West Portal's Italian wine rabbit hole
West Portal · San Francisco · Italian wine bar and small plates · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · June 22, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Binu Bonu’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
You don't expect to find a 100-bottle Italian wine list tucked into a West Portal neighborhood storefront, but here we are. The list reads like someone's extremely personal obsession — Sagrantino from Umbria, Plavac Mali from Croatia, Lagrein from Alto Adige — and it makes you want to order things you've never heard of. That's a good sign.
This is a genuinely thoughtful Italian-focused list that stretches well beyond the usual Tuscan suspects. Piemonte, Marche, Sicily, Sardinia, Veneto, Friuli — the peninsula is well-represented, and the producers skew small and interesting (Bocale, Noelia Ricci, Quartomoro). The supporting cast from broader Europe — a Bodegas Muga Rosado, a Slovenian Teran from Vina Toka, a Croatian Plavac Mali from Frano Miloš — adds genuine intrigue without feeling like a gimmick. Gaps are minor: a deeper Burgundy presence would round things out, but that's not really what Binu Bonu is going for, and that's fine.
Sixteen to twenty options by the glass is generous for a room this size, and the range is real — you can go sparkling (De Conciliis Brut Selim), white (Deltetto Arneis, Quartomoro Vermentino), or red (Lagrein, Nebbiolo) without feeling cornered into something boring. Glass prices run $13–$25, which is reasonable for San Francisco, though the bottle markups behind those pours are less flattering.
Quartomoro Vermentino Orriu 'Un Anno Dopo' 2022 — $50
At a 92% markup this is the closest thing to a fair deal on the bottle list — Sardinian Vermentino with real texture and salinity, retailing around $26. Among the $50 bottles here, it punches the hardest.
Firmino Miotti Breganze Cabernet 2015
A Veneto Cabernet from 2015 with actual cellar time on it — Firmino Miotti is a small family producer that almost nobody in the US talks about. This is the kind of oddball bottle that makes a list worth exploring.
Deltetto Roero Arneis Daivej 2023
A fine wine, but at $50 on a $20 retail bottle you're eating a 150% markup. Order it by the glass if you want the Arneis experience; don't let the bottle price slide past you.
Bocale Sagrantino di Montefalco 2019 + House charcuterie and salumi board
Sagrantino is built for cured meat — the tannins are substantial enough to cut through the fat in the salumi, and Bocale makes one of the more serious versions of the grape without requiring a trust fund to buy it.
The Bottom Line
Binu Bonu is what happens when someone who genuinely loves Italian wine opens a neighborhood bar — the list is adventurous, the staff can actually talk you through it, and the room earns its Wild Card badge by existing at all in West Portal. The markups will sting if you start doing math, but order something you've never heard of and you'll mostly forget about it.
Embarcadero · San Francisco · Peruvian Seafood
La Mar is a great dinner — the ceviche alone is worth the trip — but the wine list is along for the ride rather than driving it. Order something crisp and cold, enjoy the view, and don't overthink it.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Union Square · San Francisco · American
The Rotunda is a lunch experience first and a wine destination a distant second — the list is safe, the markup is real, and you're largely paying for the address and the atmosphere. Come for the crab salad and the occasion, order something bubbly, and don't go in expecting a serious wine program.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
San Francisco · San Francisco · Wine bar & bottle shop
Bodega SF is what happens when someone actually gives a damn about the list instead of just checking a box. Twenty-six bottles, almost all pourable by the glass, priced fairly, and built around grapes most wine bars wouldn't dare touch — send your adventurous friends here and tell them to skip the safe picks.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Proper
San Francisco · San Francisco · Wine bar
Fig & Thistle is for people who trust a short menu built by someone with a point of view — thirteen bottles, all pouring, all worth talking about. If you need a fallback Cab or a recognizable label to feel safe, this isn't your spot. If you don't, this absolutely is.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
San Francisco · San Francisco · Steakhouse
STK San Francisco has the bones of a wine program and the ambition of a hotel minibar. With only three by-the-glass pours, a list built entirely around safe brand names, and steep markups baked into the concept, this is a place to order a cocktail or splurge on a specific bottle you already know you want.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· San Francisco · Wine Tavern
Big Finish is doing something genuinely different — an all-glass list built around obscure varietals, serious fortified wine, and pricing that doesn't punish curiosity. Send anyone here who wants to drink something they've never tried before and walk away feeling like they learned something.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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