Napa's Hilltop Cathedral of Serious Wine
Rutherford · Rutherford · Farm to Table, French
Reviewed April 7, 2026
Wingman Metrics
The wine list at Auberge Du Soleil arrives like a small novel — 1,500 to 2,000 selections deep, heavy in the hand, and immediately serious about its intentions. You're sitting on a hilltop above Rutherford with the valley spread out below you, and the list matches the view: ambitious, polished, and a little overwhelming in the best way. This is not a restaurant where you order the house red.
California and France split the spotlight here, and both sections are genuinely exceptional — not just stacked with famous names but curated with real range. The California side runs from Stag's Leap and Beaulieu Vineyard's Georges de Latour Private Reserve through the trophy tier of Opus One, Harlan Estate, and Screaming Eagle, which is exactly what you'd expect from a Napa institution with a Best of Award of Excellence that dates back to 1996. Burgundy holds its own with Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and Domaine Leroy Gevrey-Chambertin anchoring the serious end, and Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet doing the heavy lifting for white Burgundy lovers. Bordeaux rounds it out with Château Pétrus in the mix, so yes — the heavy hitters are all present and accounted for.
Twenty to thirty-five options by the glass is a respectable program for a restaurant at this level, with pours running from $18 up to $60 — the top end of that range reflects the quality of what's being opened. We'd want to see more rotation and a few more adventurous picks in the glass lineup to match the ambition of the bottle list, but what's here is executed well.
Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon — $120
In a list where four-figure bottles are common, the Georges de Latour is one of Napa's most historically significant Cabs at a price that doesn't require a second mortgage. It's a classic for a reason, and here it's priced more reasonably relative to its cellar-mates than you might expect.
Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet
Everyone at the table is ordering Cabernet because it's Napa and that's what you do. Skip the crowd and go for the Leflaive — it's one of the great white Burgundy producers in the world, and it's stunning with anything lighter on the menu. Most people walk right past it.
Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon
Yes, it's Screaming Eagle. Yes, you can tell your friends. But at restaurant markup on an already sky-high allocated wine, you're paying a significant premium for a name on a label. The wine is remarkable — the value calculation in a restaurant setting is not.
Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon + Roasted Lamb
Silver Oak's Napa Cab has the structure to stand up to lamb without steamrolling it — the fruit is generous, the tannins are polished, and it's one of the more accessible bottles on the list at a place where 'accessible' is relative. It's a crowd-pleasing pairing that actually earns that description.
🔥 The Bottom Line
Auberge Du Soleil is as good as Napa wine lists get — deep, properly stored, staffed by someone who knows what she's talking about, and surrounded by one of the best views in the valley. Bring a budget and someone worth sharing it with.
Nantucket · Nantucket · Farm to Table, French
The Company of the Cauldron earns its Wine Spectator nod — this is a focused, fairly priced list that understands its audience and the food it's serving. Not the most adventurous wine program on the island, but on a candlelit night in Nantucket with lobster in front of you, it more than does the job.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Proper
Downtown Steamboat Springs · Steamboat Springs · Farm to Table, French
Harwigs is the kind of place that rewards guests who actually look at the wine list — a Burgundy-forward, thoughtfully curated program that has no business being this good in a ski town, and we mean that as a genuine compliment. If you're passing through Steamboat and care about what's in your glass, make the reservation.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Proper
Stowe · Stowe · Farm to Table, French
Alpine Hall earns its Wine Spectator hardware — the list is solid, the storage is right, and there are genuinely good bottles in here if you know where to look. It's not a destination wine experience, but for a ski lodge in Stowe, it's doing the work where it counts.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Proper
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.