Solid Italian anchor, but California flexing hard
Downtown Easton · Easton · Authentic Northern Italian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 25, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Scossa Restaurant & Lounge’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Take Vibe Match and we’ll tell you what to order here.
Wingman Metrics
The list at Scossa feels like it was built to impress the waterfront crowd rather than complement the handmade pasta on the table. You open it expecting Barolo and Vermentino and instead find Cakebread and Duckhorn waving at you from across the room. It's not a bad list — it's just a confident Italian restaurant wearing a California Cabernet suit.
At roughly 47 labels, this is a manageable list that skews heavily toward big American names — Jordan, Duckhorn, Far Niente, Rombauer — with some genuine Italian depth tucked in via Ceretto Barbaresco and La Togata Brunello di Montalcino. The Italian and French representation is there, but it feels like a small island in a sea of Napa. For a Northern Italian kitchen built around handmade pasta and risotto, the list could lean a lot harder into Piedmont, Friuli, or even a Soave or two. The Stag's Leap Petite Syrah is an odd inclusion that feels more like a wine rep got a meeting than a considered curatorial choice.
Twenty by-the-glass options is genuinely strong for a small-town Maryland restaurant — three sparkling, seven whites, ten reds, ranging from $12.50 to $16.50 a glass. The sparkling selection leading with Veuve Clicquot is a classy move. What's missing is any real Italian white by the glass — no Pinot Grigio, no Gavi, nothing that says 'we thought about what you're eating.'
Migration by Duckhorn Russian River Pinot Noir — $16.50
Migration punches above its glass-pour price point — Russian River fruit from Duckhorn's second label at under $17 a glass is genuinely fair. Order it by the glass before you commit to a bottle of anything.
La Togata Brunello di Montalcino
Most tables here are going straight for the Duckhorn Cab without looking twice at this Brunello. That's a mistake. La Togata is a solid Montalcino producer and this is the kind of wine that actually belongs next to a slow-braised meat dish on an Italian menu — and most guests walk right past it.
Cakebread Napa Cabernet Sauvignon
At $160 a bottle, you're paying a significant premium for a name that retails around $60-70. Cakebread is reliable but it's not special, and at that markup it's doing you no favors. The Ceretto Barbaresco will be more interesting and almost certainly a better deal.
Ceretto Barbaresco Piemonte + Handmade pasta with a traditional Northern Italian meat preparation
Barbaresco is basically purpose-built for Northern Italian cooking — enough acidity to cut through rich pasta, enough structure to stand up to braised meat, and it's actually from the same region the kitchen is referencing. This is the most coherent wine-meets-food moment on the menu.
✔️ The Bottom Line
Scossa is a legitimately good restaurant that happens to have a wine list more interested in Napa status symbols than in what's on the plate — but with the Brunello and Barbaresco hiding in there, and a strong by-the-glass count, there's enough to work with if you look past the obvious picks. Send your friends, but brief them first.
Downtown Easton · Easton · Roman-style pizza
Roma Alla Pala is absolutely worth visiting for the pizza — but the wine list is an afterthought with steep markups on recognizable grocery-store bottles. Order the Prosecco, focus on the food, and save the serious wine drinking for another night.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Royal Oak · Easton · Upscale New American with Global Influences
T at the General Store is a destination for the food first, and the wine list knows that — it's curated just enough to be useful without trying to steal the spotlight. Come on a Wednesday, order the LAN Crianza, and let the chef do the rest.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
Downtown Easton · Easton · Fusion (global/Asian-influenced American)
Tiger Lily won't win any awards for its wine program, but it earns its keep — fair prices, a thoughtful short list, and a few genuinely good picks buried in there for anyone willing to look past the Chardonnay. If you're eating here, drink the Eroica.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown Easton · Easton · Contemporary American
Out of the Fire is a dependable wine stop in a town that doesn't have many — the California-focused list is a little one-note, but the pricing is honest and there are a few genuinely interesting bottles hiding in the lineup. Send a friend here for dinner, point them to the Cab Franc, and tell them to skip the bourbon barrel novelty act.
Plays It Safe
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Easton · Easton · Regional
The Stewart is a genuine surprise on the Eastern Shore — a cocktail lounge with a brass-and-marble soul that quietly runs a Wine Spectator-recognized program with a real sommelier steering it. Hit it on a Wednesday and you've found one of the best wine deals in Maryland.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Occasional
Proper
Easton · Easton · Australian, German
Kabinett is a genuine wild card — a glam little wine bar in a mid-size Pennsylvania city doing serious Austrian and German wine work that would hold its own in any major market. Send your friends, especially the ones who think they don't like Riesling.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
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