Cipresso

Walk into Cipresso and the Guitar Hotel's energy hits before the wine list does — there's a 16-seat bar top overlooking the resort's Oculus and the whole room feels like it's performing. The wine list matches that energy: polished, crowd-pleasing, and leaning hard into Italian classics with California backup. It's a resort list, but one that takes itself seriously enough to earn a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.

The list sits comfortably in the 150-250 bottle range with Italy and California doing the heavy lifting — exactly what you want from an Italian kitchen. Tuscany is well-represented with heavy hitters like Antinori Tignanello, Sassicaia from Tenuta San Guido, and Super Tuscans anchoring the red side, while Barolo shows up via Marchesi di Barolo and Ceretto, and Brunello gets love from Banfi or Casanova di Neri. On the California front, Caymus and Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon handle the crowd-pleaser duty, and Gaja Barbaresco adds some serious prestige depth. The list doesn't stray far from the comfort zone — no natural wine, no esoteric regions — but what it does, it does with conviction.

The by-the-glass program runs 12-20 options in the $10-$18 range, which is modest for a Hard Rock resort property — we'd like to see more rotation and adventure here. Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio makes a predictable appearance, which tells you something about the room they're playing to. It's functional, not exciting, but the price ceiling keeps things accessible.