Six Tables, Serious Wine, Zero Compromises
Newport · Newport · French · Visit Website ↗
Updated June 2026
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · May 1, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Cara’s wine list and gave it The Rager — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
Walking into Cara at The Chanler at Cliff Walk feels like stumbling into someone's very wealthy, very tasteful private dining room — six tables, Gilded Age bones, and a wine list that earns its spot in the room. The Best of Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator isn't window dressing here; this list has clearly been assembled by people who actually care.
The California-France axis is where this list lives and breathes, and it does both with real conviction. You've got Kistler and Kongsgaard on the Chardonnay side — two producers that rarely show up together outside of serious cellar programs — alongside Napa heavyweights like Opus One, Dominus Estate, Joseph Phelps Insignia, and Ridge Monte Bello, which is the intellectual's pick of that crew. France holds its own with Château Lynch-Bages anchoring Bordeaux and Louis Jadot and Domaine Drouhin Oregon representing the Burgundy lane, though we'd love to see more village-level Burgundy to balance the blockbuster names. At 200-350 bottles, this isn't a sprawling cellar, but the curation is tight and intentional — every bottle feels like it was chosen, not just listed.
With 12-20 pours running $12-$25 a glass, the BTG program is substantial for a six-table tasting menu room — that's a meaningful commitment. Rombauer Chardonnay makes an appearance here, which will keep the crowd happy, though we'd push Karen Hatcher or Kevin Kilavey to steer you toward something with a little more tension. Rotation details aren't publicly posted, but with two sommeliers on staff, there's someone to ask.
Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir — $45
Oregon Pinot at the entry point of this list is your foot in the door — Drouhin's Oregon project punches well above its weight class and gives you real Burgundian structure without the Burgundy markup.
Ridge Monte Bello
Everyone orders the Opus One because they recognize the name. The Monte Bello is the wine that serious collectors reach for — a Cabernet-dominant blend from the Santa Cruz Mountains that ages like great Bordeaux and gets consistently overlooked next to flashier Napa labels.
Rombauer Chardonnay
Perfectly fine wine, but in a room with Kistler and Kongsgaard on the list, ordering the Rombauer is like going to a steakhouse and ordering chicken tenders. It's not a bad wine — it's just a missed opportunity at this address.
Kongsgaard Chardonnay + Tasting menu fish course
Kongsgaard's Chardonnay is full-bodied and textured but never flabby — it has the weight to stand up to butter-sauced fish preparations and the acidity to cut through them cleanly. In a tasting menu format where the kitchen controls the protein, this is the BTG anchor that holds across multiple courses.
🔥 The Bottom Line
Cara is doing serious wine work inside a serious restaurant, and the combination of two credentialed sommeliers, a thoughtfully curated California-France list, and that Cliff Walk setting makes this one of the best wine experiences in Rhode Island. Markups lean high — this is a Forbes Five-Star hotel dining room, not a neighborhood trattoria — but if you're sitting down for a tasting menu anyway, you're already in the right headspace to order something memorable.
Outskirts / North End · Newport · Farm-to-Table / Winery Restaurant
Brix isn't trying to be a destination wine list — it's trying to be a great ambassador for one vineyard's work, and it mostly succeeds. Send your curious friends here; send your Burgundy obsessives somewhere else.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Lower Thames · Newport · Farm-to-Table / New American
TSK is quietly one of the better wine lists in Newport, which is a town that doesn't exactly set a high bar — but this one would hold its own in most cities. If you're eating farm-to-table food and want a bottle that actually matches the kitchen's ethos, this is your spot.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Lower Thames / Residential Edge · Newport · Classic Italian
Mamma Luisa isn't a wine destination, but it's a solid, honest Italian list that does right by the food coming out of the kitchen. Send a friend here for a bottle of Barbera and a bowl of homemade pasta and they'll thank you.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Lower Thames · Newport · Italian (Apulian/Seafood-Focused)
Vieste isn't a destination wine list, but it's a genuinely honest one — a small, region-focused selection that actually matches the food and the room. Send a friend here if they're curious about Southern Italian grapes and tired of the same ten wines on every Newport menu.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown / Bannister's Wharf Area · Newport · New American small plates with Mediterranean and raw bar focus
Stoneacre Garden punches above its weight for a patio bar on the Newport waterfront — it's not a destination wine list, but it's a thoughtful one built around the food, and that's rarer than it should be. If you're here for oysters and small plates, you'll drink well without overthinking it.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Bowen's Wharf · Newport · Seafood
The Lobster Bar isn't a wine destination, but it's a perfectly competent list for what the restaurant is — a casual waterfront spot where the lobster is the star. Order the Sancerre, eat the oysters, watch the boats.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown Telluride / San Juan Avenue · Telluride · French
La Marmotte isn't trying to be a wine bar — it's a cozy French bistro that happens to have a genuinely thoughtful, all-French, all-glass list that punches well above the Telluride baseline. If you're eating duck confit in the mountains and someone hands you JL Chave Syrah for $26, you say yes.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown Napa · Napa · French
Angele is a genuinely good neighborhood anchor in one of the world's most wine-saturated zip codes — fair pricing, familiar producers, and a waterfront setting that earns its keep. It won't challenge you, but it won't disappoint you either, and that's not nothing.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Yountville · Napa · French
Bistro Jeanty isn't your typical Napa wine list — and that's exactly the point. The fortified and dessert program alone is worth the visit, with markups that are shockingly fair for this zip code. Come for the duck confit, stay for the Madeira.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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