It’s official: One of the world’s best wine stores — especially if you are a fan of Italian wines — is right here in Washington. And you may have overlooked it. A. Litteri has been selling Italian foods to Washingtonians for 90 years. The store’s current location in the old warehouse district of Northeast D.C. is just a block from the uber-hip Union Market, but it’s a time capsule to those family-owned neighborhood stores where regular customers are greeted like friends as they sample an aged Gorgonzola or order a cold-cut sandwich that would make Sinatra sing with joy. [At Florida Avenue Market, kitchen supplies and cheap eats] And there’s wine, of course. Enter A. Litteri through a door that could be easily overlooked if the wall around it were not painted with the colors of the Italian flag, and the first thing you encounter is the wine closeout section. These are cheap bottles, including a $5 pink Catawba from Indiana and several other inexpensive wines a vintage or three beyond their prime.

You might find something cheap and interesting here, but turn right and head to the main wine section. There, among claustrophobic shelves reaching to the ceiling and seemingly on the verge of collapsing on you, is one amazing wine selection. This is the domain of Ken Nankervis, who took over A. Litteri’s wine program in 2012 and gradually transformed a selection based on closeouts to one of the best — especially for Italian wines — in the city. [An Italian market near you: Go for pizza and subs, but there’s much more] Or maybe the world. Last month, A. Litteri was awarded the Leccio d’Oro prize from the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino in Tuscany as the best wine store outside Italy. The Consorzio naturally favors stores that specialize in Italian wines in general, and Tuscany’s in particular, but the award was fitting recognition of Nankervis’s efforts to build A. Litteri’s wine selection into a world-class program. “When I got here five years ago, all this space was dedicated to pinot grigio,” Nankervis told me on a recent visit to the store, as he waved at a space of shelving about the size of a hefty nightclub bouncer.

“It took me two years to get rid of it all.” Today, Nankervis’s selection of about 3,000 wines from around the world is crammed into a space the size of a bomb shelter. It includes more than 30 indigenous Italian white-wine grapes, with names such as pecorino, erbaluce, grechetto and falanghina. There are several esoteric red varieties as well. Two-thirds of his wines are Italian, but Nankervis also offers small but high-quality selections from other regions, including Spain, Portugal and South America. (The U.S. selection is perhaps a little weak.) “People come in and ask for pinot grigio or chardonnay, and I just say, why?” He champions the sheer variety available from Italy. “One of the reasons Italy has so many categorized grape varieties is the Catholic Church,” he says. “They were so good at keeping tabs on people and what they were doing, that when people find some forgotten variety they can look in the church records to see who was growing it back then.” There’s a reason the Brunello consorzio took notice.

“I have 65 Brunellos from 2010 in stock, and 130 Brunellos overall,” he said. world's best organic wine“I went to every store in Montalcino” — the quaint Tuscan hill town that is home to Brunello — “and none carry as many Brunellos as we do.” top selling wine brands in indiaMike DeFrancisci, the third-generation owner of A. Litteri, credits Nankervis not only with boosting wine sales but also making the store attractive to younger consumers, including those who frequent Union Market nearby. new wine 2015 speakers“With the area changing, our clientele has totally changed in the last seven or eight years, and Ken has been a big part of that,” DeFrancisci said. “We never had anyone here to sell wine and do wine and food pairings.

Wine sales have increased dramatically since Ken joined us.” Nankervis, 49, discovered his love of all foods Italian when working at Cafe Milano in Georgetown. He then worked several years with Winebow, an importer and distributor specializing in Italian wines, before moving to A. Litteri. While upgrading the store’s wine selection, he also rebuilt the shelves and put in new flooring. Every Saturday, he offers a tasting of 12 wines with 12 foods drawn from the store’s larder and his imagination. A consultation with Nankervis can be gruff and to the point. He’ll ask how much you want to spend, and what recipe you’re cooking. He’ll throw out phrases such as “wicked minerality” to describe a wine, and “blue cheese and Amarone is a match made in heaven” for a favorite food-wine pairing. It’s impossible to talk to him and not get hungry. As I interviewed Nankervis, we were interrupted frequently by Silvia Buch, a precocious 2 ½ -year-old in search of a breadstick, who was visiting the store with her parents, Ethan and Kristin, and her infant sister, Maria.

