Order your wine on tap at Vesta Trattoria, an Astoria wine bar that pours glasses from a keg. Four handles draw wine from 28-bottle kegs that are pressurized and stay good for months — not that Vesta can keep it around that long. “I would say 80 percent of the people drinking wine are drinking [from the tap],” owner Giuseppe Falco told Grub Street. The attraction is that you’ll never get a past-its-prime pour, and the absence of bottles and labels reduces waste as well as cost. “Our cheapest wine by the glass went down by a dollar,” Falco said, noting that all the tap wines sell for $6 to $8 per glass.

On tap now are two whites and two reds: a 2008 Cabernet Franc, a 2008 Estate Merlot, a 2009 Chardonnay, and a 2009 Grand Cru Sauvignon Blanc, all from Raphael Vineyard in Peconic. Falco plans to expand his offerings, assuming that he can get other vintners interested in the keg system. “This is what we’ll all be doing soon,” he says.

Read the original story on Grub Street.

Photo: Courtesy Vesta Vino

For the rogue wine lover, that gathering is the Noble Rot, “a traveling wine saloon,” founded by musician Brian Quinn and actor Jonny Cristaldi; they drew inspiration from Whisk & Ladle, an underground operation run by friends.

The duo launched the wine-centered meet-up last July with a party that featured great bottles under $10. Since then, Quinn and Cristaldi have hosted frequent events that are equal parts education and entertainment, including an October harvest party in Brooklyn ($40) and an ode to Chardonnay in Tribeca ($35) …

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