Eight Bottles Don't Make a Wine Program
· Fort Worth · American Steakhouse · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 30, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Del Frisco's Grille’s wine list and gave it The Lazy List — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
Eight labels. That's it. At a restaurant flying the Del Frisco's flag — a brand that knows how to charge for dinner — you'd expect a wine list with some ambition. What you get instead feels like someone grabbed the top sellers off a distributor sheet and called it a program.
The list leans on grocery-store-familiar names: J. Lohr Riverstone Chardonnay, Franciscan Estate Cabernet, Padrillos Malbec, Frenzy Sauvignon Blanc. These are perfectly drinkable wines, but they're also the kind of thing you can grab at your local HEB on the way home. There's zero regional depth, no Old World representation beyond a token port, and nothing that suggests anyone spent serious time curating this. The one bright spot is the dessert wine tail — Fonseca Bin No. 27, Taylor Fladgate 20 Year Tawny, and Royal Tokaji Late Harvest give the back end of the list more personality than the main event.
All eight bottles on the list are available by the glass, which sounds generous until you realize it just means there are only eight bottles on the list. Prices run $10–$20 a glass, which at the upper end gets steep for pours that top out at Franciscan Cab. No rotation, no seasonal updates — what you see is what you'll see next time too.
Miraval Studio Rosé — $12
Miraval is a legitimate Provence rosé with real credibility, and at the low end of this list's price range it's the most honest pour here — crisp, dry, and doesn't embarrass itself the way some of the red options might against this pricing.
Royal Tokaji Late Harvest
Nobody comes to Del Frisco's Grille thinking dessert wine, which is exactly why this is worth ordering. Royal Tokaji is a proper Hungarian producer with a serious reputation, and a late harvest pour alongside anything rich and sweet on the dessert menu is a genuinely good idea most tables will walk right past.
Franciscan Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Franciscan Napa Cab is a $20 retail bottle. At steakhouse by-the-glass prices, you're paying a significant premium for something you could take home by the case. If you want a red, the Malbec is the better value play here.
Taylor Fladgate 20 Year Old Tawny + Crème Brûlée
A 20-year Tawny brings dried fruit, caramel, and roasted nut notes that echo and amplify anything custard-based on the dessert menu. It's the one pairing on this list that feels intentional.
❌ The Bottom Line
Del Frisco's Grille Fort Worth has a wine list the same way an airport newsstand has a wine section — technically true, practically limiting. Order the Tokaji for dessert, drink cocktails with dinner, and don't expect anyone to help you navigate the difference.
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