Reno's Most Reliable Pour, No Nonsense
Downtown Reno · Reno · Contemporary American · Visit Website ↗
Updated August 2026
Reviewed April 7, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed Bricks Restaurant & Wine Bar’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
Walk into Bricks and the wine list feels like it was put together by someone who actually drinks wine — not just someone who ordered whatever the distributor rep pushed that month. A 100-plus bottle list in downtown Reno with real Portuguese and Spanish representation is a legitimate differentiator. The warm booth-heavy room sets the right expectations: this is a place that takes wine seriously without taking itself too seriously.
California and the Pacific Northwest anchor the list the way you'd expect from a Nevada restaurant, but the real character comes from the Iberian Peninsula section. Bricks stocks a legitimate fortified wine program — Dow's 10yr Tawny, Taylor Fladgate 20yr Tawny, Fonseca Bin 27, Niepoort Porto, and a Hartley & Gibson's Amontillado Sherry — which is the kind of thing you'd expect at a wine bar in Lisbon, not a steakhouse in Reno. The rest of the list covers enough ground to satisfy most tables without overwhelming anyone. If there's a gap, it's on the depth of Old World still wines — the Portuguese and Spanish angle is almost exclusively dessert and fortified, which leaves the table-wine portion feeling a bit California-centric.
Twenty to thirty glass pours is a serious commitment, and Bricks doesn't squander it. The BTG program includes the fortified wines, which is a smart move — it lets people experiment without committing to a full bottle of something unfamiliar. We'd love to see more rotation to keep regulars guessing, but the range here is notably broader than what most Reno restaurants bother with.
Dow's 10 Year Tawny Porto — $12
Twelve dollars for a ten-year Tawny from one of the Douro's most respected houses is a genuine steal. Nutty, complex, and absolutely perfect alongside the Prime Rib-Eye. Most places would charge $16-18 without blinking.
Hartley & Gibson's Amontillado Sherry
At $11 a glass, this is the most underordered thing on the menu. Amontillado is dry, nutty, and briny in the best way — it makes a killer pre-dinner sipper and most diners walk right past it because they think sherry is sweet. It isn't. Order this.
Fonseca Bin 27
Fonseca Bin 27 is a perfectly decent ruby port, but it's the entry-level, widely-distributed option on an otherwise interesting fortified lineup. At $11, it's not a rip-off — but when the Taylor Fladgate 20yr Tawny is only three dollars more, there's no reason to settle here.
Taylor Fladgate 20 Year Tawny + USDA Prime Rib-Eye Steak
This is a post-steak move, not a mid-meal one. After the ribeye, a pour of the Taylor Fladgate 20yr Tawny at $14 hits like a proper full stop — caramel, dried fruit, and a little oxidative complexity that echoes the char on the beef. It's the kind of finish that makes you linger.
The Bottom Line
Bricks is the rare Reno restaurant where the wine list has a genuine point of view — and that Iberian fortified program alone is worth a visit. It's not flashy, but it's honest, fairly priced, and a whole lot better than what you're usually drinking in downtown Nevada.
Downtown / Casino Row · Reno · Upscale American Steakhouse
Ruth's Chris Reno is a reliable, well-run steakhouse wine program inside a casino resort — competent glassware, proper storage, and a sommelier who knows the list cold. Just don't come here looking for discovery; come here knowing exactly what you want and prepared to pay full freight for it.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Downtown · Reno · American small plates, tapas-style, steakhouse-influenced
Sierra St. Kitchen punches above its weight for downtown Reno — the list has real producers, genuine range, and a sommelier keeping it honest. Just know the markups are real, and steer toward the Old World and Pacific Northwest bottles where the value hides.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Midtown · Reno · Italian – Tuscan & Coastal
Calafuria isn't trying to be a destination wine list — it's trying to be the right wine list for this restaurant, and it mostly succeeds. Send your friends here if they want something Italian that doesn't feel phoned in; just don't expect fireworks beyond the bottle.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Midtown · Reno · New American / Fine Dining
LuLou's wine list won't win any awards, but it won't ruin your dinner either — and in a city where restaurant wine programs often feel like an afterthought, that counts for something. Send a friend here for a solid meal with a bottle of Jordan; just don't expect to discover anything new.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown / Eldorado Resort Casino · Reno · Californian / Steakhouse
Roxy isn't a destination wine program — it's a competent casino steakhouse list with the right bottles for the room. Show up on a Wednesday, order the Jordan at half price, and you'll leave happy.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
Verdi · Reno · Basque-American
Casale's Halfway Club is a place you come for the history, the hearty food, and the Picon punch — the wine list is a supporting actor, not the main event. But with fair markups and a few solid picks, it's more than good enough to keep pace with the meal.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Vinings · Atlanta · Contemporary American
So has a wine list built to please a suburban dinner crowd without ruffling any feathers, and it largely succeeds at that narrow goal. The markup is real — most bottles sit at 3–4x retail — but the by-the-glass breadth gives you options to keep the tab reasonable. If you're a wine-first diner, this isn't your destination; if you're here for the scene and the food, you'll find something perfectly fine to drink.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Toledo · Contemporary American
Sabira has built something genuinely worth noticing for Toledo: a compact, mostly European list that takes real swings with appellations like Grasparossa di Castelvetro and Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Pricing data isn't available to us, and the BTG program is unclear — so call ahead or ask on arrival. If the staff knows this list as well as whoever curated it seems to, this is an easy recommendation for anyone tired of the same regional Chardonnay-and-Cab circuit.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown Sarasota · Sarasota · Contemporary American
A one-page list that mixes Greek, Italian and French bottles with Cristal, Taittinger and Laurent-Perrier Champagnes, and posts many prices as two unlabeled numbers. Start with the Gai'a Assyrtiko (70 / 17) alongside the wood-fired octopus, or take the Les Girelles Picpoul (48 / 12) on a Tuesday, when the list says bottles at $99 and less are half off (bubbles and Champagne excluded). This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups, and the list carries no printed date, so confirm current availability and ask which number is the glass.
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
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