Che Fico

The wine list at Che Fico lands like a love letter to the Italian peninsula — 250-plus bottles that signal someone here actually cares. This isn't the obligatory Pinot Grigio-and-Chianti list you find at every strip-mall red sauce joint; it's a focused, serious document that holds its own against anything you'd find at a downtown San Francisco tasting menu spot. Wine Spectator handed them a Best of Award of Excellence in 2024, and one look at the list tells you why.

Tuscany and Piedmont are the twin engines here, and both cylinders are firing. Piedmont brings the heavy artillery — Giacomo Conterno and Bruno Giacosa Barolos, Gaja and Produttori del Barbaresco anchoring the Barbaresco side — while Tuscany answers with Biondi-Santi and Poggio di Sotto Brunellos, Chianti Classico Gran Selezione producers, and the heavy hitters of the Super Tuscan world including Sassicaia and Ornellaia. The list doesn't try to be a world tour, which is the right call — depth beats breadth every time when your kitchen is this Italian. Amarone della Valpolicella gets a seat at the table too, rounding out the northern Italian muscle without overreaching.

Twenty to thirty pours by the glass is a serious commitment, running $14 to $22 — and for a program this calibrated, that range is genuinely reasonable. Sommelier Nolis Wang runs the floor, and a list this size by the glass suggests active curation rather than bottles left open until they turn. We'd ask what's freshest and trust the answer.