Wednesday Bottles Make Everything Forgivable
Bellefonte · State College · Italian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed July 20, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed Mamma Lucrezia's’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The wine list at Mamma Lucrezia's reads like a greatest hits album from the mid-2000s — Caymus, Kim Crawford, Kendall-Jackson. You know every song, nobody's surprised, and honestly it still goes down easy. It's a neighborhood Italian spot playing exactly to its crowd, which is fine until you see some of the bottle prices.
The list leans heavily California with a few European cameos — an August Kesseler Riesling nods to Germany, the Vicolo Montepulciano d'Abruzzo gives Italy a proper seat at its own table, and La Marca Prosecco handles the bubbles duty. Beyond that, it's Napa valley workhorses: Caymus Cab anchors the top end at what we'd expect to be a significant markup over retail, and Joseph Phelps 2019 makes an appearance for the splurge-curious. The Italian representation is thinner than you'd hope from a restaurant with this name, and there's no real exploration of southern Italian or Sicilian bottles that might actually complement the food in interesting ways.
Glass pours run $7–$9, which is genuinely reasonable for a sit-down Italian in central Pennsylvania. We don't have a confirmed count of by-the-glass options, but given the list's composition, expect the usual suspects — a Chardonnay, a Cab, maybe the Sauvignon Blanc. Rotation doesn't appear to be a priority here.
Vicolo Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC — $7–$9/glass
This is the one wine on the list that actually belongs at an Italian restaurant. Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is food-friendly, rustic, and earthy in a way Caymus will never be. At the glass price point, it's the smartest pour on the menu — especially on a Wednesday when the bottle goes half off.
August Kesseler Riesling
Most people at an Italian spot will reach for the Chardonnay or skip white wine entirely. August Kesseler is a serious Rheingau producer making Rieslings with real structure and cut. On a list otherwise dominated by California crowd-pleasers, this bottle sticks out as the one choice someone actually thought about.
Caymus Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
Caymus is fine wine, but it's also one of the most marked-up labels in American restaurants. You're paying a significant premium for a brand that's been riding its reputation for years. Unless it's Wednesday — in which case, knock yourself out.
Vicolo Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC + Pasta with red meat sauce
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo has the acidity and earthiness to cut through a rich, meat-forward tomato sauce without stepping on it. It's doing what Italian wine was built to do — make the food taste better. Beats a big California Cab for this job every time.
Wednesday — All wine bottles are half price on Wednesday when dining in at any of the restaurant's locations.
The Bottom Line
Mamma Lucrezia's isn't a destination wine list, but the Wednesday half-price bottle deal changes the math considerably — suddenly that Joseph Phelps looks a lot more interesting. Show up any other night and manage expectations; show up Wednesday and order what you actually want.
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