Do you have house wine sold in a carafe?
SFU-so — two syllables, stress on first.
In a trattoria where you want simple, inexpensive house wine sold by the carafe or jug rather than by the bottle.
'Vino sfuso' = unbottled wine sold loose, by the glass or carafe. This is the traditional trattoria wine — simple, local, often very good and very cheap. It is the opposite of a curated wine list and is deeply associated with honest, unpretentious Italian dining.
Un quarto di vino rosso.
A quarter litre of red wine.
'Quarto' = a quarter litre — the smallest carafe size, perfect for a solo diner
Mezzo litro di bianco della casa.
Half a litre of house white wine.
'Della casa' (of the house) = the simplest, most local option
Il vino viene dalla zona?
Does the wine come from the area?
Ask if the house wine is local — the answer tells you a lot about the trattoria's values
Vino sfuso at a trattoria is often sourced directly from a local winemaker — sometimes a relative or friend of the owner. This hyper-local wine tradition has been largely displaced by commercial wine in modern restaurants, making the few trattorias that still serve true sfuso genuinely precious.