Dean Gold, Dino

The proprietor and resident Italian wine expert at Dino says when he and his wife, Kay Zimmerman, travel to Italy about twice a year, it “feels like we’re coming home. ... We’re students of the culture.”

That passion certainly starts with the food and wine. The California native jokes he had a house account at Ridge Winery in California before he was old enough to drink.

He was first exposed to Italian wines in the early 1980s — when it was “just starting to get interesting” — as a retailer and wholesaler in Chicago, then as a restaurant manager in Los Angeles.

Then in 1995, Whole Foods tapped him to set up its wine program in Southern California. He went to Italy to examine the food and wine in person and since then, he says, “my personal wine buying habits have totally changed.”

At the rustic Italian Dino in Cleveland Park, he assembles a 75-percent-Italian list that’s more than 250 bottles long. Nearly every bottle is listed along with his copious tasting notes.

“I try and give people some context, why the wine is here,” he says. He makes that even clearer with a statement atop the list: “Rest assured that every wine is on here because I love it for what it is and for what it costs. Nothing is on here because of a review, a perceived ‘need’ or because it will sell.”

That effort has gotten Dino nominated for the Leccio d’Oro (“Golden Oak”) award by the Consorzio di Vini di Brunello di Montalcino, which recognizes businesses that support the region.

Q Your strategy seems different than that of most other restaurants.

A Usually the wines [at restaurants] have nothing to do with the food. Usually it’s because there’s a Robert Parker-driven demand created for the wine. It’s doing the food and the wine a disservice. Our list is neither complete nor balanced by any traditional measure, even Italian.

Q A lot of people find Italian wine difficult to understand or unapproachable. What advice do you have?

A It’s some of the greatest winemaking going on in the world right now. Do what the Italians do: Drink local wine, wine that comes from where the food comes from. If you’re eating fish, drink wine from areas that are famous for their fish — Naples, Venice, Sicily, Campagna.

Q Aren’t most of those wines red?

A Italians drink 90 percent red wine. So it’s not surprising that the red wines from these regions are great with fish.

Q From this list, what would be your desert island bottle?

A It’s a white — Ribolla Gialla “Amphora” 2001 by Joska Gravner. It’s made by fermenting grapes in the skins in a terra cotta pot buried in the ground for months, then aged for three years in old oak.

A red would be the Brunello di Montalcino from Pertimali di Livio Sassetti 1999.