Old World bottles hiding in a Japanese-Med kitchen
Downtown Phoenix · Phoenix · Japanese, Mediterranean · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 10, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Pa'La Kitchen’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
You walk into Pa'La expecting a fun fusion dinner and then the wine list lands on the table and resets your expectations entirely. Italy and France, curated tightly, no filler — this is a list that somebody actually thought about. For downtown Phoenix, that alone is worth talking about.
The list sits somewhere between 80 and 120 bottles, and nearly every slot earns its place. Piedmont shows up with serious Barolo producers, Brunello di Montalcino anchors the Tuscany section, and there's a Super Tuscan or two for guests who want muscle without the patience. France gets its due through Burgundy village-level Pinot Noir and a tight run of grower Champagnes that most Phoenix restaurants wouldn't bother stocking. The real surprise is the Sicilian corner — Etna Bianco here is not an afterthought, and it plays brilliantly against the seafood-forward menu. Gaps exist: the New World is largely absent and the list is deliberately narrow, but what's here is well-chosen.
Twelve to eighteen pours by the glass at $14–$22 is a solid range for this market, and the program leans into the same Old World identity as the bottle list rather than defaulting to grocery-store standbys. We'd like to see more rotation and a stronger push on the Etna Bianco or a grower Champagne by the glass, but the options available hold up.
Etna Bianco (Sicilian white) — $12–$180 range; glass pours from $14
Etna Bianco from volcanic Sicilian slopes punches well above its price point here — mineral, saline, structured — and it's exactly what the octopus with potato and olive is asking for. A glass pour in the mid-teens for this quality is genuinely fair.
Grower Champagne
Most guests are going to default to the Italian reds and miss the grower Champagne section entirely. These are small-production bottles from actual farmers, not the big houses — more texture, more terroir, and a far more interesting conversation starter than another Barolo opener.
Super Tuscan
The Super Tuscans on this list aren't bad wines, but they're the most commoditized category here and the markup reflects their brand recognition. With Barolo and Brunello sitting nearby at comparable prices, there's almost no reason to land here.
Etna Bianco + Scallops with green apple-miso
The volcanic minerality and bright citrus edge of Etna Bianco cuts right through the umami richness of the miso while echoing the tartness of the green apple. It's an Old World wine meeting a Japanese-Mediterranean dish and neither one blinks.
The Bottom Line
Pa'La is the kind of place that earns a Wine Spectator credential by actually caring — the list is tight, Old World-focused, and priced fairly for what you're getting. Send a friend here and tell them to skip the Super Tuscans and drink Sicilian.
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