Francie
This is a red driven list of 276 wines built on classic Europe, with Italy and France doing the heavy lifting, so think Piemonte as the single deepest pocket alongside real Bordeaux and Burgundy weight across the Cote de Nuits and Cote de Beaune. It runs serious at the top, where you can pour Armand Rousseau Clos de la Roche, Chateau Latour, and tete de cuvee Champagne like Krug, Salon, and Selosse, but the median bottle sits around $185 and entry bottles start at $18, so there is room to sell well without pushing a guest to the deep end. Italy is where it gets characterful and a touch geeky, with Gaja for the marquee Piemonte name and smaller voices like Bovio, plus a fun pour from California in Arnot Roberts and grower Burgundy from Sylvain Pataille. The glass program is genuinely useful at 18 by the glass, and the list also keeps 34 sparkling, a magnum section, and small showings of orange and dessert and fortified for the table that wants to explore. It rewards a guest who knows Old World reds and trusts you to steer Piemonte and Burgundy, but it can still take care of a sparkling and a clean white without any fuss.