Home › Vino
La cantina
118 Italian wines, and nothing from anywhere else
Riccardo buys the list himself, region by region, and writes the dish each bottle is for next to it. Wine Spectator has given it the Award of Excellence every year since 2023.
- 19by the glass, from $9 to $26
- 99bottles, from $32 to $800
- 4Awards of Excellence in a row
By the glass
Prices are glass / bottle
Veneto
Piemonte
Piemonte
Veneto
Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc, Veneto
Trentino
Alto Adige
Umbria. Our own label, and ten dollars a glass
Trentino
Abruzzo
Veneto
Merlot and Corvina, Veneto
Campania
Puglia. Named for the catering company, and it drinks like a Tuesday
Toscana
Sagrantino, Cabernet and Merlot, Umbria
Montalcino
Piemonte
Merlot, Syrah and Petit Verdot, Montalcino
Le regioni
The list is laid out the way Italy is
Four sections, north to south, and then the Riserva. Ask for a region and your server can walk you down it.
Piemonte
Fifty eight DOC and DOCG zones, and the highest proportion of classified wine anywhere in Italy. This is where the Barolo and the Barbaresco come from.
16 bottles, 38 to 120. Vietti Barbera d’Asti, Luigi Giordano Cavanna from Barbaresco, and six different Barolo villages including Verduno, Serralunga, La Morra and Monforte.
Veneto and the northeast
Cool air off the Alps for the whites, warmth near the Adriatic for the reds. Prosecco and Soave at one end, Amarone at the other.
11 bottles, 40 to 120. Pieropan Soave, Alois Lageder Pinot Grigio from the Dolomiti, Masi Campofiorin, and Amarone from both Cesari and Masi.
Toscana and the centre
Chianti Classico, Montalcino, Montepulciano and the coast at Bolgheri, plus Umbria and the Marche.
22 bottles, 40 to 135. Volpaia Riserva, Antinori Badia a Passignano, il Bruciato from Bolgheri, and Brunello from Col d’Orcia, Donatella and Ciacci Piccolomini.
The south and the islands
Puglia has gone from volume to character in a generation. Aglianico from Campania, Primitivo and Negroamaro in the heel, Nero d’Avola and Etna in Sicily.
8 bottles, 40 to 120. Tornatore Etna Bianco, Regaleali Nero d’Avola, Claudio Quarta Antica Primitivo, and Mastroberardino Radici from Taurasi.
Abbinamento
Every bottle carries the plate it was bought for
This is the part of the list people miss. Each wine has a dish printed beside it, chosen by the person who bought the wine and tasted the dish. You can order either way round.
Short rib braised in red wine
2021 Tenuta Sette Cieli Yantra, Toscana · 65
Squid ink fettuccine, deep sea scallops
2022 La Pettegola Vermentino, Toscana · 40
Lamb shank, cherry and red wine
2019 Oddero Barolo, La Morra · 100
Mozzarella, pepperoni, pomodoro
2019 Fontanafredda Barolo, Serralunga · 95
Riserva
Forty two bottles for the night that deserves one
The back page of the list runs from $130 to $800. If you are opening something from it, say so when you book and we will have it standing up.
Cabernet and Cabernet Franc, Bolgheri
The original Super Tuscan
Sangiovese, Cabernet and Cabernet Franc, Chianti Classico
Four Gaja bottlings sit beside it
Montalcino
The estate that invented Brunello
Barolo, La Morra
The top of the list
Nebbiolo and Barbera, Langhe
Where the Riserva page starts
Italia Wine Club
Two bottles a month, picked and written up by Riccardo
Hard to find Italian reds, mostly single vineyard, from across the country. Barolo, Brunello, Barbaresco, Amarone and Super Tuscans, from producers who do not make very much.
Every month’s pair comes with tasting notes Riccardo writes himself. Bottles are ready to collect from us on the 25th.
The club is run across the family’s wine bars, so signing up happens on the R Wine Bar site. Collection is here.
