Il Palio

The wine list at Il Palio doesn't mess around — this is a serious Italian program built around all 20 regions of the peninsula, and you feel that ambition the moment you open it. It reads like someone actually cares, not like a manager copy-pasted the same Pinot Grigio and Chianti every Italian restaurant in America uses. The Tuscan villa setting inside the Siena Hotel earns the dramatic wine list; they belong together.

Coverage here is genuinely comprehensive — from the volcanic wines of Sicily up through Piedmont's Nebbiolo heavyweights, with stops in Valpolicella, Montalcino, and Puglia along the way. The presence of Poggio di Sotto's Brunello di Montalcino 2018 tells you everything you need to know about the ceiling of this list; that's a serious producer making serious wine. La Giaretta Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2020 rounds out the big-red end with equal conviction. The one odd note is Duckhorn Chardonnay showing up in the mix — a perfectly fine wine, but it sticks out on an otherwise proudly Italian list like a tourist in a Florentine piazza.

The quartino format — 8-ounce pours — is a smart move that lets you drink more than a standard 6-ounce pour without committing to a full bottle, which is especially useful when you want to range across the Italian map. Glass options run $11–$25 per quartino with 10+ selections available, giving you real range from casual weeknight pours up to something worth lingering over. We'd like to see more rotation to keep regulars guessing, but the selection holds its own as-is.