Italian Grapes, Napa Address, No Apologies
· Yountville · Italian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · September 28, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Ciccio’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
Thirteen wines, all by the glass, none of them a safety blanket Pinot Grigio or a crowd-pleasing Malbec — Ciccio is clearly making a statement. The list reads like it was built by someone who spent serious time in both Italian enoteche and Napa cellars. In a valley full of Cabernet temples and tourist traps, this is something genuinely different.
The throughline here is Italian varieties, either from their homeland or grown at Altamura right here in Napa — and Altamura shows up six times across the list. You get Vernaccia from Tuscany, Montepulciano from Abruzzo, Valpolicella Ripasso from Veneto, and Brachetto from Piedmont alongside Napa-grown Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Negroamaro, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The Italian diaspora angle is genuinely compelling: the Altamura Nebbiolo Napa Valley 2018 and Negroamaro Napa Valley 2016 alone represent a kind of winemaking experiment most Napa lists wouldn't touch. The one real gap is depth — there's no bottle program to speak of, and if you want a second glass of something different, your options are limited to this same tight roster.
Every single wine on this list is available by the glass, which is the whole point — this is a by-the-glass program by design, not by accident. Prices run $16 to $27 per glass, which is genuinely reasonable for Yountville, where $20 for a glass of something forgettable is the norm. Rotation isn't documented, so treat what you see as what you get.
The Bottom Line
Ciccio's wine list is a tight, opinionated thirteen-bottle argument for Italian varieties in Napa Valley, and it mostly wins. If you're eating Italian food and want something more interesting than the usual Napa Cab, this is exactly where you should be drinking — the Altamura Nebbiolo and Ciavolich Montepulciano alone are worth the detour.
· Yountville · Steakhouse
Press is a special-occasion restaurant with a wine program built to match — deep Napa regional focus, a sommelier on staff, and pairing options that range from serious to stratospheric. The pricing is steep by design, and you should go in knowing the wine spend can easily outpace the food bill. If you're willing to lean into it, this is exactly the kind of Napa experience the valley was built around.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
· Yountville · French
Angele is a genuinely lovely spot — the room, the food, the riverfront setting all deliver — and the wine list appears to hold its own for a French bistro in Napa without trying to be something it's not. That said, wine-country markups are real here, and without a deeper confirmed list to work from, we'd say: order what the staff recommends, keep your expectations calibrated to 'solid bistro' rather than 'serious wine destination,' and let the duck confit do the heavy lifting.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Southern Yountville / Washington Street corridor · Yountville · Lounge / Bar
Hotel Yountville's lobby lounge is a perfectly fine place to decompress with a glass of something Napa-famous after a day on Washington Street, but we wouldn't make a special trip for the wine list. Send your friends here for the vibe; tell them to know their order before they sit down.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
North Yountville · Yountville · Wine tasting with artisanal cheese pairings
Jessup Cellars is a genuinely good time if you go in knowing what it is: a focused, house-wine tasting experience in one of the most expensive zip codes in American wine country. It's not a deep list, it's not a bargain, but it's warm, well-executed, and a smarter afternoon than most of what's on Highway 29.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
South Yountville · Yountville · Bar / Small Plates
R+D's bar list isn't trying to be a destination wine program and it doesn't pretend to be — it's a well-executed, fairly priced casual list that punches above its weight for a Hillstone concept sitting in the heart of wine country. Send a friend here if they want good wine without homework.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Central Yountville · Yountville · Wine Tasting Salon
The JCB Tasting Salon is a one-house show — and if you're good with that, it's a well-run, beautifully staged one. The steep pricing and narrow scope keep it from Rager territory, but the cross-continental angle and proper sommelier guidance make it a legitimate Wild Card worth booking once.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Venice · Los Angeles · Italian
Felix Trattoria has the bones of a genuinely good wine destination — Italian-focused list, sommelier on staff, and a kitchen full of pasta that begs for a proper Nebbiolo or Vermentino alongside it. Markup reports lean steep for the neighborhood, so budget accordingly. We'd send a friend here for the full experience, but with a reminder to ask questions and not just grab the first recognizable label.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Acceptable
La Jolla · San Diego · Italian
Marisi earns its Wild Card badge by building a wine list that actually reflects curiosity about Italian wine rather than just the greatest hits. The dessert wine section alone puts it ahead of most Italian restaurants in San Diego. Pricing data wasn't available to us, and staff knowledge is an open question — but if you're the kind of person who gets excited about Albana from Emilia-Romagna or a Barolo Chinato to close the night, this list is worth your attention.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Little Italy · San Diego · Italian
Davanti Enoteca is a solid neighborhood Italian spot where the wine list does its job without doing anything remarkable. If you're heading here for the meatballs and Roman artichokes — and you should be — grab a bottle of something Italian, stay out of your own way, and enjoy the room. Just don't expect the wine program to be the reason you came.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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