Half-price Wednesdays and Etna on the list
West Loop · Chicago · Italian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 14, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Mart Anthony's Italian Restaurant’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
Walking into Mart Anthony's, the exposed brick and warm lighting do exactly what they're supposed to — make you feel like you're about to eat well. The wine list backs that up more than you'd expect from a neighborhood Italian spot on Hubbard. Italy and California are the twin engines here, and they've got enough range to reward a closer look.
The list leans into its Italian identity without being predictable about it. You've got Vietti Barolo and Gaja Barbaresco covering the Piedmont heavyweights, but the real signal is the Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso — that's a producer buying volcanic-site fruit on the slopes of Mount Etna, not a name you expect to see at a cozy West Loop trattoria. California shows up with Ridge Lytton Springs and Flowers Sonoma Coast Pinot, two producers that actually mean something. La Spinetta rounds out the Italian side at a price point that feels approachable. Wine Spectator handed these guys an Award of Excellence starting in 2025, and you can see why — the list has genuine intent behind it.
By-the-glass specifics aren't published, which is a miss in transparency. Given the list composition, we'd expect the usual suspects — something from Tuscany, a California red, maybe a Pinot Grigio for the crowd. If they're rotating off-the-bottle wines as pours, that's worth asking the server about. Wednesday's half-price bottle program is the smarter play anyway.
Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso 2021 — $68
Terre Nere is one of the benchmark producers in Sicily's volcanic north — nerello mascalese with real structure and freshness. At $68, you're getting a wine that retails around $30-35, which is a reasonable restaurant markup for something this interesting. Drink it with anything on the menu.
Flowers Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir 2021
Most tables at an Italian restaurant are ordering the Barolo or the Chianti. The Flowers Sonoma Coast Pinot at $52 is the sleeper — cool-climate California Pinot with enough acidity to work with the food without demanding attention. Most people walk right past it.
Opus One 2019
At $285, Opus One is always a trophy pour more than a value play. You're paying for the name — the wine is genuinely good, but you could drink Gaja Barbaresco and have money left over. Save it for someone else's expense account.
Vietti Barolo Castiglione 2020 + Short rib agnolotti
Vietti's Castiglione is a structured, classic Barolo — tannin, tar, roses, the whole playbook. Braised short rib filling in pasta has the richness and fat to stand up to it, and the acidity in the nebbiolo cuts right through. This is the pairing you came for.
Wednesday — Half-price bottles on Wednesdays — the best reason to eat Italian mid-week in the West Loop.
The Bottom Line
Mart Anthony's punches above its weight class for a neighborhood Italian — the Terre Nere on the list alone earns goodwill, and half-price bottles on Wednesday makes it a legitimate weekly move. Send a friend, order the agnolotti, and ask about what's open.
Logan Square · Chicago · Italian
Come to Osteria Langhe for a focused trip through Piedmontese wine. Thursday’s advertised half-price selection is worth asking about, and Wednesday offers a wine pairing alongside the four-course menu. The linked wine list is dated December 2025, so confirm today’s bottles and prices before choosing.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Active Program
Proper
Lincoln Park · Chicago · American Casual
Summer House is not a wine destination, but it's a reliable place to drink well enough without getting gouged on the low end — just steer clear of the big-name bottles where the markup climbs. Send your friend here if they want something easy and good; don't send them here if they're chasing something serious.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Chicago · Italian
il Carciofo is doing something genuinely rare: building a wine list that treats Italian regional variety as the main event, not the footnote. If you're tired of the same Pinot Grigio and Chianti Classico circuit, this is exactly where you should be eating dinner.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Chicago · Chicago · Steakhouse
STK Chicago is here to sell you a night out, and the wine list is just part of the set dressing. If you care about what's in your glass, eat here for the steak and order water.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Chicago · French Brasserie
La Grande Boucherie Chicago is a reliable wine destination for anyone who wants a French-focused list executed with genuine effort and the occasional smart value. The markups aren't shy, but the BTG program and specials take some of the sting out — go in with a plan and you'll drink well.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Active Program
Acceptable
· Chicago · Steakhouse
This is not the wine list you expect to find at The Palm, and that's exactly why it earns attention. Six bottles, zero filler, genuinely fair pricing — if someone's tending this list, they deserve a raise.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Healdsburg · Italian
Ciao Bruto is running one of the smallest and most coherent wine lists in wine country, which is either audacious or brilliant — probably both. If you want a 200-label deep-dive, go somewhere else. If you want eight smart picks at prices that won't make you wince, this is the move in Healdsburg.
Small but Thoughtful
Steal
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Geyserville · Healdsburg · Italian
Diavola earns its Wild Card badge because it's a wood-fired pizza joint that punches well above its weight on wine — sommelier on staff, regional focus, and a setting that practically demands you order a second glass. We can't give you the bottle-by-bottle breakdown until we get eyes on a current list, but the bones here are good enough to say: don't just order a beer and move on.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
· Healdsburg · Italian
Ca'Bianca is a genuinely lovely place to eat, and if the food lives up to its reputation for house-made pasta and classic Italian technique, a bottle of something from the list is absolutely worth ordering. We just can't tell you exactly which bottle to order yet — the wine program's specifics aren't publicly documented well enough for us to make a confident call. When in doubt, ask your server what's local and what they're excited about, and go from there.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
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