-ZING-GAA!
小圃 Xiaopu Cathay White and custom Happiness Happiness
Contadi Castaldi Franciacorta
Emrich-Schönleber
Domaine Roulot
Simon Bize
“We poured Bachelet-Monnot Bourgogne Blanc and Bourgogne Rouge, Burgundy from the talented brothers of Maranges, at our reception. Amazing quality-to-price ratio and excellent style. At our wedding lunch, my wife requested producers that we’ve enjoyed drinking together whether at home or out and about, such as COS Frappato, though it seemed more Martinis (especially of the Espresso variety) were being enjoyed!” —Chase Sinzer, owner, Claud, Penny, Stars, New York City
“I got married in Portugal at Quinta do Crasto, so I served their wines, but I had another ceremony in Austin and actually curated the list. I served pizza from Via 313 at my Austin wedding and wanted to give guests a few crowd-pleasing choices that fit the hipster, outdoor vibe while adhering to my whims as a sommelier, so I chose three wines. Château Thivin Côte de Brouilly: I knew I wanted to feature Beaujolais, and I have this really cute photo of my husband drinking this wine when we first started dating, so I chose it for its deliciousness, its ability to pair perfectly with pizza, and the nostalgia of falling in love with him when we were in our mid-20s. Ovum Wines “Big Salt”: My friends and I love this charming little white blend from Oregon for its floral aromatics and its thirst-quenching goodness, so I knew that this wine would be well-received by our guests. Barone Pizzini Franciacorta: We served this to the wedding party as a fun alternative to Champagne before the ceremony. It was perfect because it set the mood for us to dance down the aisle to our party playlist!” —Daniela DeSuta, founder, Somm Space, Austin
“I got married in Paris in January 2013, and the wine program was naturally a huge part of the celebration. I ordered directly from many of the wineries, which made it feel even more personal. One of the highlights was the generosity of my great friend Adrian Chalk, who sent two cases of Maison Leroy Bourgogne Blanc and Bourgogne Rouge for the wedding. Seeing those bottles on the tables among family and friends was special. The wine lineup included Laurent Combier Crozes-Hermitage, six methuselahs of Laherte Frères Extra Brut Champagne, the Leroy wines, magnums of Schloss Gobelsburg Reid Lamm 2006, Simon Bize Savigny-lès-Beaune Blanc 2010, magnums of Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt Riesling Spätlese Trocken 2004, and a few magnums of Lhéraud Grande Champagne Cognac 1971. The truth is that I intentionally ordered far too much wine. Most people try to avoid leftovers after a wedding; I did the opposite. My plan was to keep whatever remained and enjoy those bottles over the years when we’re in France with my family. Every time we open one, it’s a small reminder of what was already a pretty cool day, and it’s unfortunate that we’re running out now after 13 years.” —Adrien Falcon, managing partner and sommelier, Arvine, NYC
“We enjoyed a 1986 Mondavi Cabernet, which is my wife’s birth year. Credit to Mondavi, as we appreciate the balance of its wines made back then as opposed to today’s style. The wine was still very vibrant. Before that, we opened the 2017 Jamet Condrieu, because the wines Jamet produces are some of my favorite Rhône wines, and Viognier does not get enough respect.” —Anthony Ungaro, head sommelier, The Restaurant at Zero George, Charleston, S.C.
“I served a 2007 R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia Reserva Blanco at my wedding ceremony in Scotland. Even writing that sentence feels a little ridiculous. When most people think Rioja, they think red wine. When most people think of wedding wine, they probably don’t imagine an aged white Rioja being passed around in a quaich during a Nordic pagan ceremony in Scotland attended mostly by Puerto Ricans and Colombians. But that’s what happened.
The bottle wasn’t something we picked out specifically for the ceremony. My then-fiancée and I found it months earlier in a small wine shop in Athens. The price was too good to pass up, so we bought it and decided we’d save it for our wedding day. I’ve always loved Viña Tondonia Blanco because it feels like a secret hiding in plain sight. It’s not flashy, just quietly extraordinary — rich, textured, a little nutty, a little wild, and completely unforgettable. It was poured into a communal vessel instead of wine glasses and passed around in a circle. Nobody was discussing tasting notes or analyzing tertiary aromas. Nobody cared. People were laughing. People were celebrating. The wine was shared, enjoyed, and gone far more quickly than a sommelier would probably recommend. And that’s what made it perfect. ” —Ian Garcia, beverage manager and sommelier, ilili Restaurants, NYC
“We got married at Zakin Estate on Howell Mountain in Napa, so the wine situation kind of solved itself. The Zakins built their dream home on the property first; the vineyard came later, almost as an inevitability, as the volcanic hillside soils were simply too good to ignore. They brought in Philippe Melka, who’d trained at Haut-Brion, Pétrus, and Dominus, and the rest is history. Tiny production, serious wine. Zakin had long been one of my favorite Napa producers, so when the opportunity came to get married at their estate, the wine selection was honestly the easiest decision I made as a bride. For dinner, we opened with the 2022 Russian River Valley Chardonnay, bright, taut, the perfect way to start the evening, and then moved into the 2021 Hillside Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Classic Melka: refined dark fruit, savory depth, Howell Mountain structure. The kind of wine that just gets better as the night goes on. We were drinking wine from grapes grown a few hundred feet from where we said our vows, made by one of the greatest winemakers in the world. It doesn’t get better than that.” —Angelika Wroolie, Wine Director, Scoundrel, Greenville, S.C.
