Chianti Grill – Roseville

The wine list at Chianti Grill reads like a greatest hits compilation from a mid-2000s Italian-American restaurant — familiar labels, safe regions, nothing that's going to surprise you. Seventy bottles sounds substantial until you realize a third of them are variations of Chardonnay and Cabernet that you've seen at every chain in a 50-mile radius. That said, it's organized, it's readable, and there's a Chianti flight that at least nods to the restaurant's identity.

The Italian section is the most honest part of this list — Davinci Chianti, Fontella, and the Castello di Albola Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG give you a real range to work with, from entry-level to something actually worth drinking. Outside of that, the reds lean heavily on California workhorses: Rodney Strong, Louis Martini, Joel Gott, Murphy Goode. Fine names, but nothing adventurous and nothing that earns the markup. The whites are similarly predictable — Sonoma Cutrer, KJ Vintner's Reserve, Whitehaven — the kind of list where you already know what you're getting before you open the menu. There's no Barolo, no Brunello, no exploration of southern Italy, and the Malbec being Piattelli feels like a placeholder more than a choice.

Twenty-four pours by the glass is genuinely impressive for a suburban Italian spot, and the range runs from $11 to $24.50, which gives you options at every budget. The Chianti Wine Flight at $17.95 is the most interesting thing on the glass menu — three Chiantis side by side is a legitimate way to understand what the restaurant is supposedly about. Beyond that, the glass list mirrors the bottle list's safe tendencies: Barone Fini, Murphy Goode, KJ — crowd pleasers that get the job done without asking much of anyone.