Campanile’s Wine List: <i> Molto Bene</i>

Once it was fashionable to drink French. French anything, from Perrier to Perrier-Jouet, Courvoisier to Cointreau.

But now that many California menus tend more toward the Italian, so do the wine lists.

Campanile, for instance, has a list of 50 wines, but only two of them--Champagnes--are French. And almost half the list is Italian. Not just Chianti, but things as arcane as Arneis, Spanna, and Erbaluce, all at fair prices.

Because the softness of the dollar these past few years has made imports expensive in general, wine buyers look to the Italians for value. So do restaurateurs. When they sample a good Italian wine, and then check prices against a comparable French, they often are swayed to stock the Italian, even though there is no guarantee patrons will be able to pronounce its name.

To solve this problem, Campanile has adopted the sane solution of numbering each wine, so patrons unskilled in Italian pronunciation may order No. 215 without having to worry about how to pronounce the 1986 Tocai Collio from Borgo Coventi ($20).

(This trend toward Italian wine has developed, interestingly, despite the agonies that the Italian wine industry suffered less than three years ago when a number of deaths in Italy were attributed to tainted wine. At the time, Italian wines were pulled from U.S. stores. The industry seems to have weathered that storm, however.)

The best value on the Italian red wine list is probably 1978 Spanna from Valana at $24, although for just $8 more you could have a Dr. Fossi Chianti Riserva from the exceptional 1969 vintage.

Except for a few well-priced items, California wine prices appear a tad expensive. Among the better values here: 1987 Bonnie Doon La Reina Chardonnay, $22; 1988 Bonnie Doon Vin Gris de Cigare, $15; 1987 Qupe Syrah, $16; and 1987 Lamborn Zinfindel, $16.

Four dessert wines an six sparkling wines round out the list.

The only French wines? Veuve Cliquot Champagne, non-vintage, at $45, and 1982 Dom Perignon, $120.

Prices run about 2.4 to 2.5 times wholesale--not bad in general, though some wines seem excessively priced--and the stemware is conducive to finding the best in a wine, though on one visit the red wine we ordered came too warm to enjoy, so the glassware didn’t help.

However, the wait staff is eager to please and our waiter didn’t flinch when I asked for an ice bucket for the red. And when the bottle came back, it was poured by any waiter who happened to walk by and see our glasses near-empty.