Daytona's Italian Standby Pours Wider Than Expected
· Daytona Beach · Italian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed September 9, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed The Garlic’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
A 105-label list at an Italian restaurant in Daytona Beach is not what you expect to find. The Garlic comes in swinging with more options than most comparable spots in the area, and the organization by category — sparkling, white, red, dessert — makes it easy to navigate without a guide. It's not a destination wine list, but it's working harder than it needs to.
The sparkling section is genuinely impressive for a beach-town trattoria — Veuve Clicquot, Taittinger Prestige Rosé, and Bouvet Crémant de Loire all sharing a menu with a J.P. Chenet Rosé split is a wide range to offer. The white side leans Chardonnay-heavy with Ironstone, Freakshow, and Chalk Hill covering the California spectrum, and the Italian roots show up in the house pours: Pinot Grigio and Montepulciano doing the predictable work. There's a 'La Dolce Vita' section that leans into sweet and semi-sweet territory — Roscato, flavored Moscatos, Caposaldo — which plays to the casual dining crowd but won't do much for anyone looking for structure. The American red section exists, though the extracted data trails off before we see its full depth.
Thirty-three by-the-glass options is legitimately generous — most neighborhood Italian joints offer a third of that. The range runs from $8.50 house pours up to $20 a glass, which gives you real options across every budget. The house Pinot Grigio and Montepulciano at $8.50 are your workhorses; they won't wow you, but they won't embarrass anyone either.
Bouvet Crémant de Loire Brut Excellence — $34
Crémant de Loire at $34 a bottle is a genuine win. Bouvet makes a clean, food-friendly sparkling wine that goes toe-to-toe with Prosecco twice its price, and here it's priced fairly for what it is. Order this over the Chandon or Santa Margherita and pocket the difference.
Taittinger Prestige Rosé
At $119, it's the splurge option most tables will skip in favor of the Veuve — but Taittinger's Prestige Rosé is genuinely the more interesting bottle. Elegant, a little leaner, and it doesn't need a special occasion to justify it. If you're celebrating anything, this is the right call.
Freakshow Chardonnay 2019
At $40 a bottle, you're paying a premium for a label with a circus aesthetic and a 2019 vintage that's been sitting around. The Chalk Hill at $50 is the better Chardonnay for ten bucks more, or just step down to Ironstone at $38 and save yourself the confusion.
Bouvet Crémant de Loire Brut Excellence + Garlic bread or seafood pasta
A crisp, dry bubbly cuts right through butter and garlic — the two things this restaurant is presumably built around. Crémant's lower pressure and toasty notes make it more forgiving with food than most Proseccos, and at $34 it's a bottle you can actually finish at dinner.
The Bottom Line
The Garlic is punching above its weight class for a Daytona Beach Italian spot — 105 labels and 33 by-the-glass options is real effort, and the pricing is mostly honest. It's not a wine destination, but it's absolutely the right place to drink well if you're already there for pasta.
· Daytona Beach · Wine bar / charcuterie
Madeline's delivers exactly what it promises: a deep, accessible Cabernet-forward list with fair pricing at the entry and mid levels, and a by-the-glass program that lets you explore without committing to a full bottle. It's not going to surprise the adventurous drinker, but for Daytona Beach, this is a legitimate wine destination — especially if you go for the Garnacha or the Susumaninello instead of the crowd-pleasing Cab.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Daytona Beach · Cafe / Wine Bar
Third Wave calls itself a wine bar, but eight labels — mostly accessible California brands — isn't a wine program, it's a placeholder. If wine is your reason for going out, this list won't reward the effort. Stick to whatever coffee or cocktail program they run better.
Grocery Store
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Ormond Beach · Daytona Beach · Bistro
Vine Bistro has the bones of a great neighborhood wine spot — a relaxed, romantic room, food that's built for sharing and sipping, and a reputation that keeps locals coming back. We'd love to give you a tighter breakdown of the list, but our sourcing came up short on specifics. Worth a visit in person: go for the charcuterie, ask what's pouring by the glass, and report back.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Daytona Beach · Wine Bar / Restaurant
Rogue Wave is a small, honest list with a surprising BC backbone that earns it more credit than the bottle count suggests. If you're in Daytona and want wine without drama or sticker shock, this is your spot.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Daytona Beach Shores · Daytona Beach · Wine-focused California-leaning grille
SoNapa Grille is a genuine wild card — a wine-focused concept in a market that didn't ask for one, and that's exactly why it's worth your attention. Get in early, see if the list earns the concept, and hope the glass pours are priced like they want repeat customers.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Daytona Beach · Wine Bar
Wine Not? isn't trying to be a destination wine bar — it's trying to be your relaxed neighborhood pour, and it pulls that off without overcomplicating things. If you live nearby, this is a perfectly decent spot to work through a few glasses; just don't show up expecting to geek out.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Vinings · Vinings · Italian
Cotto is doing more with a 51-bottle list than most Italian restaurants do with twice as many labels — the Italian whites alone make this worth a visit for anyone tired of the same old Pinot Grigio rut. The markup is fair, the by-the-glass program is genuinely generous, and the presence of bottles like the Bocale Trebbiano Spoletino signals real intent. We'd send a friend here and tell them to skip the Santa Margherita and work their way through the Vermentinos instead.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · Italian
Tavola Trattoria's wine program is five bottles deep and priced without apology — $101 for a Saracco Moscato is the kind of markup that makes you consider ordering water and going wine shopping after dinner. The list has no still wines at all, which is a strange call for an Italian restaurant. Order a cocktail or ask if they have a corkage policy, because this wine list isn't doing you any favors.
Grocery Store
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · Italian
La Tavola is an Italian restaurant with a five-bottle wine list that stops at sparkling and rosé — no reds, no whites, no depth whatsoever. The pricing on what's there is difficult to justify. Unless you came specifically for Lambrusco or Franciacorta, you're better off calling ahead to ask about corkage.
Grocery Store
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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