Every year, before Thanksgiving, sommelier Zach Bingham overhauls the wine list at Old Vines Naples at Mercato, replacing 30 by-the-glass wines on rotation. It has become the most highly anticipated moment on the company’s calendar, but it didn’t start out that way. “It was audacious—I took a bit of a gamble,” Zach says. He was unsure if lesser-known regions or grapes would resonate with diners. “Thankfully, people responded brilliantly to it.”
When he introduced 2.5-ounce wine flights, Zach saw guests get more curious. They were suddenly game to try wines from places they didn’t even realize were winemaking countries, like Croatia. Now entering its third season, Old Vines is so widely known for its boundary pushing that Zach can be more adventurous, throwing even funkier wines into the mix: Tasmanian and Austrian bubbles are interspersed with classic Champagnes, while the rosé section includes Spanish rosados and selections from Puglia, Italy.
Photography by Christina Bankson
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Zach guides the wine programs at Old Vines Naples and the recently expanded Supper Club, shaping a culture where learning is part of the experience.
In a region that loves its wine, Zach is deepening the experience, adding new layers of discovery. Rather than relying on the standbys that dominate local menus, he pushes further afield, with bottles rarely seen in Southwest Florida—Uruguayan marselan, Portugal’s native baga, Washington State rosé—paired with a slate of dinners, classes and conversations designed to make wine feel more accessible. That mix of curiosity, rigor and public-facing engagement has quickly made him one of the most dynamic figures in the region’s wine community.
Zach credits local trailblazers Peter Rizzo of natural wine bar Nat Nat and Rebecca Maddox of Rebecca’s for paving the way. “There’s always been a slightly limited mentality, people saying we’re sleepy Southwest Florida—leave the orange wine and pet-nat to the bigger metro areas,” he says. He sees it differently. Naples may be small, but it’s full of world travelers with deep curiosity.
As the director of wine and educational development for Old Vines Restaurant Group, Zach’s primary goal is to break down these barriers. “Everything we do is designed to bring out dialogue,” he adds. “What is going to start a conversation?”
Zach’s journey to Old Vines began in his early 20s, when he worked at a wine bar in Seaside, Florida, and sipped a wine that would change the course of his career: Hahn Santa Lucia Highlands pinot noir. It wasn’t until he took on the role of service captain at (now-shuttered) Salero, a restaurant in Chicago’s West Loop, that he fell in love with hospitality as a career. He worked in wholesale and imports before taking his wine knowledge to the restaurant floor in Naples. Today, Zach is steadily leveling up his formal training; he’s currently working toward Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) Level 3, one of the more rigorous wine qualifications—less flashy than the Master Sommelier track but the most respected path for an academically minded sommelier.
Both of Zach’s parents were teachers, and he once thought he’d follow suit. “Watching and absorbing their passion for shaping the world around them, making impactful change and inspiring others through the lens of education, was profound,” he says. “Every experience you have at any of our Old Vines concepts is going to be grounded in education—the more you know, the more intimately you can connect with that moment, that meal, that interaction.”
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Photography by Christina Bankson
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Photography by Christina Bankson
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Photography by Christina Bankson
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His ever-evolving, by-the-glass list highlights bottles rarely seen in Southwest Florida, giving guests a chance to discover new regions, styles and small producers.
He now channels this knowledge into Friday wine trainings for the team at Old Vines Naples and the intimate Old Vines Supper Club, where chef Brooke Kravetz designs the tasting menus, and Zach moves through the room pouring gems and unpacking the small details that bring each wine to life. In November, the team relocated the Supper Club to a larger space at Galleria Shoppes at Vanderbilt, expanding from 32 to 132 seats while retaining the original Davis Boulevard locale for private events.
Through the Supper Club’s Tuesday and Wednesday themed dinners, Zach brings diners deeper into wine culture in unexpected ways. Tuesday nights might offer a blind-tasting trivia format, paired with a multi-course meal, or a Grafted: Passport Series event exploring regions such as Burgundy or Bordeaux. Someone might instinctively prefer a Right Bank, merlot-driven Bordeaux over a cabernet sauvignon–centric Left Bank. He aims to show them why. Wednesday nights continue the popular prix fixe wine dinners, featuring guest insiders and tightly framed topics.
Photography by Christina Bankson
zach bingham naples wine culture
“The more you know, the more intimately you can connect with that moment, that meal, that interaction.”
This year, Zach partnered with wine specialist Sarah Phillips McCartan, founder of Wine Talks Miami, to bring free, wine trade-focused discussions to Southwest Florida. Held about every six weeks, Wine Talks Naples has created a community where pros and enthusiasts trade questions, ideas and perspectives.
Zach hopes that, by stripping away pretentiousness and focusing on education, he can make the wine world more accessible. “Let’s open up the doors to this much wider community and get back to basics,” he says. “Let’s remind ourselves why we’re here and why we love doing this job in the first place.”
He’s more drawn to smaller, craft-driven winemakers than to those seeking a huge profit. And he would rather delve into a native varietal from Sardinia than geek out over the world’s more legendary bottles—though he has a deep appreciation for those, too. If you love a Napa cab, he’ll happily pour you the Mondavi. “At the end of the day, wine is a vessel of pleasure,” he says. “Sharing stories is what brought me into the hospitality business. [Through wine,] I want people to feel invigorated and transported.”