Memphis Gets a Real Italian Wine Education
Cooper-Young · Memphis · Italian · Visit Website ↗
Updated June 2026
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 24, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Bari Ristorante e Enoteca’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Take Vibe Match and we’ll tell you what to order here.
Wingman Metrics
The wine list at Bari lands like a love letter to Italy — focused, deliberate, and clearly written by someone who actually cares. In a city not exactly drowning in serious wine programs, this Cooper-Young spot earns its Wine Spectator Award of Excellence with a list that goes deep where it matters and doesn't waste space on filler. You pick it up and immediately feel like you're being taken somewhere.
Bari keeps its focus tight: this is an Italian list through and through, spanning Piedmont Barolo producers, Brunello di Montalcino, Amarone della Valpolicella, Chianti Classico Riserva, and the Super Tuscan heavyweights like Sassicaia and Ornellaia. It's not trying to be all things — it's trying to be the definitive Italian wine experience in Memphis, and largely succeeds. The range from approachable Chianti to serious Brunello gives you real options whether you're spending $35 or pushing toward $150. The one gap: non-Italian regions are essentially absent, so if someone at the table wants a Burgundy or a Napa Cab, they're out of luck.
Twelve to twenty options by the glass is a generous pour program for a restaurant of this size, and the $10–$18 range suggests they're not just dumping cheap wine into carafes to pad margins. We'd expect the glass list to mirror the bottle list's Italian identity — likely rotating through Chianti Classico, a Nebbiolo-based pour, and something from the south. Ask your server what's open; a list this considered usually has something worth exploring.
Chianti Classico Riserva — $45
Chianti Classico Riserva at the lower end of Bari's price range is where the real drinking happens — you're getting structured Sangiovese with actual age and intent for what cheaper restaurants charge for anonymous Italian red. Best QPR on the list.
Amarone della Valpolicella
Most tables at an Italian restaurant reach for Barolo or a Super Tuscan and call it a night. Amarone is the darker, wilder option — dried grapes, massive concentration, something genuinely different. Most diners walk right past it, which means more for the people who know.
Sassicaia
Look, Sassicaia is a legendary wine — but it's also one of the most recognized Super Tuscans on the planet, which means restaurants mark it up accordingly. You're paying a premium for the name here. The same money spent elsewhere on this list gets you further.
Barolo + Osso buco
Barolo's tannic backbone and tar-and-roses complexity were basically engineered to cut through braised veal shank. The richness of the osso buco softens the wine's edges; the wine lifts the dish out of pure indulgence. This is the pairing to order at Bari.
🎲 The Bottom Line
Bari is the kind of Italian wine program Memphis deserves more of — specific, serious, and fairly priced for what you're getting. If you're anywhere near Cooper-Young and want to drink real Italian wine with real Italian food, this is the move.
Midtown · Memphis · Steak House
Porch and Parlor is a reliable Southern steakhouse wine list that plays to its crowd — if you love California Cabernet with your dry-aged beef, you're in the right place. It won't challenge you, but it'll take care of you.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown Memphis · Memphis · American
Flight is the most wine-serious restaurant in downtown Memphis, and it earns that title without being stuffy about it. If you want California confidence with a sommelier who actually knows the list, this is your spot.
Plays It Safe
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Downtown Memphis · Memphis · American, French
Chez Philippe is the wine list of a well-run fine dining institution that has been doing this right for 30 years — not a revelation, but reliably good and properly stored in a room that knows how to use it. Send a friend here if they want California Cab with a French menu inside one of Memphis's great hotels; don't send them if they're looking for anything off the beaten path.
Solid Range
Steep
Varietal Specific
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Proper
Memphis · Memphis · Steak House
Char is a dependable, well-executed steakhouse wine list that earned its Wine Spectator Award of Excellence by doing the classics right — but it's not trying to surprise you, and it won't. Send a friend here for a special occasion Cab and a steak; just don't expect the list to spark any new obsessions.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Proper
Unknown · Memphis · Bistro
Hu. Bistro isn't trying to be a wine destination, but its by-the-glass list is priced fairly and built with more care than you'd expect from a hotel rooftop. If you're in Memphis and want a decent glass without getting gouged for the privilege, this works.
Small but Thoughtful
Steal
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Midtown · Memphis · New American
The Beauty Shop is a Wild Card in the best possible way — a funky, retro-cool restaurant with a wine list that has no business being this thoughtful. Markups keep it from greatness, but the glass pour selection and genuine regional variety make it worth ordering a bottle or three.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Midtown / Highway 50 · South Lake Tahoe · Italian
Izabella is a dependable wine play for a mountain-town Italian dinner — the glass selection is genuinely broad and the marquee bottles are there if you want them, but the markups are Tahoe-elevated and the list doesn't take many risks. Send your friends here for a solid Cab and a good meal, not a wine discovery.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Market Street · Portsmouth · Italian
Dolce Vita is a reliable neighborhood wine bar with enough Italian depth to satisfy anyone who came to drink well with their dinner. The markups on the California heavy-hitters are a soft deterrent, but lean Italian and you'll leave happy.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown Portsmouth · Portsmouth · Italian
Massimo's is the kind of place that makes you wish you lived in Portsmouth just so you could work through this list one dinner at a time. The pricing is not shy, but for a collection that includes Gaja, Biondi Santi, and a 1994 Sassicaia, you're paying for access to something genuinely rare for northern New England.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
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