Anchorage

The Marx Brothers Café is the kind of place that makes you reconsider your assumptions about where serious wine lives. In a historic Anchorage bungalow, they've built a list that would hold its own in San Francisco — and that earns every bit of the Wild Card badge.

Crush earns its Wild Card badge not by being perfect, but by being genuinely surprising — a 600-bottle cellar and 40+ glass pours in Anchorage is an achievement worth acknowledging out loud. If you're passing through or living here, this is where you go when you actually care what's in your glass.

Bear Creek Winery Loft earns its Wild Card badge honestly — it's not trying to be a serious wine destination and doesn't need to be. If you're in Girdwood and you skip this in favor of a hotel bar pour, you've made a mistake you'll regret when you're back home explaining why you didn't try the rhubarb wine made in Alaska.

Tequila 61° is a genuinely fun downtown Anchorage spot — but the wine list is not the reason to come. Order the tequila, drink the margaritas, and if someone at the table insists on wine, steer them toward the Pinot Grigio and move on.

Texas de Brazil Anchorage is a reliable enough wine stop if you calibrate expectations to match the format — this is a chain steakhouse, not a wine destination, and the list behaves accordingly. Grab the Catena, eat a lot of picanha, and don't overthink it.

Bear Tooth Grill is a legitimately great spot for beer, margaritas, pizza, and a movie — the wine list is just a formality. Order a craft beer, skip the wine entirely, and you'll have a fantastic time.

Rustic Goat isn't your destination for a wine-forward dinner, but it's a genuinely fair list for a neighborhood spot doing wood-fired food in Anchorage. Send your friends here for dinner — just temper expectations on the wine and you'll leave happy.

The Whale's Tail is a fine place to have a drink after a long Alaska day, but don't mistake the wine bar label for a serious wine program. If you're eating here, order a cocktail or budget for the markup — just don't expect the list to surprise you.

The Marx Bros. Café is the best wine program in Anchorage by a significant margin, and that's not a backhanded compliment — it's a genuinely thoughtful list in a room that knows how to use it. Just go in with eyes open on pricing, order the Drouhin, and enjoy being somewhere that actually gives a damn about what's in your glass.

Benihana Anchorage is worth every minute of the hibachi spectacle — the wine list, however, is pure corporate filler with steep markups and zero ambition. Order the Ferrari Brut, enjoy the chef's knife tricks, and keep your wine expectations as low as the flames are high.

This is a list that exists because restaurants have to have one, not because anyone at this location loves wine. Order the steak, drink the Riesling, and keep your expectations exactly where a chain steakhouse sets them.

Cattle Company serves a decent steak, but the wine list is pure chain-steakhouse autopilot — familiar labels, no ambition, and markups that don't reward your loyalty. Order the prime rib, grab a beer, and save the wine exploration for somewhere that's actually trying.

Sullivan's Anchorage is a dependable, well-staffed steakhouse wine program that plays it safe and prices accordingly — if you know which bottles to pick, you'll drink well; if you don't, the sommelier is there to help you avoid the obvious traps. Send a friend here for a big steak night, but tell them to skip the Caymus.

The Crow's Nest is the best wine list in Anchorage by a significant margin, which is a real achievement even if the selection plays it safer than we'd like. Send your friends here for a special occasion — just remind them to skip the Opus One unless they're celebrating something truly life-altering.

Sorrento's is a comfortable, no-pretense neighborhood Italian where the wine list exists to serve the food — not steal the show. The markups are steeper than they need to be for this caliber of selection, but if you're here for the pasta and a glass of Chianti, you won't go home disappointed.

Sullivan's Bar is a reliable, if uninspired, wine program that does exactly what a national steakhouse chain needs it to do — and nothing more. Come on a Sunday, grab 50% off a bottle of Silver Oak, order the ribeye, and don't ask too many questions.

Humpy's is a genuinely great Alaskan alehouse with 40+ beers on tap and live music — the wine list is just not the reason you're here, and it doesn't pretend to be. Order a local craft beer, eat the halibut tacos, and save the wine night for somewhere else.

Fireside Grill is a perfectly fine place to drink wine if your only criterion is 'wine, please' — but the list is built for resort convenience, not value or discovery. Order what you know, don't overthink it, and save the serious bottle for somewhere else.

Double Musky is a legendary Alaska dining institution, and the wine list is its most forgettable feature — safe, overpriced, and built for no one in particular. Drink the wine, eat the pepper steak, enjoy the room, and don't come here expecting the list to surprise you.

Seven Glaciers earns its keep on atmosphere alone, but the wine list is playing it safe when the setting is begging for something more adventurous. Come for the tram ride and the king crab, order the Riesling, and enjoy the view — just don't expect the list to match the drama outside the window.

Campobello is a reliable neighborhood bistro with a wine list that matches its ambitions — no fireworks, no embarrassments, fair prices for Anchorage. Send a friend here for a good dinner; just don't send them expecting to discover something new in the glass.

Kinley's is the most serious wine program in Anchorage by a meaningful margin, and that deserves credit even when the markups occasionally test your goodwill. If you're eating here, drink the wine — just let someone point you toward the Left Coast bottle and away from the Clicquot reflex.

Haute Quarter Grill isn't going to win any awards for wine ambition, but in downtown Anchorage it's a dependable spot where the list fits the food and the pricing — while steep — won't make you feel robbed. Send a friend here for a solid steak night; just go in with the right expectations.

Orso is the most reliable wine experience in downtown Anchorage — damned by faint praise, maybe, but genuinely true. The markups sting and the list won't shock anyone, but the regional logic is solid and the by-the-glass options give you real choices. Send your friends here for wine, just steer them away from the Meiomi.

Carrabba's Anchorage isn't a wine destination — it's a chain doing a decent-enough job so you don't have to drink bad wine with your pasta. Lean toward the Il Borro bottles, steer clear of the Santa Margherita markup, and you'll leave satisfied.

Outback's wine list is a corporate afterthought — functional if you need something in a glass, but there's no reason to get excited about it. Order the steak, grab the Ste. Michelle Riesling if you're wine-curious, and save your real wine spending for somewhere that's trying.

Pioneer is a dependable downtown stop if you need a glass of something familiar before or after dinner, but don't come here expecting to be surprised. The wine list does exactly what the room asks of it — no more, no less.

Bridge Seafood is a solid spot to drink a reliable glass of California white while watching boats move through Ship Creek — just don't come expecting the wine list to match the drama of the view. Send a friend here for the halibut and the setting, and tell them to order the Sonoma-Cutrer.

Jens' is doing more with wine than almost anyone else in Anchorage, and the list holds up even against lower-48 fine dining comparisons. If you're eating dinner here — and you should be — trust the list.

Suite 100 won't win any wine awards, but it's a competent, low-fuss list that covers the bases in a city where that counts for something. Stick to La Crema or Benton Lane, avoid the Josh markup trap, and you'll drink fine.