Sicily Meets Mississippi Ave, Surprisingly Well
Mississippi Avenue · Portland · Italian, Pacific Northwestern · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed May 26, 2026
Wingman Metrics
Walking into Tartuca on North Mississippi, you don't expect a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence — but then you see the list and it clicks immediately. This is a focused, Italian-forward selection that skews natural and southern Italian in a way that feels personal rather than performative. David Hunter clearly built this with intention, not just to fill pages.
The list leans hard into Sicily and Piedmont, with producers like Occhipinti, COS, and G.D. Vajra anchoring the Italian backbone alongside lesser-known names like Pecchenino and Poderi Cellario. There's even an orange wine from Poderi Cellario making an appearance, which tells you exactly the kind of crowd this place is playing to. Gaps exist — we'd love to see more Campania or Friuli representation — but what's here is coherent and well-chosen. For a neighborhood Italian on a residential stretch of Mississippi Ave, this list punches well above its weight class.
By-the-glass specifics weren't available during our visit, but with a sommelier on staff and a list built around approachable Italian bottles, we'd expect a rotating short pour selection that mirrors the bottle list's natural wine lean. Come back Sunday and the entire calculus changes — half-price wine night makes this one of the better deals in Portland for a weeknight bottle.
Poggio Anima 'Asmodeus' Nero d'Avola — $48
At the low end of the bottle list, this Sicilian Nero d'Avola delivers bold, food-friendly red fruit without demanding your wallet. It's the kind of wine that disappears fast at a table sharing pasta and meatballs.
Poderi Cellario E'Orange
Most tables are going to walk right past an orange wine at an Italian neighborhood spot — don't. This skin-contact white is exactly the kind of thing you drink once and start recommending to everyone. At $64 it's a conversation starter worth having.
Occhipinti SP68 Rosso
Occhipinti is excellent and the SP68 is a genuinely good wine, but at $72 it's become a calling card bottle that every wine-forward Italian spot carries at a premium. You're partly paying for the name recognition here — the Poggio Anima or the COS gives you a similar Sicilian experience for less.
G.D. Vajra Barbera d'Alba + Rigatoni with Pork Sugo
Barbera's high acidity and low tannin cut right through the richness of a long-cooked pork sugo, and Vajra's version has enough structure to hold up to a hearty pasta without overwhelming it. This is the classic Piedmontese logic applied to a Pacific Northwestern table.
Sunday — Half-price wine night every Sunday — one of the better weekly wine deals in Portland.
🎲 The Bottom Line
Tartuca is the Italian spot on your block that happens to take wine seriously — a cozy Mississippi Ave room, a sommelier who clearly did his homework, and a Sunday half-price bottle program that should have you making reservations right now. Send your friends here.
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