L'Opossum

Walking into L'Opossum feels like stumbling into the fever dream of a well-traveled aesthete who also happens to love wine — the list matches the room: theatrical, eclectic, and not trying to be anything but itself. The price range swings from approachable $40 bottles to a 2002 Billecart-Salmon prestige cuvée sitting at the top like a chandelier nobody asked for but everyone stares at. It sets a mood, and the mood is: this place takes its wine seriously, even if the markups occasionally suggest it takes your wallet seriously too.

The list does a genuinely nice job spanning Old World and New — France is well-represented across Burgundy, the Loire, Bordeaux, and Alsace, while Italy checks in with Piedmont and Sicily, and Spain gets a Rioja nod. What makes this list interesting is the Virginia section: producers like Upper Shirley and Lightwell Survey show up, and that's a deliberate, locally-minded choice that most Richmond restaurants still don't make confidently. California and Oregon fill out the domestic side with expected names alongside some left-field picks. The gaps are real — no meaningful deep-cellar Burgundy beyond Bachelet's Puligny-Montrachet, and the Italian section feels underdeveloped — but the breadth here is better than the room would have you expect.

Eighteen-plus by-the-glass options at $10–$13 is a legitimately generous program for Richmond, full stop. That price ceiling is reasonable given the entree prices and overall positioning, and the range appears to span sparkling through reds so you're not stuck choosing between a house white and a house red. We'd love to see more rotation and adventurous pours here — a natural wine or orange option would fit this room perfectly — but as a glass program goes, it earns its keep.