“This is the next generation for Litteri,” Nankervis said, lifting little Silvia into his arms. “I grew up in Eastern Connecticut, and my mother was from a big Italian family,” Ethan Buch told me. “This store takes me back to my roots. I have become friends with most of the employees.” She easily scored some cheese and biscotti while her parents tried some delicious Chianti. More from Food: Wine column archive Use your next meal in the enchanting Iron Gate garden and carriageway to explore Greek wine, especially if you spot wine director Brent Kroll walking the floor. The guy talks about wines from Greece with the passion of a veteran sports announcer calling Game 7 of the World Series. Brent’s wine list helped Iron Gate land a spot on  Wine Enthusiast’s list of “America’s 100 Best Wine Restaurants” for good reason. It also took the best wine program title at the 2015 RAMMYs. Wines from nine regions of Greece are featured, as well as highlights from other parts of the world.

As an added bonus, there are about 80 bottles available for $50 or less. Sherry is more than that stuff mom cooks with or that stuff on grandma’s breath before noon. Fortified wine, which means more buzz for your buck. Let the Mockingbird Hill staff help you figure out if you like a dry fino, nutty amontillado, or rich oloroso. Or, just try them all until you find your sherry match made in Shaw. But be careful, there are 90+ sherries to choose from in 16 distinct styles. Sherry flights, playful sherry cocktails, and even sherry Tiki drinks are also available. Food-wise, you’re ordering the ham sampler and toasted bread with tomatoes and garlic.Additionally, the Chinatown anchor restaurant has all the bells and whistles of a top wine bar. An Enomatic wine system allows Proof to keep its 40 wines by the glass super fresh, while the use of the Coravin device means wine director Joe Quinn can offer rare wines like 2007 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape by the glass. No worries if the words "Châteauneuf-du-Pape" make your wallet start to quiver -- pop by Proof for happy hour when a rotating selection of red and white wines are available for just $5 a glass.

Adventurous wine drinkers will find a home in The Red Hen’s quirky wine list curated by sommelier Sebastian Zutant. Think orange wines and selections from up-and-coming regions like Georgia and Slovenia. If you haven’t tried orange wine, this is the place to experience the punch of flavor for the first time. Sebastian has a passion for wines that are as natural as possible, meaning they’re wildly fermented, unfined, and unfiltered. We’d like to think they come with less of a hangover too. Bring that friend of yours who’s obsessed with all things local (hint: she’s probably smudged with soil and wearing TOMS) because ENO Wine Bar is a locavore’s dream with 27 wines from DC, Maryland, and Virginia including 2014 Early Mountain pinot gris on tap. But local wines are only a fraction of the bar’s thick wine list of 44 wines by the glass and 233 wines by the bottle. ENO also stands out because it serves education along with wine through frequent “Enoversity” classes and it also throws some killer events (check the website regularly).

While there’s really no bad seat in the house, peek into the brand-new 16-seat lounge called The Cellar on your next visit. Cork’s biggest strength is consistency -- it hasn’t gone off message since the doors opened and it began serving Old World wines with food that begs to be savored alongside a glass of vino (looking at you, avocado toast). Just don’t act snobby if you don't see a lot of name-dropped labels, part of Cork’s charm is its mantra of serving wines from small, off-the-beaten-path producers who dig sustainable and organic farming. This also helps keep the price-point down so you can try several different styles, perhaps in one of the bar’s four flights. Co-owner Diane Gross says the bar just updated its wine list with fresh selections from Spain and Italy. There are no geographic allegiances at Flight Wine Bar. Rather, the wine list reads like an atlas with offerings from Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia, Lebanon, and beyond. It should be a dead giveaway that flights are a big part of the wine program here, and they’re anything but boring.

