Red Rock Romance With a Solid Cellar
Sedona · Italian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 10, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Dahl & Di Luca’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The wine list at Dahl & Di Luca reads like it was built for the room — romantic, Italian-leaning, and comfortable rather than adventurous. It lands exactly where you'd expect from a candlelit Sedona institution that's been holding a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence since 2006. California and Italy carry the weight here, and they carry it well.
The list clocks in somewhere between 80 and 120 bottles, split predictably between California heavyweights and Italian classics — which is exactly what the cuisine calls for. You've got Antinori Tignanello and Marchesi di Barolo Barolo anchoring the Italian side, while Stag's Leap and Caymus hold down the California end. Banfi Brunello di Montalcino is a legitimate inclusion, not just a name-drop. The gaps show up when you look for anything off the beaten path — no natural wine curiosities, no southern Italian or Sicilian wildcards — but that's not what this place is selling.
Ten to sixteen options by the glass is a respectable spread for a restaurant this size, and the Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio and Ruffino Chianti Classico Riserva are reliable anchors for guests who aren't ready to commit to a bottle. The program feels static rather than rotated — don't expect to find something different on your third visit — but the quality floor is solid.
Ruffino Chianti Classico Riserva — $45
Chianti Classico Riserva is a food wine built for exactly this kind of Italian menu, and Ruffino delivers the goods without pretense. If it's landing in the $40s, it's the smartest bottle on the table for housemade pasta night.
Marchesi di Barolo Barolo
Most tables at a Sedona date-night spot will reach for Caymus on autopilot. The Barolo is the move — structured, complex, and the kind of bottle that makes osso buco taste like you planned the whole evening around it.
Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Caymus is everywhere, and it's priced like everyone knows it. You're paying a significant tourist-town premium for a wine you could grab at Total Wine on the way out of Phoenix. There are better California options on this list.
Antinori Tignanello + Osso buco
Tignanello is a Super Tuscan built on Sangiovese with Cabernet backbone — exactly the kind of wine that can go toe-to-toe with braised veal shank without either one blinking. This is the pairing you came to Sedona for.
The Bottom Line
Dahl & Di Luca won't surprise you, but it will take care of you — a well-maintained Italian-and-California list in a genuinely romantic room deserves the nearly two decades of Wine Spectator recognition it's earned. Bring someone you want to impress, order the Barolo, skip the Caymus.
· Sedona · Mexican
89Agave is almost certainly a fun spot to eat — it's a cantina in Sedona, and the margaritas are probably doing the heavy lifting here anyway. The wine list, though, is purely functional and priced without much generosity, particularly at the higher end. If wine matters to your evening, order something simple by the glass and move on; this program isn't the reason to visit.
Grocery Store
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Sedona · Cafe / American
The Secret Garden Cafe's wine list is a perfectly adequate afterthought — familiar labels that get the job done when the real draw is the patio setting and Sedona scenery. We wouldn't send anyone here specifically for the wine, but if you're already there for the view, the Balleyana is your best bet on the list.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Sedona · Southwestern
SaltRock is doing something genuinely worthwhile for a resort wine program: it's leaning into Arizona's emerging wine identity instead of hiding behind an all-California safety net. The markup is fair across most of the list, the glass selection is almost absurdly broad, and the local producers are the real reason to pay attention here. If you're in Sedona and curious about Verde Valley wines, this is a legitimate place to explore them.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Sedona · Wine Bar / New American
Vino Di Sedona earns the Wild Card badge by doing what few tourist-destination wine bars bother to do: stocking skin-contact pours, Arizona locals, and genuinely interesting worldly whites at prices that don't punish you for being in a scenery hotspot. If you're in Sedona and want a real glass of wine — not just something red in a big glass — this is the move.
Surprising Depth
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Sedona · Italian / American
Hideaway House isn't trying to be a wine destination, and the list is priced accordingly — or rather, more steeply than the selections justify. The markups are real, the variety is safe, and the staff situation is unknown. That said, the sheer volume of by-the-glass options makes it easy to find something that works. Come for the Sedona setting, order the Fanti if you're feeling adventurous, and keep expectations calibrated.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Sedona · American / Southwestern
Mesa Grill is a reliable wine stop, not a destination — but reliable in Sedona is worth something when plenty of spots are content to charge resort prices for grocery store pours. The Arneis and the Albariño show that someone on the buying side is paying attention, even if the list doesn't take many risks. If you're eating here, you'll drink well enough to enjoy the view.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
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
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