Old-school Italian charm, serious bottle depth
Hollywood · Los Angeles · Upscale Italian, Seafood · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · June 21, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Marino Ristorante’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The wine list at Marino arrives looking like it means business — a proper Italian-focused document with real producers, real regions, and enough depth to reward someone who actually wants to dig in. This isn't the kind of list a restaurant cobbles together from a distributor's top-ten sheet. Someone here cares, and it shows from the first page.
Piedmont and Tuscany anchor the list as you'd expect, but the reach into Campania (Mastroberardino Taurasi Radici), Sicily (Planeta Santa Cecilia), and Friuli keeps things interesting. Trophy bottles like Gaja Barbaresco, Ornellaia Bolgheri Superiore, and Antinori Tignanello give big spenders something to chase, while mid-tier producers like Inama, Livio Felluga, and Ca' del Bosco fill in the gaps with credibility. The Franciacorta presence — specifically Ca' del Bosco — is a small flex that most Italian restaurants in LA skip entirely. What's missing is any real New World detour or non-Italian wildcard for guests who want to go off-script.
Twelve pours by the glass is a reasonable count for a restaurant of this caliber, and if the list is being rotated thoughtfully by the sommelier on staff, there's real opportunity here. We'd push them to feature more of the southern Italian stuff — a Taurasi or a Nero d'Avola by the glass would be a genuine differentiator. As it stands, the program is solid but not something that makes you put down the bottle list.
Tenuta San Guido Guidalberto Toscana 2018 — $145
At 164% markup, this is the closest thing to a fair deal on the list. Guidalberto is the little sibling to Sassicaia — Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from the same estate in Bolgheri — and it punches well above its price point. For a table that wants a serious Tuscan red without dropping $300+, this is the move.
Ca' del Bosco Franciacorta
Most tables at Marino are going to reach for a Barolo or a Super Tuscan and completely overlook this. Ca' del Bosco is one of the benchmark producers in Franciacorta — Italy's answer to Champagne — and finding it on a restaurant list outside of a dedicated wine bar is genuinely rare. Order it as an aperitivo or with the crudo and feel like you know something the rest of the room doesn't.
Planeta La Segreta Bianco 2019
At $52 a bottle, you're paying more than three times retail for a wine that's a perfectly fine everyday Sicilian white. It's not a bad wine — it's just not a $52 wine. The markup here (247%) is the steepest on the list, and there are better ways to spend your money.
Mastroberardino Taurasi Radici + Spaghetti ricci di mare
Taurasi is Aglianico at its most serious — structured, savory, with a mineral edge that mirrors the briny intensity of sea urchin pasta better than any Tuscan red could. It's a southern Italian pairing that makes geographic and flavor-logic sense, and it's the kind of thing the sommelier here should be steering you toward anyway.
The Bottom Line
Marino is a reliable, well-curated Italian wine list that earns its stripes on selection and staff knowledge, even if the pricing makes you wince on the everyday bottles. Send a friend here for the Guidalberto and the Franciacorta — just steer them away from anything under $60.
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Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Adams is doing something genuinely rare in LA: a community-anchored wine bar with actual conviction behind the list and staff who can back it up. Send your friends here, especially the ones who think they don't like wine.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
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Proper
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Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Proper
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Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Los Feliz · Los Angeles · Wine Bar
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Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
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