Trattoria Enzo
The Pasta's Great, Skip the Wine List
Birmingham · Birmingham · Italian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed March 16, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
The wine list at Trattoria Enzo reads like the shelf at a mid-tier grocery store — familiar names, no surprises, nothing that makes you lean in. For a restaurant flying an Italian flag, there's a suspicious shortage of bottles that would actually make an Italian nod in approval. You're here for the food, and that's probably the right call.
Selection Deep Dive
Twenty-seven labels sounds like a starting point, not a destination. The list leans heavily on approachable California and Washington workhorses — Columbia Crest, Murphy Goode, Mark West — with a few Italian names like Giulio Straccali Chianti and Benvolio Pinot Grigio doing the bare minimum to justify the trattoria branding. There's no real depth in Tuscany, nothing from Piedmont, no Sicilian curiosities, and the Argentine and New Zealand entries feel like they wandered in from a chain steakhouse. The gaps are louder than what's actually here.
By the Glass
Nine pours by the glass at $7–$9 is at least accessible, and the range covers the basics — white, red, bubbly-adjacent. But when you're pouring Kim Crawford and Columbia Crest Grand Estate as your headline acts, you're not exactly inspiring anyone to linger over a second glass. Rotation appears nonexistent; this list has the energy of something laminated years ago and never questioned.
Cambria Chardonnay — $40
At 100% markup it's the least egregious bottle on the list — Cambria's Katherine's Vineyard Chardonnay actually has some substance behind it, and $40 for a Santa Maria Valley Chard with real acidity is the closest thing to a fair deal here.
Giulio Straccali Chianti
It's the one bottle on this list that actually belongs in an Italian restaurant. Straccali Chianti is no showstopper, but it's honest Sangiovese — bright, food-friendly, and the kind of wine that makes a bowl of orecchiette feel like a proper Italian meal.
Columbia Crest Grand Estate Chardonnay
A $10 retail bottle marked up to $30 is a hard sell when you can buy a case of this at the grocery store on your way home. There's nothing wrong with the wine itself — it's just a $10 wine, and paying triple for it at the table stings.
Giulio Straccali Chianti + Orecchiette Enzo
Sangiovese's natural acidity and earthy edge were basically built to cut through a rich, savory pasta sauce. It's the most classically Italian move on a list that doesn't offer many of them.
❌ The Bottom Line
Trattoria Enzo is clearly doing something right in the kitchen, but the wine list is an afterthought dressed up in a nice room. Steep markups on grocery-store bottles, zero Italian ambition, and a list that hasn't evolved — order a cocktail or bring your own if corkage allows.
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