The buzz: Located on the first floor of the 39 Boulevard residence, below the recently opened restaurant Whale’s Belly, new wine outlet and bar Dolcetto & Co differs from the recent crop of wine bars as it first started as a wine shop importing only Italian wines, including some from the owner’s own vineyards, dubbed “Chicken Wine.”

The décor: This one-room bar offers very few seats around low wooden tables, which are all surrounded by ceiling-high wine racks with more wine in the middle. Indoors, the cocktail bar brings a clubby touch while the outdoor seating feels a lot more laidback.

The music: There’s a live DJ spinning house and lounge on Friday nights, live international pop-rock covers on Saturdays and an acoustic guitar player on Tuesdays.

The crowd: Japanese expats living at 39 Boulevard drop by to pick up a bottle while Sukhumvit office workers and the spillover from neighboring restaurants pop in for a final drink before heading home.

The price: Bottles start from B890 for Primitivo Salento Aura; the owner’s Chicken Wine is B1,545-3,000; and a premium wine like L’Amo-Vino Rosso 2009 is B19,990 for bottle. The bar also offers long cocktails such as Sangria (B250, traditional recipe only mixed and served immediately) and signature creations like the Deep Blue (B350, white wine and blue caracao topped with soda). The food menu focuses on Italian-Thai fusion: T-bone steak grilled with red wine (B390), grilled seabass with mango sauce (B320) and choices of tapas (B50-450).

Why you’ll come back? The free-flow wine promotion at B999 per person for three hours on Fri night is pretty tempting. And this June only, it’s buy-one-get-two free cocktails on Wed-Thu from 6-9pm. Vasachol Quadri