Forlini's Restaurant

You're on Clearwater Beach, surrounded by frozen daiquiri joints and flip-flop crowds, and then Forlini's hands you a wine list that reads like a love letter to Piedmont and Tuscany. It's a bit of a gut-punch in the best possible way. This is a family-run room that takes wine seriously, and the list makes that clear before you've even ordered bread.

With 300-500 bottles anchored in California, Piedmont, and Tuscany, Forlini's punches well above its zip code. The Italian backbone is the real story — Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello di Montalcino, Chianti Classico Riserva, and Super Tuscans like Sassicaia and Ornellaia give serious depth across the boot. Amarone della Valpolicella fills out the northeast Italy contingent, and Napa Cabernet and California Chardonnay give the crowd-pleasers their due without overwhelming the Italian soul of the list. The gaps are minor — you're not finding much beyond Italy and California — but within those lanes, the list is genuinely impressive and has earned its Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence every year since 2009.

Twenty to thirty-five pours by the glass is a strong BTG program for a beach-town Italian restaurant, and the Forlini family doesn't appear to be phoning it in here. Expect the glass list to reflect the bottle list's strengths — Italian reds and California standbys — which means there's real substance to work with even if you're not committing to a full bottle. We'd ask Paul or Luke what's pouring fresh before you default to the obvious.