“My husband and I were lucky enough to get married in Barolo at the Palás Cerequio owned by the Chiarlo family of the Michele Chiarlo winery. Their beautiful boutique hotel was situated just outside the town of La Morra, and of course we chose to drink its wines. The estate has wonderful wines to choose from, but we chose its Gavi, Barolo, and Moscato d’Asti to pair with all the amazing food. Drinking the venue’s wines was very much a ‘what grows together goes together’ vibe. They locally source as much of their produce and protein as possible, so what could be better than leaning into the wines from the very same place?” —Ramon Manglano, sommelier, Chez Fifi, NYC
“We were married in Tulum in 2008, my fourth year as a winemaker at Ferrari-Carano. Since my husband works at J Vineyards and it’s a delicious beginning to any celebration, we started with a magnum of J Brut. Then we served the Ferrari-Carano Tresor, a full-bodied, Bordeaux-style red blend, named for ’treasure’ because it was one of our favorite wines. It paired well with the beef tenderloin served at the reception.” —Rebecka Deike, winemaker, Ferrari-Carano, Healdsburg, Calif.
“Right after the ceremony, before joining everyone at cocktail hour, we slipped away just the two of us and opened a bottle of Pierre Péters MK11 Champagne that we brought over in our suitcase. Our cocktail- hour menu was Spanish tapas, so we passed trays of Txakoli from Bodega Agerre in the Basque Country as the natural pairing. At the bar, we had Blanc de Morgex et de la Salle from Ermes Pavese in Valle d’Aosta, Clos Sainte Magdeleine Rosé from Cassis, and Val delle Corti Chianti from Tuscany. Light, fresh, crushable wines — please don’t serve Amarone at your cocktail hour!
For the seated dinner, we poured a 2020 Maximin Grünhäuser Riesling Trocken from the Mosel and a Domaine de Montille “Les Sizies” Beaune 1er Cru from Burgundy for red. Between you and the venue — if there are budget considerations, put your money into the main course red where it is most likely to be appreciated. We also asked the kitchen for a cheese course in place of a plated dessert, so guests could keep enjoying the dinner wines a little longer.” —William Carroll, director of operations, Union Square Hospitality Group, NYC
“For our Hong Kong wedding, as someone who is always trying to promote the quality and excitement of Chinese wines, I couldn’t miss an opportunity to showcase some wines made by friends in China. For sparkling, we chose Ba-ZING-GAA!, an electric Riesling pét-nat by our friend Muti under his label Domaine Le Moodie. For the white and red, we went two from 小圃 Xiaopu because the maker and our dear friend Hongjing ‘Ian’ Dai were really my introduction to contemporary wine in China back in 2018 or so. It was even more special that he could be there with us to help us raise a glass. We had his Cathay White, which tastes like calamansi juice, and for the red, he actually made us a custom blend we called Happiness Happiness (a play on the classic Chinese ‘囍’ or ‘double happiness,’ an auspicious wish for weddings), which he made from equal parts Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Marselan, and Merlot. Even cooler was that our friend, talented Hong Kong-born designer Justin Au of Au Studio, designed the label from samples of our handwriting and using a seal we made for the wedding. Finally, what is a Chinese wedding without baijiu, so we put a bottle of Tabb堂白 from friend Kyle Cai on each table.” —Camden Hauge, owner and operator, Happy Place Hospitality, Shanghai, and founder, China Wine Club, NYC
“My wedding was a 15-minute affair in the sculpture garden of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I wore a dress I’d bought 15 years earlier on a trip we took to Vienna, and I brought along Contadi Castaldi Franciacorta for us to open. My husband and I first enjoyed that Contadi Castaldi wine together while on a trip to Lake Garda following the wedding of our closest friend in Liguria. My Italian friends had Franciacorta at their wedding, too, of course! We always celebrate our anniversary with Franciacorta. The bubbles are festive, and I prefer the flavor and feel of Franciacorta. My favorite Franciacortas have some almond notes, a touch of peach, and a hint of mint.” —Jill Weber, archaeologist and owner, Jet Wine Bar, Philadelphia
“We poured Emrich-Schönleber, Clos Sainte Magdeleine, Domaine Roulot, and Simon Bize at our wedding. They continue to be some of my favorite domaines today. We’re actually about to debut our very own white-label wine at Lei with none other than Emrich-Schönleber!” —Annie Shi, owner, Lei, King, Jupiter, Dean’s, NYC
The article We Asked 11 Sommeliers: What Wine Did You Serve at Your Wedding? appeared first on VinePair.