Grappa
Italian focus, honest prices, no drama
East Avenue · Rochester · Italian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 8, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
The wine list at Grappa leans hard into its Italian identity — which makes sense for a restaurant with this name. At $8-$9 a glass, the entry price is refreshingly un-gougy for a sit-down Italian spot in Rochester. Don't expect to go deep here, but you won't feel ripped off either.
Selection Deep Dive
The list is Italy-first with recognizable DOC appellations doing most of the heavy lifting — Veneto, Abruzzo, and the Banfi stable making regular appearances. It's not adventurous: no skin-contact wines, no obscure southern Italian producers pushing the envelope, no aged Barolo lurking in the back pages. What you get is a clean, approachable slate of Italian classics that won't confuse anyone but also won't inspire much conversation. The gaps are real — Piedmont is thin, Tuscany seems represented mainly through Banfi's mass-market output, and anything outside Italy appears to be an afterthought.
By the Glass
At least three options by the glass in the $8-$9 range, which is honest pricing for Rochester's East Avenue corridor. The Borgo dei Mori Pinot Grigio and Casalini Montepulciano are the anchors here — dependable, if uninspiring. Rotation doesn't appear to be a priority; this feels like a list that gets refreshed annually, not seasonally.
Casalini Montepulciano D'Abruzzo DOC 2018 — $9
A 2018 Montepulciano at $9 a glass is genuinely solid value. This wine has had time to settle, and Abruzzo reds at this age tend to show more texture and depth than their price tag suggests. It's the best bang-for-buck pour on the list.
Casalini Montepulciano D'Abruzzo DOC 2018
Most people at an Italian restaurant default to the Pinot Grigio or whatever Banfi Chianti is on the list. The Casalini Montepulciano is the one worth ordering — it's a proper Abruzzo red with some bottle age on it, which most diners will walk right past.
Banfi
Banfi produces at industrial scale and their wines are ubiquitous on every mid-range Italian restaurant list in America for a reason — they're safe, consistent, and easy to source. But you can find this stuff at any grocery store. It's not a bad wine; it's just a lazy, uninspired pour that doesn't warrant restaurant markup when better options exist on this same list.
Casalini Montepulciano D'Abruzzo DOC 2018 + Pasta with red meat ragù
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is built for exactly this — the wine's firm acidity and dark fruit cut through rich, slow-cooked meat sauces without fighting them. It's the Italian pairing equivalent of muscle memory.
✔️ The Bottom Line
Grappa is the wine list equivalent of a reliable neighborhood Italian place: it shows up, it doesn't embarrass itself, and the prices won't ruin your night. Just don't come here expecting to discover anything new.
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