700 Bottles, One Gondola, No Excuses
St. Sophia Station / Gondola Mid-Station · Telluride · Contemporary American / Continental Steakhouse · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 26, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Allred's Restaurant’s wine list and gave it The Rager — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Take Vibe Match and we’ll tell you what to order here.
Wingman Metrics
You ride a gondola to get here, which sets the tone immediately — this place is not playing around. The wine list lands on the table like a small novel, and the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence badge on the cover isn't just window dressing. At 700 to 1,100 bottles deep, this is a serious program sitting at 10,000 feet elevation, and somehow it doesn't feel out of place.
The list leans hard into Napa Cabernet and Burgundy — both are clearly the obsession here, with aged Burgundy going back to the 1990s and Napa reserve bottles pushing well past $500. Champagne gets its own real estate too, with multiple houses represented and the list weighted toward it more than most steakhouses bother to be. The international breadth earns the 'wines from around the world' claim without it feeling like a marketing line — Germany shows up via Dönnhoff, and the Coravin reserve program means you can access bottles that would otherwise require a group commitment and a very good reason. Gaps are hard to find at this scale, though value-driven drinkers will need to work the lower shelves with intention.
Twenty-plus pours by the glass is genuinely impressive for a mountaintop restaurant, and the quality of what's in that rotation matters — Dönnhoff Riesling and Hartford Court Chardonnay are not filler selections. The Coravin reserve tasting pours in 2 oz increments are the real story here, letting you access aged and high-end bottles without committing to a full pour or splitting a $300 bottle with strangers.
Dönnhoff Riesling — $18
A by-the-glass Dönnhoff at a mountaintop steakhouse in Colorado is the kind of thing you don't take for granted. It's a world-class producer in a spot where they could easily pour generic white wine and nobody would complain. Order it.
Coravin Reserve Pours (aged Burgundy, 1990s vintages)
Most people at Allred's are here for the Napa Cab and a ribeye, which means the aged Burgundy selections via Coravin get overlooked. A 2 oz pour of a 1990s Burgundy at a tasting price is a rare opportunity — take it before someone else at your table orders another round of Champagne.
Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (reserve tier, $500+)
The top-end Napa Cabs here are priced for people who expense dinners or are celebrating something seismic. The markup at this altitude is real, and you're paying for the gondola ride and the views as much as what's in the bottle. Drop down a tier and you'll drink just as well for significantly less.
Hartford Court Chardonnay + Fresh fish or seasonal seafood entrée
Hartford Court makes a Chardonnay with enough weight to hold up to a proper fish course without steamrolling it. At a steakhouse where the default move is Cabernet, this is the smarter order when the kitchen is running something from the sea.
🔥 The Bottom Line
Allred's is the rare mountain restaurant that would hold its own at sea level too — the list is deep, the Coravin program is genuinely exciting, and the staff knows what they're doing. Markups are steep, but this is Telluride at 10,000 feet via gondola, so you knew what you were signing up for.
Mountain Village · Telluride · Contemporary American Mountain Cuisine
The Peak is a reliable, if unambitious, wine program that does its job — nobody leaves thirsty and the bottles are stored properly. Just don't come here expecting discovery; come expecting a decent glass of something familiar with a genuinely spectacular mountain backdrop.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Proper
Downtown Telluride · Telluride · Cocktail bar with light bites
Liberty is a cocktail bar that accidentally has a wine list worth paying attention to — especially on Mondays when half-price bottles make even the steep markups forgive themselves. It's not a wine destination, but it's a wildly better option than you'd ever expect at 8,750 feet.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Seasonal Rotation
Acceptable
Gondola Base / Downtown · Telluride · Barbecue and American Comfort Food
Oak isn't a wine destination — it's a BBQ and bourbon bar that happens to have a decent wine list and one of the best midweek wine deals in Telluride. If you're here on a Wednesday, order a bottle and consider yourself lucky.
Plays It Safe
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Active Program
Acceptable
On-Mountain (Top of Polar Queen Express) · Telluride · French-inspired alpine dining
Bon Vivant has no business being this interesting for a ski mountain lunch spot, and the all-French, all-by-the-glass format is a genuine swing. Markups are resort-level steep, but the curatorial effort earns it a pass — just order something you couldn't find at the hotel bar.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
On-Mountain (Lift 4 area) · Telluride · Mountain lodge / ski resort dining
Nobody expects a French-focused wine list at an on-mountain ski lodge, which is exactly why Gorrono Ranch earns a second look. The markups are real and there's no sommelier in sight, but the selection itself punches way above its surroundings — order the Cab Franc, skip the Champagne, and enjoy the view.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Mountain Village · Telluride · Contemporary American with Rocky Mountain influences
Altezza is a reliable resort wine list — not exciting, not gouging you into oblivion, just a dependable slate of familiar names with a killer alpine backdrop. If you're here for the views and the trout, the wine will hold its own.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.