Maryland's Quiet Italian Wine Overachiever
Laurel · Italian · Visit Website ↗
Updated September 2026
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 15, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Facci Ristorante’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The wine list at Facci lands with more intention than you'd expect from a suburban Maryland Italian spot. It reads like someone actually cares about what's in the bottle — Italy front and center, no apologies, no pandering to the Napa crowd. That Wine Spectator Award of Excellence they've held since 2012 isn't just wall decor; the list backs it up.
This is a focused Italian program, roughly 80-120 bottles deep, and it leans hard into the classics that matter. Piedmont shows up properly with Barolo and Gaja Barbaresco anchoring the top end, while the Super Tuscan section gives you the Antinori Tignanello that every table wants to order once in their life. Brunello di Montalcino gets its own real estate too, which tells you something about the ambition here. The Friuli Pinot Grigio selections keep the lighter end honest — these aren't grocery store pours dressed up with a restaurant markup.
Ten to sixteen options by the glass is a respectable spread for a room this size, and the $10-$18 range keeps things accessible without scraping the bottom of the barrel. We'd like to see more rotation and a few more adventurous pours — the by-the-glass list plays it slightly safer than the bottle list suggests it could.
Pinot Grigio from Friuli — $10
At the low end of the by-the-glass range, a proper Friuli Pinot Grigio — not the flabby supermarket kind — drinks way above its price point and cuts right through the richer pasta dishes.
Gaja Barbaresco
Most tables at a place like this default to the Super Tuscans because they know the name. The Gaja Barbaresco is the bottle that actually deserves the occasion — structured, complex, and a reminder that Piedmont is the top of the Italian food chain.
Antinori Tignanello
It's a great wine — nobody's arguing that — but Tignanello has become the restaurant industry's default 'fancy Italian' flex, and you're paying a premium for the brand recognition. There are more interesting bottles on this list for less money.
Barolo + Osso Buco
Braised veal shank needs a wine with structure and enough tannin to stand up to the richness. A Barolo from Piedmont is the textbook answer, and Facci's list gives you a real one — not a knockoff.
The Bottom Line
Facci is doing something genuinely solid in a zip code that doesn't demand it, and that's worth something. If you're in the Laurel area and want a proper Italian wine night without driving into DC, this is your spot.
· 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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