DRC on Wilshire. Yes, Really.
Santa Monica · American, French · Visit Website ↗
Updated October 2026
Reviewed April 7, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed Mélisse Restaurant’s wine list and gave it The Rager — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The wine list at Mélisse arrives like a small novel — somewhere between 1,800 and 2,200 selections — and you immediately understand this isn't a restaurant that bolted a wine program onto a tasting menu. This is a place where the cellar was part of the blueprint. The French-California tasting menu sets the stage, and the list delivers on every promise the dining room makes.
Burgundy is the clear north star here: Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Henri Jayer Vosne-Romanée, Dujac Clos Saint-Denis, and Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet all show up, which is less a wine list and more a museum with a corkscrew. Bordeaux holds its own with Château Pétrus anchoring the prestige tier, while the Rhône gets serious representation via Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape. California isn't an afterthought — Kistler Chardonnay and Colgin Cellars Cabernet prove the team knows their backyard as well as they know France. If there's a gap, it's that adventurous drinkers looking outside the Old World–California axis may find the list more reverent than adventurous.
With 12 to 18 pours available by the glass, Mélisse gives you a real fighting chance at drinking well before the tasting menu's first course lands. The program doesn't appear to rotate aggressively, but at this level of restaurant the standing selections are typically well-chosen and poured correctly. We'd expect the glass program to skew toward Burgundy and Loire — fitting given the kitchen's French DNA.
Domaine Weinbach Alsace — $80
In a list where four-figure bottles are table stakes, Domaine Weinbach's Alsace bottlings represent some of the most honest pricing relative to quality. Aromatic, food-flexible, and criminally underordered at a tasting menu restaurant — this is the move if you want to drink serious wine without re-mortgaging your evening.
Leroy Bourgogne
Most guests blow straight past the humble 'Bourgogne' designation on their way to the Premiers and Grands Crus, but Lalou Bize-Leroy's village-level Burgundy punches so far above its station that calling it an entry point is almost misleading. It's the quietest flex on the list.
Château Pétrus
Look, Pétrus is Pétrus — the wine is flawless. But at a restaurant operating at fine dining markups in Santa Monica, you're paying for the name twice: once at the wholesale level and once at the restaurant level. Unless someone else is signing the check, the juice-to-dollar math here is brutal and there are better expressions of Bordeaux on this list for a fraction of the damage.
Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape + Wagyu beef with seasonal accompaniments
Rayas is a Grenache-driven Châteauneuf that's more perfume and precision than power — it doesn't try to muscle up against the beef, it wraps around it. The earthy, almost gamey quality of aged Rayas finds a natural counterpart in the richness of wagyu, and the wine's acidity keeps the whole thing from feeling like a competition.
The Bottom Line
Mélisse is what happens when a serious kitchen and a serious cellar grow up together — the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence is well-earned and the list earns Rager status on depth and curation alone. Just know going in that 'value' here is relative: you're playing in a premium sandbox, and the house rules price accordingly.
Santa Monica · Santa Monica · American
Michael's has the bones of a Rager — serious producers, a real sommelier in Nic Vascocu, and a setting that earns the bottle prices. The markups keep it from the top tier, but if you're eating on that garden patio with a glass of Bollinger, you're not going to be complaining.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Santa Monica · Santa Monica · Californian, Italian
1Pico is a genuinely pleasant place to drink wine, especially if California and France are your comfort zone and the Pacific Ocean is your preferred backdrop. The markups keep it from being a destination list, but the bones are solid enough that a knowledgeable friend would send you here without apology.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Proper
Santa Monica · Santa Monica · Californian, French
Wally's is the kind of place you bring someone when you want to make a serious impression — the list is deep, the staff knows it cold, and Santa Monica has never had a better reason to order a second bottle. Yes, send your friends here for wine.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Santa Monica · Santa Monica · Greek, Mediterranean
Orla is one of the best places in Southern California to drink Greek wine, full stop — the list is deep where it counts, the staff knows what they're pouring, and the setting makes the whole thing feel like a genuine occasion. Yes, the markup will bite on the high end, but for a hotel restaurant with a legitimate Wine Spectator credential and sommeliers who actually care, we'd send you here without hesitation.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Santa Monica · Santa Monica · Steak House
Fia Steak is the rare steakhouse where the wine list is worth the trip on its own terms — three sommeliers, 400-plus selections, and enough serious producers to keep a wine-obsessed table busy all night. Bring someone you're trying to impress, and let Patrick or Elias talk you into a bottle you wouldn't have ordered yourself.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Santa Monica · Santa Monica · Italian, Steakhouse
Capo is the real thing — a Wine Spectator Grand Award list that earns it on the floor, not just on paper. The markup is real, but so is everything else: the cellar, the glassware, the staff, and the room. Send your friends here for a special occasion and tell them to ask Mirco what's drinking well.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Midtown East · New York · American, French
A Park Avenue restaurant whose posted wine list is a 21-wine glass list. Start with the $18 Leitz Riesling or the $19 Ogier Saint-Joseph. No bottle list is posted online, so ask the restaurant what is available by the bottle. This unrated guide covers the posted glass list, not service, storage or markups.
College Hill · Providence · American, French
A Cabernet-heavy list from autumn 2025, with glass pours from 10 and bottles up to a 450 Opus One. Start with the 10 Château du Petit Thouars Cabernet Franc, or the 16 Fontanafredda Nebbiolo if you want something from Piedmont, and check that the list is still current since it is marked September 2025. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.
Dupont Circle · Washington · American, French
Start with the Minuty Prestige rosé at 20 or the Château de Saint-Cosme Syrah at 22 by the glass, and save the Dagueneau for the table that wants a bottle. The glass page is the cheaper way in, with thirteen wines between 20 and 34. The file is linked as 9-26, so confirm today's pours and prices. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or retail markups.
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