Lodi's Italian anchor with serious bottle ambitions
East Kettleman Lane · Lodi · Italian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 17, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Pietro's Trattoria’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
Walk in expecting red-checkered tablecloths and you might be surprised by what's on the wine list. Pietro's is swinging for the fences with Tignanello and Opus One sitting alongside Giovanni Rosso Barolo — not the usual trattoria lineup. It's more ambitious than the neighborhood lets on.
The Italian half of this 60-label list is legitimately solid: three different Barolos (Giovanni Rosso, Ceretto, and the Giacomo Borgogno 'Liste'), a Prunotto Barbaresco, Mastro Janni Brunello, and Speri Amarone give you a real tour of northern and central Italy's heavy hitters. The California side leans predictably prestige — Opus One, Silver Oak, Caymus, Frank Family Reserve — which reads less like curation and more like hitting the greatest hits. Bellavista Franciacorta earns extra credit as a sparkling option that goes beyond the usual Champagne reflex. The gaps are real though: no natural wine, no orange wine, thin on anything south of Florence.
Eighteen by-the-glass options is a generous pour for a restaurant this size, and in Lodi that's above average. We don't have the full glass list broken out, but with a bottle list this skewed toward big reds, we'd expect the pours to follow suit — heavy on Cab and Barolo-adjacents. Rotation appears minimal; this feels like a list that gets set and left alone.
Speri Amarone della Valpolicella — null
Speri is a reliable, family-run Valpolicella producer making honest Amarone without the ego tax of bigger names. If priced reasonably here, it's the smartest Italian red on the list — rich and serious without the Tignanello markup.
Bellavista Franciacorta
Most tables here will order Veuve or Perrier-Jouët on autopilot, but Bellavista's Franciacorta is Italy's answer to Champagne — made the same way, with real finesse, and typically at a friendlier price point. It's the most interesting bubble on the list and almost nobody orders it.
Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa
Caymus is everywhere, marked up everywhere, and wines from this program have drifted toward crowd-pleasing sweetness over the years. With Opus One, Frank Family Reserve, and Silver Oak all on the same list, there's no reason to default to the most ubiquitous Napa Cab in the game.
Giovanni Rosso Barolo + Braised short rib or osso buco
Giovanni Rosso makes a bright, structured Barolo from Serralunga d'Alba — the kind of wine that wants something with fat and braise to push against. If Pietro's is running any kind of slow-cooked meat, this is the call. Nebbiolo and rich Italian braises are not a coincidence; they were built for each other.
✔️ The Bottom Line
Pietro's is doing more with wine than most Lodi Italian spots bother to, and the Italian bottle selection genuinely earns some respect. Price transparency would help, and the California side could use an edit — but if you're here and you want a serious Italian red with your pasta, you've got real options.
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Small but Thoughtful
Steal
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
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Acceptable
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Small but Thoughtful
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Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Steep
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Occasional
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Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
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Acceptable
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