Balera has been a fixture in Neukölln for 12 years, quietly doing one of the most important jobs in the Berlin food scene: importing and distributing small Italian natural and organic wines, selling them on tap and in bottle, and making the whole thing feel completely unpretentious. Their shop on Karl-Marx-Platz is the kind of place where you can taste before you buy, fill your own bottle from the barrel, and leave knowing exactly what you’re drinking and why. Our relationship with Balera goes back well before either Oddkin or Balera existed. Alessandro and Sara, Balera’s founder, go back to their days working together at one of Kreuzberg’s most iconic — and legendarily chaotic — Italian restaurants. They’ve been crossing paths and supporting each other’s projects ever since. Alessandro is still part of Balera’s team today, serving natural wines twice a week and looking after an Oddkin-curated selection of cheeses and food products in the shop. The wines you’ll find on Oddkin come directly from Balera’s own import roster.
