Ristorante Giordi

Walking into a modern Italian restaurant in Stuart, Florida and seeing Gaja Barbaresco and Sassicaia on the list is a genuine surprise — this isn't what you expect from a mid-size coastal town. The list signals serious Italian intent, and it mostly delivers on that promise. It's the kind of wine program that makes you do a double-take and immediately start texting your friends.

The list leans hard into Italy's greatest hits — Super Tuscans like Tignanello, Solaia, Sassicaia, and Ornellaia anchor the Tuscan section, while Barolo gets proper representation through Ceretto and Vietti, and Brunello shows up via Banfi and Poggio Antico. Gaja's Barbaresco is the crown jewel, a bold flex for a restaurant of this size. California gets a respectable supporting role with Caymus Cabernet, Stag's Leap, and Rombauer Chardonnay — crowd-pleasers, yes, but they fill the room for guests who don't want to venture into Italian territory. The gaps show in less-explored Italian regions — don't expect much beyond the Tuscany-Piedmont axis.

The by-the-glass program runs 10-16 options, which is a decent spread for a restaurant this size. We'd love to see some of the Italian depth from the bottle list trickle into the glass pours — too often these programs default to the safe California standbys. Rotation doesn't appear to be a priority here, so what you see is largely what you get visit to visit.