August Wine Bar: Eclectic Wine, Intimate Space

New Haven may seem an unlikely settling place for an Australian-born singer and a visual artist whose work as a painter and sommelier has taken him from Napa to Brooklyn.

Indeed, the Elm City “wasn’t on our radar,” says Michelle Chadwick-Hotis, who met her husband, Andrew ,while both were working in the restaurant business in Manhattan. But when Andrew Hotis’ young son moved to New Haven with his mother, he followed a short time later in 2010, then Michelle joined him in 2011.

Together they shared hopes and dreams and eventually business plans for an intimate and upscale wine bar in their new, adopted neighborhood of East Rock, modeled after restaurants they’d worked at or enjoyed in New York. In May of 2014, the couple finally opened their 350-square-foot space with 18 bar seats and christened it August, after Hotis’ son.

“Moving up here, we kind of felt there wasn’t anything quite like that here. That is a really good opportunity for us,” Hotis says.

In that minute space, the self-described “staff of two” focuses on a wide-ranging list of red, white, rosé and sparkling wines from around the globe, available by the bottle and glass. There’s no real kitchen to speak of; Hotis prepares a small selection of snacks and small plates, as well as cheese and charcuterie plates, behind the bar.

“One thing I’ve learned over the course of a year doing this menu is that it’s important for me to make dishes that are supportive of having a glass of wine,” he says. “The idea here is that this is a place that people come to before dinner, after dinner, after theater, to meet with friends. … We don’t call ourselves a restaurant or aspire to be a restaurant.”

That small menu, however, offers a lot of flexibility and creative opportunity. While snacks ($5 to $8) like Marcona almonds, marinated olives and deviled eggs remain popular mainstays, other small plates ($8 to $12) are driven seasonally by fresh ingredients. A recent menu featured gazpacho with summer vegetables; crostini with fresh ricotta and plum, cherry and strawberry; watermelon salad with feta and mint; and country-style pate with warm toast. The Neptune panino with Spanish sardines and lemon-parsley gremolata has been an unexpected hit, the couple says, with repeat customers asking for it. Fresh oysters are another point of pride at August, sourced from cold northern waters, shucked to order and served with hot sauce and mignonette.

“The seasonal area is where I play,” Hotis says, noting past fall and winter preparations of rabbit and white bean stew, crostini with goat cheese and bacon and hearty wheatberry salad. Cheese and meats, with a minimum of six options in each category, are available in customizable platters at $18 for three selections with baguette and accouterments.

“There’s always some sort of edgy stuff in there,” he says. “We get a lot of people who say, ‘Throw me the stinkiest thing you’ve got in there.'”

Chadwick-Hotis thinks the intimacy of August’s environment lends itself to an interactive, staff-guided experience, particularly when menus change several times a week. “For the most part, our guests are really sort of willing to be in our hands. They trust us. They are able to have an experience where they can actually taste things, try things, see new things. Then they come back the next time and they’re looking for that experience, [thinking] ‘What else can I try, what’s new and fresh and happening.’ So that’s really fun for us.”

The eclectic wine list, which spans the globe from classic California and French vintages to more obscure bottles from Slovenia, Lebanon and Uruguay, is set up “for a lot of maneuverability,” Hotis says. “It’s really important to us to find the thing that’s right for the guest, that fits their budget and their taste.”

While August doesn’t offer flights, guests are welcome to sample a few offerings to settle on the ideal glass or bottle. And though the list currently tops 100 selections, Hotis “would like to grow that list because I have really high ambitions for our wine here.”

The tiny space is full of personal touches that reflect the couple’s life together and their past experiences in Manhattan and beyond, like the restored antique radio that belonged to Hotis’ grandparents — “things that remind us of where we come from and how we got where we are,” he says.

The couple believes the restaurant is a natural outlet for their artistic tendencies.

“It really does kind of fulfill those creative desires that we have,” Hotis says. “I didn’t quite realize that, but boy, does it ever. It’s a bunch of tools and materials, and you’re putting together a plate of something and using something seasonal, balancing it, trying to make it pretty and trying to make it healthful and flavorful.”

>>August Wine Bar, 3 Edwards St., New Haven, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to midnight. 203-745-4531, facebook.com/augustonedwards.