Ember

You're walking into a casino resort, and your expectations for the wine list are somewhere between 'house Chardonnay in a branded goblet' and 'fine, whatever.' Then the list lands and you see Gaja Barbaresco and Antinori Tignanello sitting next to Leonetti Cellar, and you recalibrate fast. This is not a lazy hotel wine program — someone here is paying attention.

The list leans hard into California and Washington, which makes sense given the Wine Spectator recognition in exactly those categories, and the hits are legitimate: Stag's Leap, Far Niente, Silver Oak Alexander Valley, Duckhorn, and Leonetti are all credible picks, not just trophy-name filler. The Bordeaux bench is anchored by Chateau Lynch-Bages, and Italy gets a proper two-punch combo with Tignanello and Gaja Barbaresco — that's a restaurant taking Italy seriously, not just parking a Pinot Grigio and calling it done. Washington representation through Leonetti and L'Ecole No. 41 adds genuine Pacific Northwest character that most Phoenix-area lists ignore entirely. The gaps are in lighter, more adventurous territory — don't come here looking for Jura or Beaujolais.

Twenty to thirty-five options by the glass is a real program, and the $12–$22 range means you can drink respectably without committing to a bottle. Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling is the smart casual pour — clean, food-friendly, and priced accessibly. We'd like to see more rotation and a few bolder pours making it onto the glass list, but the breadth is genuinely better than most casino dining rooms in the Southwest.