Italian focus, honest prices, no drama
East Avenue · Rochester · Italian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 8, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Grappa’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
The wine list at Grappa leans hard into its Italian identity — which makes sense for a restaurant with this name. At $8-$9 a glass, the entry price is refreshingly un-gougy for a sit-down Italian spot in Rochester. Don't expect to go deep here, but you won't feel ripped off either.
The list is Italy-first with recognizable DOC appellations doing most of the heavy lifting — Veneto, Abruzzo, and the Banfi stable making regular appearances. It's not adventurous: no skin-contact wines, no obscure southern Italian producers pushing the envelope, no aged Barolo lurking in the back pages. What you get is a clean, approachable slate of Italian classics that won't confuse anyone but also won't inspire much conversation. The gaps are real — Piedmont is thin, Tuscany seems represented mainly through Banfi's mass-market output, and anything outside Italy appears to be an afterthought.
At least three options by the glass in the $8-$9 range, which is honest pricing for Rochester's East Avenue corridor. The Borgo dei Mori Pinot Grigio and Casalini Montepulciano are the anchors here — dependable, if uninspiring. Rotation doesn't appear to be a priority; this feels like a list that gets refreshed annually, not seasonally.
Casalini Montepulciano D'Abruzzo DOC 2018 — $9
A 2018 Montepulciano at $9 a glass is genuinely solid value. This wine has had time to settle, and Abruzzo reds at this age tend to show more texture and depth than their price tag suggests. It's the best bang-for-buck pour on the list.
Casalini Montepulciano D'Abruzzo DOC 2018
Most people at an Italian restaurant default to the Pinot Grigio or whatever Banfi Chianti is on the list. The Casalini Montepulciano is the one worth ordering — it's a proper Abruzzo red with some bottle age on it, which most diners will walk right past.
Banfi
Banfi produces at industrial scale and their wines are ubiquitous on every mid-range Italian restaurant list in America for a reason — they're safe, consistent, and easy to source. But you can find this stuff at any grocery store. It's not a bad wine; it's just a lazy, uninspired pour that doesn't warrant restaurant markup when better options exist on this same list.
Casalini Montepulciano D'Abruzzo DOC 2018 + Pasta with red meat ragù
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is built for exactly this — the wine's firm acidity and dark fruit cut through rich, slow-cooked meat sauces without fighting them. It's the Italian pairing equivalent of muscle memory.
The Bottom Line
Grappa is the wine list equivalent of a reliable neighborhood Italian place: it shows up, it doesn't embarrass itself, and the prices won't ruin your night. Just don't come here expecting to discover anything new.
Village Gate / NOTA · Rochester · Farm-to-Table / New American
Lento isn't trying to be a wine destination, but its list is thoughtful enough that it kind of becomes one by accident — especially if you care about Finger Lakes wines in their natural habitat. Send your friends here, let them order the Duck Confit, and point them toward the Cab Franc.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Pittsford · Rochester · Refined Seasonal American with Wood-Fired Pizzas
jojo Pittsford is the kind of wine program that makes you want to cancel your dinner reservation somewhere else. For a bistro in suburban Rochester, this list is genuinely exciting — send your wine-curious friends here without hesitation.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Occasional
Proper
East Avenue / Winton · Rochester · Traditional Italian
Ristorante Lucano is a reliable Italian dinner with a wine list that doesn't embarrass itself — Italy-focused, anchored by classics, a bit overpriced but not offensively so. Send a friend here for a date night with the instruction to order the Barolo and not overthink it.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Pittsford Plaza · Rochester · Sushi and Japanese-inspired contemporary dining
Next Door is a Wild Card in the best sense: a grocery chain's restaurant with genuine wine ambition and a beverage program that earns more than a dismissive eye-roll. The markups will sting and the by-the-glass program needs more visibility, but the bones are here — and the wine pairing dinners featuring Château d'Yquem prove someone in the building actually cares.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
Corn Hill · Rochester · Wine Bar / New American
Flight is exactly what Rochester needed and didn't know it had — a real wine program in an unexpected zip code, with Wednesday half-price bottles that make an already fair list even easier to love. Send your wine-curious friends here before it gets too crowded to get a table.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Active Program
Acceptable
Neighborhood of the Arts · Rochester · Urban winery tasting room with small plates and charcuterie
Living Roots is one of Rochester's more original wine experiences — a dual-continent estate poured by people who actually know what they're talking about, at prices that don't punish curiosity. If you want a broad global list, go somewhere else; if you want a focused, well-executed tasting room with a genuine story, this is your spot.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Seasonal Rotation
Proper
· Atlanta · Italian
Bici's wine list won't knock you sideways, but it's honest, Italian-focused, and fairly priced — a reliable partner to the food. We'd send a friend here and tell them to skip the Sauvignon Blanc and go straight for the Greco.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
East Parkway / Elks Plaza · Gatlinburg · Italian
The Best Italian's wine list does exactly what it needs to do: keep casual diners happy, not drain wallets, and get out of the way of the garlic knots. We wouldn't drive to Gatlinburg for the wine, but if you're already there and want something decent with dinner, you'll be fine.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Vail Village · Vail · Italian
La Nonna brings a legitimately serious Italian cellar to a town where most restaurants are content to coast on their ski-town captive audience — and that deserves real credit. The markups are steep across the board, but the bones of the list are strong enough that the right bottle makes the whole evening.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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