Bascom's Chop House
Clearwater's Serious Wine Program Nobody Talks About
Clearwater · Clearwater · Seafood, Steakhouse · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 7, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
The wine list at Bascom's lands like a quiet flex — a 300-to-500 bottle program in a strip-mall-adjacent Clearwater steakhouse that holds a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence. You don't expect Sassicaia and Opus One when you pull off Ulmerton Road, but here we are. This list means business.
Selection Deep Dive
California, France, and Italy are the three pillars here, and Bascom's commits hard to all three. The California section reads like a greatest hits of Napa royalty — Caymus, Silver Oak, Jordan, Far Niente, Stag's Leap, and Chateau Montelena all show up, which will make a certain generation of wine drinkers very happy. France gets serious treatment too, with Louis Jadot representing Burgundy and Chateau Lynch-Bages flying the Bordeaux flag. The Italian bench is legitimately impressive: Gaja Barbaresco, Antinori Tignanello, and Sassicaia in the same list is not something you see at most Florida steakhouses. The gaps are in the New World outside California and anything remotely adventurous — this is a crowd-pleasing list executed at a high level, not a list for explorers.
By the Glass
With 20 to 35 options by the glass, the pour program is one of the strongest in the area for a restaurant of this format. You're likely to find Jordan or a Stag's Leap offering available by the glass, which is a genuine win for anyone not ready to commit to a full bottle. Rotation doesn't appear to be a priority — the list feels curated once and left to run — but the quality floor is high enough that you're rarely stuck with a bad option.
Jordan Vineyard & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon — $80
Jordan consistently punches above its price in the secondary market and holds up against bottles costing twice as much on lists like this. In a sea of Caymus and Silver Oak, Jordan is the smarter order — more nuance, better food compatibility, and typically the most reasonably marked-up of the Napa heavyweights here.
Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon
Everyone gravitates toward Caymus or Silver Oak out of habit, but Chateau Montelena is the more interesting bottle — historically significant, structured, and built to go with a serious piece of beef. It gets skipped because it doesn't have the same marketing muscle, which means it's occasionally priced more fairly too.
Opus One
Opus One is a prestige buy and Bascom's knows it. The markup on icon bottles like this at steakhouses reliably reaches painful territory, and the wine itself rarely delivers an experience proportional to what you'll pay on a restaurant list. Save Opus One for a wine shop and spend that budget on a full bottle of Sassicaia instead.
Antinori Tignanello + French Onion Soup followed by a ribeye
Tignanello's Sangiovese-Cabernet blend has enough acidity to cut through the richness of French onion soup and enough structure and dark fruit to stand up to a well-marbled ribeye. It threads the needle between the courses better than a pure Cab would, and it's the kind of bottle that makes a business dinner feel like a real occasion.
🔥 The Bottom Line
Bascom's Chop House is overdelivering for Clearwater — a Wine Spectator-recognized list with serious Italian and California depth that most Florida steakhouses can't touch. The markups get aggressive at the top end, but the selection earns the badge.
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