Keenan's at the Pier

You're sitting waterfront in Bellingham watching the sun drop over the bay, and the wine list arrives feeling about as polished as the view — decent, comfortable, doing its job. It's not going to challenge you, but it's not going to embarrass you either. This is hotel-restaurant wine: curated to please, not to excite.

The list shows some genuine thought, particularly in the Pacific Northwest anchoring — Red Mountain Merlot and Cab from Hightower and Murray respectively, plus a local Chenin Blanc from Orr that signals someone at least glanced beyond the obvious. France gets a nod with a solid Bourgueil Cab Franc from Domaine Les Pins and a Mâcon-Uchizy Chardonnay from Gérald Talmard that punches above its category. New World basics like Stoneleigh Sauvignon Blanc and Chalk Hill Chardonnay fill the crowd-pleaser lanes without embarrassing themselves. The list doesn't dig deep — no real by-the-glass discovery program, no vintage depth — but the regional breadth is respectable for a pier-side hotel dining room.

Specific by-the-glass counts and pricing weren't available, which is itself a small warning sign — lists that don't publish glass pours often keep them generic and forgettable. Based on the wines we can see, the Mark Ryan 'Flowerhead' Rosé and the Foris Riesling are the most likely glass pour bright spots. A well-run glass program would rotate these seasonally; whether that's happening here is unclear.