Farm-Fresh Vibes, Surprisingly Adventurous Pours
West Bethlehem · Bethlehem · New American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 14, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Bolete’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
Walking into a candlelit historic stone farmhouse, you half expect the wine list to play it safe with a predictable Cab and Chardonnay lineup — and then you spot a pet-nat from Hean Aubron and a Spanish Cava sitting right next to a Pennsylvania Sauvignon Blanc. At 35 labels, this list punches well above its weight for a small-town fine dining spot. Someone here actually cares about wine.
The list is tight but intentional, mixing local Pennsylvania producers like Cellar Beast alongside Spanish sparklers (Juvé & Camps Brut Nature), Italian bottles (Malandrina), and California stalwarts like Routestock Pinot Noir and Liberty School Cab Sauv. It's not trying to be a wine bar — it's trying to complement Chef Lee Chizmar's seasonal, farm-driven cooking, and it mostly succeeds. The natural wine contingent (that Hean Aubron Pet Nat, the GG Cab Franc) gives the list an edge you don't expect in the Lehigh Valley. Gaps exist — depth in Burgundy or Rhône is essentially zero — but for 35 labels, the curation shows real intention.
Eight pours running $14–$18 is a reasonable program for a restaurant of this scale, and the glass list appears to pull from the more interesting corners of the bottle list. If the Hean Aubron Pet Nat makes it to the glass menu on a given night, order it without overthinking. The range seems to rotate with the seasonal menu, which is the right move — stale glass pours are a pet peeve and Bolete seems to avoid that trap.
Juvé & Camps Brut Nature — $60
A proper Spanish Cava from one of the Penedès region's most respected houses at $60 is genuinely fair. Juvé & Camps Brut Nature retails around $20–$25, so the markup is reasonable without being embarrassing, and it's a significantly more interesting opener than whatever generic Prosecco the table next to you just ordered.
Cellar Beast Sauvignon Blanc
A Pennsylvania Sauvignon Blanc sounds like a novelty act, but Cellar Beast is doing real work in the Keystone State and this bottle at $65 is worth the curiosity tax. Most diners will reach for something familiar and walk right past it — don't.
Liberty School Cab Sauv
Liberty School is a perfectly fine, widely distributed California Cab that you can find at any decent grocery store for around $18–$20. At $60 on the list, that's a 3x markup on an everyday bottle — and on a list with genuinely more interesting options, it's the lazy choice for the restaurant and the guest alike.
Hean Aubron Pet Nat + Chef's seasonal vegetable starter
Chizmar's farm-driven vegetable courses lean earthy and bright, and a lightly funky, effervescent pet-nat from Hean Aubron plays right into that energy. The natural carbonation cuts through any richness in the preparation while the wine's low-intervention character mirrors the kitchen's whole philosophy.
The Bottom Line
Bolete is the kind of place that sneaks up on you — a 35-bottle list inside a stone farmhouse in Bethlehem, PA shouldn't have this much personality, but here we are. Send your wine-curious friends here; they'll find something to talk about.
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