Il Giallo Osteria & Bar

Sixty-five labels deep at a suburban Italian osteria in Sandy Springs is not what we expected — and the list opens with sparkling wines that actually mean something. There's a seriousness here that most neighborhood Italian spots in Atlanta don't bother with, and the pricing doesn't immediately make you wince.

The Italian white section alone is a minor revelation: Ceretto Blangè Arneis, Feudi di San Gregorio Falanghina, Cantine Colosi Grillo, and Lunaria Civitas Pecorino all on the same list is the kind of regional Italian variety you'd expect from a wine bar downtown, not a strip-mall osteria off Roswell Road. The sparkling section is the real flex — Ca'del Bosco and two Barone Pizzini Franciacortas show genuine Italian fizz literacy, and the Champagne section goes from a Ponson Premier Cru all the way up to a 1978 Dom Pérignon ($1,400) for anyone treating dinner like an auction. France gets a nod too with Henri Bourgeois Sancerre and a Famille Gueguen Chablis holding their own alongside the Italian whites. The list isn't trying to cover every corner of the wine world, but what it does cover, it does with intention.

Twenty-two by-the-glass options is generous for a restaurant of this size, running $13 to $25 a pour, and the selection doesn't default to the usual Pinot Grigio-and-Cab safety net. You can get the Feudi di San Gregorio Falanghina or the Henri Bourgeois Sancerre by the glass, which signals that someone actually thought about this program. The Alasia Moscato d'Asti at $13 a glass is a crowd-pleaser, but the glass options give you room to explore beyond it.