Auro at Four Seasons Resort Napa Valley

Walking into a Four Seasons in Napa, you brace for a wine list that's 80% Opus One and Caymus at stratospheric markups — the kind of list that exists to impress expense accounts, not wine drinkers. Auro surprises. At 67 labels, this is a tight list, but whoever built it was paying attention. There's genuine curiosity here, and that's not something you expect from a resort wine program.

The list skews heavily toward California, which makes sense given the address, but the producers they've chosen aren't the obvious trophy picks. You'll find Massican's Annia — a Friulian-inspired white blend of Ribolla Gialla, Tocai Friulano, and Pinot Bianco from a Napa producer who barely anyone talks about — sitting alongside Robert Sinskey's aromatic blend of Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Gewurztraminer. These are left-field choices for a resort list, and they're genuinely exciting. The red side leans on Grenache-forward options like the Minuty Provence rosé and Saracina Grenache, plus a Renato Ratti Nebbiolo from Piedmont that has no business being this affordable relative to the rest of the list. The Champagne section is a flex — Krug and Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle sitting at relatively honest prices for the format — but the overall bottle range of $65 to $1,150 tells you this list has ambitions that go beyond the neighborhood go-to.

Twenty-five by-the-glass options is genuinely impressive for a list of 67 total labels — that's more than a third of the list available without committing to a bottle. The glass program spans sparkling, white, rosé, red, and dessert categories, and at $18–$95 a pour, there's real range. The Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle by the glass at $105 is a standout flex if you want to splurge without a full bottle commitment.