We dig “Not Your Grandma’s Chardonnay,” and  “Hipster Schmipster.” The latter is a customized flight based on your preferences, so go ahead and let your server be your personal wine concierge. Visit on Mondays for all-day happy hour or on Wednesdays when Kabir Amir and Swati Bose pick a hidden gem and offer the bottle at 35% off. The goal is to encourage people to be adventurous without committing to the full bottle price. Maybe you’ve been hitting Ripple up for its legendary grilled cheese bar, but don’t overlook the restaurant’s standout wine program created by wine director Danny Fisher. The dude is a savant. Sure his list sees some heavy dollar signs -- like a collection of grower Champagnes worthy of major celebrations and three digits -- but there is also an emphasis on what Danny calls “real wine made by real people for less than $50 a bottle.” Also explore a little during happy hour, when nearly every by-the-glass offering is half price, including two orange wines if that’s your thing.

This charmer continues to innovate and find new ways to get affordable wine into your hands. Build your own “Standby Flight” by selecting three wines to try for $15, for example, or start your week with “Heavy Pour Mondays” when standard servings are supersized. The wine list may not read like a novel, but it has a nice mix of Old World and New World styles (including Virginia!) with a few varietals you may have never pronounced before like Cannonau, Albariño, or Vouvray. Also visit on “Decanter Wednesdays” when the staff decants a real beauty and offers various-sized pours throughout the night. Finally, you don’t want to miss the "50 Shades of Rosé" program before the cold kicks in. Dominatrix jokes not encouraged. Wine and music go together like little blue pills and empty nesters -- both set the scene for amorous encounters. Fortunately, newcomer Jug & Table focuses on the first winning combo instead of the weird one by incorporating music into its wine program.

Vinyl is typically spinning, and the wine list is divided up into categories like "Guns and Rosés." Sommelier Theo Rutherford’s playlist, errr, wine list, leans heavy on California, Spain, France, and Italy and you can opt to sip your wine in four sizes: a standard glass, half-liter pour, bottle, or jug. Jug prices range from $50-$90, except during happy hour when one is offered for $25. Snack on pressed sandwiches like the “Greek” with halloumi, chevre, roast lamb, red pepper, and mint. At most restaurants you can review the wines by the glass in the time it takes to hiccup. Eighty percent of the wine list is available by the glass, so those fearing commitment will feel at ease. Vinoteca also stands out because it offers seasonal wine classes most Tuesdays covering different varietals and regions, which include food pairings and a $5 gift card. Earning Vinoteca even more cool points is DAILY happy hour from 5-7pm when 15 wines are priced at $5 a glass. Outdoor bocce doesn’t hurt either.

Courtesy of Sona Creamery & Wine Bar Married co-owners Conan and Genevieve O'Sullivan hail from the Pacific Northwest, that’s why you’ll see a bevvy of Washington State and Oregon wines on the list. We also tell you this so you can go easy on the Super Bowl jokes. One big Sona perk is a generously long happy hour than runs from 3-8pm seven days a week. Genevieve says they do this to “fit the Hill lifestyle,” which probably means people need wine to survive politics. Don’t leave without trying the mac & cheese-stuffed grilled cheese paired with an Oregon pinot noir. Barcelona Wine Bar has a reputation for having a buzzy bar scene and solid tapas, but the party atmosphere is backed by a very serious Spanish wine program. In fact, Spanish wine aficionados could visit Barcelona every day for 234 straight days and try a different wine on each visit. Though, we’d avoid the one that costs $680 because that’s nearly a ticket to Madrid. Consider starting or ending a meal with sherry (there are six styles available) and definitely visit Monday-Friday during 4-6pm “social hour” for $4 tapas, $5 glasses of wine, and $20 pitchers of sangria.