Montrose Wine Bar Boosts Its Caviar Power and Keeps Its Chic Vibe Rolling — Taking Another Look at Fiora Bottle Shop

It may be time to get to know Fiora, a clever Montrose spot that’s part bottle shop, part wine bar and part alluring restaurant. Located in the chic Montrose Collective mixed-use development, Fiora’s Bottle Shop is a collaboration between partners Natalie Navi and Amir Sedghi, each of whom has worked in the Houston hospitality industry for years. And it’s upping its caviar power.

Named for Navi’s beloved grandmother, Fiora has a feminine yet sophisticated feel with a look that blends hues of greens, rose and gold that’s anything but girly. Inside, its dining room (which doubles as the retail shop) is appointed with a marble-topped bar and tables, plush cozy seating, fresh flowers and lush greenery.

Breeze in for a bite at lunch and the space is filled with natural light streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows, which on a pretty day open up to the shaded courtyard.

Collaborating with their sommelier chums, Navi and Sedghi have created a vibrant list that changes as often as biweekly with beer, cocktails, mocktails and most prominently wines by the glass, a bottle culled from the New World, classics from the Old World, and unexpected finds in between.

Personally, I advocate for drinking wine with food, because the chemistry of the wine interacts with the fats and proteins in the food you pair with it, bringing out a complexity you cannot find without it. Fiora’s thoughtful food menu tempts with a variety of wine-friendly bites from house-marinated olives ($7/$10) to a charcuterie board with a mix of cured meats and cheese from the famed Houston Dairy Maids ($16/$29). There is also an array of pressed paninis and a vibrant beet labneh ($14) made with pureed beets mixed with labneh, that thick strained yogurt brightened with the lemon zest, garlic and mint with potato chips for dipping.

What’s fun, too, are the rather unexpected tastes that beckons at Fiora. For instance, there is a variety of delectable tin fish from smoked octopus ($18) to wild-caught scallops in tomato sauce ($16) from Spain, as well as foie gras. The air-fried chicken wings napped in a house-made creamy Buffalo sauce are paired with a side of ranch and Fiora’s very own caviar butter whipped with salted European butter, crème fraiche, fresh herbs and a dollop of caviar.

Fiora’s Unexpected Caviar Power

Speaking of caviar, Fiora procure its sustainable farm-raised varieties from Altima Caviar with sizes offered from 14g to 100g and five different flavor profiles paired with wonderful, warm little blinis, cornichons and chips.

New to the caviar experience? Try it in the most novel of ways: the bump and bong, where you are served a bump of caviar with a split of chilly Benvolio prosecco ($20) poured in a cheeky bong-looking glass. Or swing by during Fiora’s unwinding hours — 3 pm to 6 pm weekdays — where you can try the Kaluga hybrid-style caviar for $8 a bump along with bites like dolmas, hummus ($8), chips, nuts and olives ($10), and wines by the glass that are 25 percent off.

Finally, if wine lists overwhelm you, perhaps take Natalie Navia’s suggestion and start with a glass of EPC Brut, a French champagne with crisp, fine bubbles ($29 glass/$105 bottle). If you’ve found chardonnay off-putting because you’ve only had the over-oaked California kind, try a refined French Chablis such as the Schaller Camille and Laurent Petit Chablis from Burgundy, 2024 ($17 a glass/$59 a bottle).

Meanwhile, if you still have not tried an orange wine, Fiora offers one by the glass. That would be the Sanctum Leptir, 2023 ($14 a glass/$47 a bottle), which brings a citrusy profile that’s light but dry. Discover a wine you want to bring home and share it with family and friends for 20 percent off the usual retail prices.

Fiora’s Bottle Shop is located at 888 Westheimer Road, Suite 107 in the Montrose Collective. It is open noon to 10 pm Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and noon to 11 pm Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. It is closed Mondays.