Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab

The wine list here is exactly what you'd expect from a white-tablecloth steakhouse in a prime Chicago location: 300-400 bottles deep, heavy on California Cabs and French classics, and priced like they know their clientele can expense it. Laurent-Perrier La Cuvée sits prominently in the Champagne section, signaling the restaurant's preference for established names over adventurous picks.

The focus is classic steakhouse territory — California (especially Napa), France, and Italy dominate the list with predictable but quality selections. With a sommelier on staff and decades of service under their belt, the program leans heavily on proven crowd-pleasers: big Napa Cabs, accessible Burgundy, Italian Super Tuscans. There's depth here if you're hunting for mature vintages or prestige labels, but don't expect natural wines, orange experiments, or emerging regions. This is a list built for bone-in filets and stone crab, not for wine geeks looking to discover the next cult producer.

Around 20-25 options by the glass suggests they're covering the bases without getting creative. Expect the usual suspects: a Napa Cab, a few French reds, maybe a Chablis or two. The pours are likely generous and properly handled — this is a serious operation with tuxedo-clad servers who know their way around a wine service — but rotation seems minimal and the selections play it safe.