Lisi Italian

You don't expect to find Giacomo Conterno Barolo and Biondi-Santi Brunello on a wine list in a Pinehurst resort town, but here we are. Lisi's list lands with genuine weight — this isn't a hotel restaurant coasting on Ruffino Chianti and a couple of California Cabs. Someone actually cared when they put this together.

The Italian backbone is the real story here: Barolo from Bruno Giacosa, Brunello from Biondi-Santi and Banfi, Amarone della Valpolicella, and Super Tuscans like Sassicaia and Tignanello fill out a north-to-south Italian roster that earns the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence it's held since 2023. France gets a solid supporting role with Louis Jadot and Joseph Drouhin representing Burgundy without overstaying their welcome. California shows up via Jordan and Stag's Leap Cab, and Domaine Drouhin Oregon rounds out the New World corner neatly. The gaps are real — no Southern Italian to speak of, no natural wine energy, no deep Champagne bench — but for a resort-market Italian restaurant, the depth is legitimately surprising.

With 12 to 20 pours available, the by-the-glass program is more than just a landing pad for people who can't commit. Whether there's consistent rotation or the list sits static is unclear, but the range of the bottle program suggests there's at least something interesting to land on. We'd push the staff to steer you toward whatever Italian red is open — that's where Lisi's heart lives.