Hawaii's Most Unexpected Wine List, Full Stop
· Honolulu · New American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · August 15, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Fête’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
You open the wine list at Fête expecting something safe and tropical-adjacent — maybe a predictable Pinot Grigio and a big California Cab — and instead you get Txakolina, Bugey Cerdon, and two César Florido Sherries staring back at you. This is not a restaurant that defaulted to a distributor's top-sellers list. Someone here genuinely cares, and it shows immediately.
The 69-bottle list reads like a greatest hits of the natural and low-intervention world, with serious Old World credibility across France, Italy, and Spain. Loire Valley gets real love — Pepière's Muscadet and Jacky Preys' Touraine Silex are both on the glass list, which almost never happens outside a dedicated wine bar. There's a Rhône thread running through (Thomas Farge's St. Joseph Marsanne, La Cabotte's Grenache-Syrah), Occhipinti SP68 for the Sicily obsessives, and Produttori del Barbaresco — one of Piedmont's most reliable co-ops — representing the serious end. The one genuine gap is depth on the bottle side for old vintages or more esoteric appellations, but for a restaurant in Honolulu, this list is frankly remarkable.
Twenty-six options by the glass is a legitimately impressive number, and the quality skews way above what you'd expect at most price points. The BTG program is organized thoughtfully — Rosé/Skin Contact, White, Red, Reserve Red, Sparkling — and there are almost no filler picks in the bunch. At $13–$26 for most pours, this is where Fête really delivers.
Pepiere La Pepie Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie 2023 — $13/glass
Muscadet on a Honolulu wine list is already a win; Pepière's 'La Pepie' at $13 a glass is the kind of value that makes you want to order two. It's briny, focused, and does everything you want from a white with seafood. At this price, it's almost rude not to order it.
Alberto Orte Vara Y Pulgar Tintillo Jerez 2022
Most people will walk right past a Tintillo from Jerez and grab a Zinfandel or the Barbaresco. That's their loss. This is a rare red wine from the Sherry region made from Tintilla de Rota — a grape most wine nerds have never even heard of. Earthy, slightly oxidative, and completely unlike anything else on the list.
Nicolas Maillart Platine 1er Cru Champagne
At $35 a glass, the Maillart is a real Champagne from a real producer — no complaints there. But unless you're celebrating something, you're getting dramatically less wine for your money than everything else on this list. The Bugey Cerdon or the Gondolino Prosecco will scratch the bubbles itch for a fraction of the price.
Txomin Etxaniz Txakolina 2025 + Any raw bar or seafood starter on the menu
Txakolina's high acid and faint spritz make it one of the best raw-bar wines on earth — it cuts through brine and fat without overpowering delicate seafood. At $16 a glass in Honolulu, where fresh fish is never an afterthought, this is the obvious first pour of the night.
The Bottom Line
Fête is quietly running one of the most interesting wine programs in the state of Hawaii, and most people eating there probably have no idea. If you care at all about what's in your glass, this is worth the trip.
· Honolulu · Contemporary tasting menu
Pai's wine list won't impress anyone counting bottles, but it will surprise anyone counting countries — seven wines, six regions, zero filler. If you trust the kitchen's tasting menu, trust whatever pairing the list is built around.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Honolulu · Honolulu · Wine Bar / New American Small Plates
Amuse Wine Bar is doing something genuinely unexpected in Honolulu: building a thoughtful, geographically diverse list with fair pricing in a city where most wine programs are an afterthought. If you're in Hawaii and care about what's in your glass, this is the room to be in.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Proper
Waikīkī · Honolulu · Modern Steakhouse
StripSteak Waikīkī pulls off something genuinely rare: a hotel steakhouse wine program worth paying attention to, built almost entirely around an extraordinary by-the-glass selection. The prices reflect the zip code, but if you're eating steak in Waikīkī anyway, this is the room to do it in.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Honolulu · Restaurant
Merriman's Honolulu delivers a wine list that punches above the typical Hawaii resort-area offering — genuinely good producers, a clever small-format section, and enough variety to reward a curious drinker. The pricing skews steep and the list won't surprise anyone, but you won't be embarrassed ordering here either.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Kaimukī · Honolulu · Wine Café & Bistro
Brix and Stones is doing something genuinely valuable for Kaimukī — bringing a thoughtful, accessible wine program to a neighborhood that needed one. The Caymus carafe pricing is a bona fide deal and the Meinklang shows real taste, but watch out for the bubbly markups and a list that could use a little more rotation to keep regulars coming back.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Kakaʻako · Honolulu · Wine Bar & Spirits Lounge (BYO Food)
Brix and Stones is the kind of place that shouldn't exist in the form it does, in the city it's in — and that's exactly why you should go. The markup swings from genuinely fair to eyebrow-raising depending on what you order, but the natural wine focus and knowledgeable staff make it the most interesting wine stop in Honolulu by a comfortable margin.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
· San Jose · New American
Poppy & Claro's wine program exists to check a box, not to excite you. Unless Flowers Chardonnay by the bottle is exactly what you came for, the cocktail menu might be a better bet.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Tucson · New American
The Monica is a reliable neighborhood brunch spot with a wine list that gets the job done without ever trying to be anything more. Send a friend here for a casual Saturday — just steer them toward the Cava and the Rioja.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown Newark · Newark · New American
Nico is a pre-show pitstop, not a wine destination — the list exists to get a glass in your hand before you head into the auditorium, and it does exactly that and nothing more. Order the Chapoutier Rosé, enjoy the show, and don't expect the wine program to be part of the evening's highlight reel.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
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