Daytona's Secret Cellar Has a Serious Dessert Wine Obsession
Historic District · Daytona Beach · Fine Dining Italian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 15, 2026
RagingWine reviewed The Cellar Restaurant’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
You walk into a historic mansion in Daytona Beach expecting tourist-trap Italian and instead find a wine list that takes a hard left into Sauternes, Vintage Port, and a 1982 Pedro Ximénez that has no business being on this block. It's disorienting in the best way. This list was built by someone who cares, even if the rest of the program hasn't quite kept up.
The breadth here skews heavily toward sweet and fortified wines — Sauternes, Vin Santo, Moscato d'Asti, Sherry, and an impressive Port selection anchored by Ramos Pinto and Gould Campbell — which is unusual and honestly kind of great. The dry wine side covers Italy and France with reasonable depth, touching Bordeaux and Oregon (Adelsheim Pinot Noir Deglace), and there's a Fèlsina Vin Santo that signals someone on this team has actual taste. The gaps are real though: if you want a serious Barolo or a lean Burgundy, you're out of luck. What's here is curated but narrow, and the list hasn't been visibly updated since at least 2015 based on available sourcing.
Glass pour details are sparse — we know sweet and fortified options run $8–$15 a glass, which is actually fair for the quality level (looking at you, Lustau Pedro Ximénez at that price). For the dry side, by-the-glass specifics aren't published, which is a miss for any restaurant calling itself fine dining. A rotating glass program would do this place real favors.
Moscato d'Asti La Serra, Di Gresy — $8–$15/glass
Di Gresy's La Serra is a legitimately great producer for Moscato d'Asti — bright, low-alcohol, and precise. At the sweet-wine glass price point, this is a steal compared to what you'd pay at a proper wine bar.
Bodegas Toro Albala Gran Reserva 1982 Pedro Ximénez
A PX from 1982 on a menu in Daytona Beach is genuinely absurd, and we mean that as a compliment. This is thick, raisined, almost molasses-dark Sherry that most people walk right past because they don't know what it is. Order it. Sip it slowly. Be confused about where you are.
Stags' Leap Merlot Napa
At $65 for a bottle that retails around $30, this is a standard-issue markup that crosses into overpriced territory — especially when Napa Merlot isn't exactly what you'd come here for. The interesting stuff on this list lives in the fortified and dessert section, not in the California aisle.
Château Doisy-Védrines Sauternes + Prosciutto di Parma with Melon and Pear
Sauternes with cured meat and sweet fruit is a classic play for a reason — the wine's honeyed richness and acidity cut right through the fat of the prosciutto while echoing the melon and pear. It's one of those combinations that makes you feel smarter than you are.
The Bottom Line
The Cellar is a genuine Wild Card — a fine-dining Italian spot in a Florida tourist town hiding one of the more interesting dessert and fortified wine lists in the region. Come for the Vin Santo and the 1982 PX, manage your expectations on the dry wine side, and don't order the Napa Merlot.
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