Wednesday Nights Just Became Your New Ritual
Mountain Road · Stowe · Italian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 28, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Trattoria La Festa’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
The wine list at Trattoria La Festa is about as cozy and unpretentious as the restored farmhouse it lives in — thirteen labels, all Italian, no frills. It's short enough to read in the time it takes to demolish a bread basket, which is either charming or a little alarming depending on how serious you are about your Barolo. What saves this from being a total afterthought is one genuinely clever move hiding in plain sight.
Thirteen bottles is a tight edit, and the list leans into familiar Italian crowd-pleasers without much adventurousness — you're not finding obscure Etna Rosso or Friulano here. The Antinori Bramito del Cervo Chardonnay from Umbria is the clearest sign that someone made at least one thoughtful choice, anchoring the white side with a recognizable, reputable producer. The Orvieto Classico DOC is the regional Italian move you'd expect from a trattoria doing honest cucina casalinga, and it earns its spot. The bubbly tier runs from the entry-level Martini & Rossi Asti to the Perrier-Jouët Brut NV at $105, which is a big price leap for what is ultimately a crowd-pleasing Champagne at a Vermont ski-town markup.
One glass pour. One. The Prosecco at $11 is your only by-the-glass option, which means if you want still wine, you're committing to a bottle — no hedging, no half-measures. It's a baffling constraint for a trattoria where half the table might want a single glass of something red with their Chicken Parm. Dinner dates and solo diners, plan accordingly.
Antinori Bramito del Cervo Chardonnay — $50
Antinori's Bramito is made from Chardonnay grown in Umbria's Castello della Sala estate — one of Italy's most respected white wine producers. At $50 in a Vermont mountain town, it's not cheap, but it's the one bottle on this list where you're actually getting a wine with serious pedigree and a producer that knows what they're doing. Everything else is a bigger leap of faith.
Orvieto Classico DOC
Most people ordering Italian food in Vermont aren't thinking about Orvieto, but they should be. This central Umbrian white — crisp, mineral, slightly nutty — is exactly what you want cutting through a cream-sauced pasta or a plate of fried calamari. It's the kind of regional pairing that makes sense on a menu like this, and it's almost certainly the least-ordered bottle at the table.
Perrier-Jouët Brut NV
At $105, the Perrier-Jouët is the top of the list in both price and aspiration — but this is a casual trattoria in a ski town, not a special-occasion Champagne bar. Perrier-Jouët Brut is a perfectly fine Champagne, but it retails for around $40-45, which makes this a steep pour for what you're getting. If you want bubbles, the $11 Prosecco at the door does the job without the guilt.
Orvieto Classico DOC + Lobster Ravioli
Orvieto Classico's bright acidity and subtle mineral edge are made for delicate seafood pasta. The wine won't fight the lobster filling, it'll lift it — cutting through any richness in the sauce while keeping the sweet shellfish flavor front and center. It's the kind of pairing that feels obvious once you've done it.
Wednesday — Every Wednesday, all bottles priced at $100 or less are half-price. This is the main event — plan your visit around it.
The Bottom Line
Trattoria La Festa is not a destination for the wine list — it's a destination for the atmosphere, the pasta, and crucially, Wednesday night, when every bottle under $100 goes half-price and suddenly a $50 Antinori feels like a very smart midweek decision. Go on a Wednesday, order the Bramito, and stop overthinking it.
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