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 →
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.
Downtown · Rochester · American Steakhouse
CHAR makes it easy to try Finger Lakes wine alongside the steakhouse standards. Our move is Hosmer Cabernet Franc at $16/glass, with Panizzi Vernaccia at $14 for anyone leaning white. Check the per-ounce pricing before ordering a Coravin pour.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Neighborhood of the Arts · Rochester · Contemporary American with Italian and French inspiration
Avvino is the rare neighborhood restaurant where the wine list is a genuine reason to show up, not an afterthought. If you're in Rochester and you care about drinking well, this is your room.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Brighton / Monroe Ave · Rochester · Contemporary American with Italian and French influences
Avvino is the kind of wine-forward neighborhood restaurant Rochester deserves more of — nearly 200 bottles, a sommelier, and a standing half-price Wednesday that makes a solid splurge genuinely accessible. It's not reinventing the wine list, but it's doing the right things consistently enough that we'd send a friend here without hesitation.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Seasonal Rotation
Proper
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
· 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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