Lucca DSM

The wine list at Lucca lands with the same confidence as the room — polished, deliberate, and clearly meant to signal that this is a serious dinner spot. At 110 labels with a heavy lean into Italy and France, it reads like someone actually thought about it. The price ceiling of $950 a bottle tells you who they're dressing for, but the floor at $40 keeps it from being completely out of reach.

Italy is the backbone here, which makes sense given the concept, and the French representation holds its own without feeling like an afterthought. The Medici Ermete 'Concerto' Lambrusco is a standout inclusion — a proper, serious Lambrusco from Emilia-Romagna that most restaurants wouldn't bother with. The list skews toward crowd-pleasing California names like Caymus, Rombauer, and Silver Oak, which is safe but uninspiring territory. Gaps exist in the Southern Hemisphere and the list doesn't venture much into natural or orange wine territory, but for a mid-market Italian-American in Des Moines, the depth is genuinely respectable.

Twenty-seven by-the-glass options is a strong number — most restaurants half that size would stop at fifteen and call it done. The range spans sparkling through red, and the Particolare Sparkling Brut Rosé gives the glass program a nice entry-level Italian anchor. We'd like to see more rotation or staff-driven picks called out, but the breadth alone puts this ahead of most local competition.