Copra

You walk into Copra expecting a standard Indian restaurant wine list — a token Riesling, maybe a rosé — and instead you get a focused Italian program that actually has a point of view. It's a confident swing, and mostly it lands. The list isn't enormous, but it doesn't feel padded either.

The list leans hard into Italy, and not the obvious tourist-trap Italy — we're talking Barolo from Piedmont, Brunello di Montalcino, Amarone della Valpolicella, and Super Tuscans sitting alongside lighter white options like Soave and Vermentino. The logic here is sound: the tannic structure and earthy depth of Nebbiolo-based wines hold their own against bold spicing and fatty lamb preparations in a way that California Cab rarely does. Whites are less developed as a category, but the Soave and Vermentino picks show someone at least thought about acid and weight. There are gaps — no real exploration of southern Italy, nothing from Sicily or Campania that might echo the heat and funk of South Asian spice — but what's here is intentional.

With 10 to 16 pours available, the by-the-glass program is genuinely workable for a weeknight dinner. The range tracks the bottle list, so you can get a proper Italian red or a crisp white without committing to a full bottle on a Tuesday. Rotation details aren't fully clear, which keeps this from being a standout glass program, but the selection is better than most Indian restaurants in the city by a significant margin.