SRV

The list lands with a confident Italian accent — 100 bottles deep, focused enough to feel curated rather than sprawling. The dim lighting and cicchetti energy set the tone: this isn't a place that accidentally has good wine. Someone here cares.

Italy does the heavy lifting, as it should for a Venetian-concept kitchen — Piedmont and Tuscany anchor the list with the kind of depth that actually tracks with the food. What makes it interesting is that SRV doesn't just go Barolo-and-Brunello safe; there's space for less-trodden southern Italian and northern Italian varietals that most Boston restaurants wouldn't touch. The 2015 Movia Ribolla is a statement pour — Movia is a boundary-pushing Slovenian-Italian producer making skin-contact Ribolla Gialla that most people have never heard of, and it's exactly right for a cicchetti menu. The presence of Masseria Li Veli's Malvasia Nera signals the same instinct: producers with a point of view, not just recognizable labels.

Twelve pours by the glass at $13 is a reasonable entry point for Boston, where the by-the-glass programs at comparable spots often start higher and deliver less. The glass selection appears to rotate with intentionality rather than just whatever needs to move — a good sign that the sommelier is actively managing inventory rather than letting the list go stale.