Albany's Most Serious Italian Wine Room
Downtown Albany · Albany · Italian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 12, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Cafe Capriccio’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The list arrives and it reads like a love letter to the Italian peninsula — no New World detours, no hedging toward crowd-pleasing Pinot Grigio bulk pours. This is a room that has made a choice, and the choice is Italy, top to bottom.
Piedmont and Tuscany anchor the list with real intent: Barolo, Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico Riserva, and Amarone della Valpolicella all make appearances, which tells you someone here is paying attention. Southern Italy shows up too, which keeps the list from feeling like a greatest-hits museum. The 100-150 bottle range is deep enough to reward repeat visits without becoming overwhelming. The gaps are real — if you want anything outside Italy, you're out of luck — but that's a feature, not a bug.
Eight to twelve options is a respectable glass program for a room this focused, and the expectation is they're cycling through the same Italian regions you'd find on the bottle list. That said, we didn't find evidence of a regular rotation or a curated glass program that surprises — what's on the menu is what's on the menu.
Chianti Classico Riserva — Unknown
Chianti Classico Riserva from a focused Italian list at a mid-tier price point is almost always where the kitchen and the cellar shake hands — it's the sweet spot between the house pours and the Brunello.
Southern Italy selection
Most tables at a place like this tunnel-vision straight to Barolo and Brunello. The Southern Italian bottles — lighter on the wallet, just as interesting — are where savvy drinkers quietly do their best work.
Amarone della Valpolicella
Amarone is the kind of wine that restaurants mark up aggressively because the name carries weight. Unless you know the specific producer and price is right, this is the line item most likely to sting on the check.
Barolo + House pasta with braised meat
Barolo's high tannin and acid structure is basically engineered for slow-cooked meat and house-made pasta — the fat and richness of the dish tames the wine's edge and lets the fruit come forward.
The Bottom Line
Cafe Capriccio is the kind of neighborhood Italian that Albany doesn't deserve to have this good — the wine list is thoughtful, Italy-first, and built for the food. The markups aren't doing anyone any favors, but if you pick smart, this is a genuinely rewarding room to drink in.
· Albany · Italian, Steakhouse, Seafood
Choose by budget, check bottle size, and confirm the current menu. We haven't independently assessed service, glassware or storage.
Downtown Albany · Albany · Steakhouse
Order by the glass and explore: the posted menu gives you Riesling, Chablis, Cahors and Rioja without a bottle commitment. Pentimento at $16 is our price-conscious red starting point. Check the current list before ordering; the complete cellar, service and storage haven't been independently verified.
West Albany · Albany · Italian
Grappa ’72 gives you several ways into Italian wine without committing to a prestige bottle. Our move is Nozzole Chianti Classico Riserva at $47/bottle for the table, or Bigi Orvietto at $9/glass if you want your own white. Confirm the current vintage and price when ordering.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown/Clinton Square · Albany · Modern Mexican / Latin-inspired
Ama Cocina isn't a destination wine bar, but it's a Wild Card worth respecting — a food-forward Latin spot that actually thought about its wine list instead of phoning it in. Come for the tacos, order the Albariño, and be pleasantly surprised.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Warehouse District/Riverfront · Albany · Wine Bar / American Small Plates
The Shaker & Vine is Albany's best argument for the self-pour wine bar format — the markup is shockingly fair, the riverside setting earns its keep, and the list is approachable without being embarrassing. Don't come hunting for rare producers, but do come for a relaxed pour with a view.
Solid Range
Steal
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Colonie · Albany · Classic Italian-American
Lombardo's wine list is the culinary equivalent of a comfortable booth — nothing revelatory, but nothing offensive, and it gets the job done alongside a plate of baked ziti. Send a friend here for the food and tell them to order the Barolo if they want to feel like they tried.
Plays It Safe
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Healdsburg · Italian
Ciao Bruto is running one of the smallest and most coherent wine lists in wine country, which is either audacious or brilliant — probably both. If you want a 200-label deep-dive, go somewhere else. If you want eight smart picks at prices that won't make you wince, this is the move in Healdsburg.
Small but Thoughtful
Steal
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Geyserville · Healdsburg · Italian
Diavola earns its Wild Card badge because it's a wood-fired pizza joint that punches well above its weight on wine — sommelier on staff, regional focus, and a setting that practically demands you order a second glass. We can't give you the bottle-by-bottle breakdown until we get eyes on a current list, but the bones here are good enough to say: don't just order a beer and move on.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
· Healdsburg · Italian
Ca'Bianca is a genuinely lovely place to eat, and if the food lives up to its reputation for house-made pasta and classic Italian technique, a bottle of something from the list is absolutely worth ordering. We just can't tell you exactly which bottle to order yet — the wine program's specifics aren't publicly documented well enough for us to make a confident call. When in doubt, ask your server what's local and what they're excited about, and go from there.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
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