Oxidant stress and compromised microcirculation underlie renal pathophysiology in septic acute kidney injury (AKI). Holthoff et al. report that resveratrol ameliorates these coupled abnormalities. They did not establish the primacy of either defect in septic AKI. However, tubule mitochondrial defects were recently reported to be involved in septic AKI pathogenesis, and resveratrol targets PGC-1α and respiratory enzymes. Together, these findings open new avenues for research into long-unresolved issues in the pathophysiology of septic AKI.