Big Beef Energy, Surprisingly Fair Pours
Downtown · Portland · Steakhouse · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 9, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Morton's The Steakhouse’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The list lands exactly how you'd expect from a national steakhouse chain — leather-bound, California-heavy, and anchored by names your dad recognizes. What surprises you is the pricing: this isn't the gouge-fest you brace for walking into a place with white tablecloths and a valet.
Morton's Portland leans hard into California, and honestly that's fine — Napa Cabs and Sonoma Chardonnays are built for a room like this. You'll find Cakebread and Opus One for the table celebrating a promotion, alongside workhorses like Austin Hope and Louis M. Martini's 'The Gryphon' for everyone else. There's legitimate Bordeaux representation with La Devine Du Clos Cantenac from Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, and enough Italy and New Zealand to give the non-red-meat crowd something to work with. Don't come looking for natural wine or obscure Jura producers — that's not what this room is.
Twenty-plus options by the glass is genuinely strong for a steakhouse, covering sparkling, white, rosé, and red without feeling padded. The glass pricing runs $13–$24 for a 6oz pour, and given what retail looks like on some of these bottles, you're actually getting a fair deal — which is not something we say about most fine dining programs. Rotation doesn't appear to be a priority, but when the baseline is this solid, it's hard to complain.
Austin Hope Cabernet, Paso Robles — $21/glass
This bottle retails around $40, and you're getting a proper 6oz pour for $21. Paso Robles Cab at this level is rich, opulent, and built for steak — drinking it here costs less than buying it at a wine shop and opening it yourself, basically.
La Devine Du Clos Cantenac, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
Most tables here are tunnel-visioning on Napa Cab, which means this Right Bank Bordeaux gets overlooked. Saint-Émilion at a steakhouse is a smart move — more Merlot-forward, earthier, and a genuinely different experience for the price.
Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, Valdadige
Santa Margherita is the most overrated bottle in the American restaurant industry, full stop. It's fine wine, but you're paying a brand tax that goes back to the 1980s. There are better white options on this list for what they'll charge you.
Frank Family Chardonnay, Carneros + Prime-aged steak with butter sauce
Frank Family's Carneros Chard is full-throttle — rich, oaky, creamy — and it goes weirdly well with a buttery prime steak situation. Fat on fat, oak on char. It works, and at $21 a glass it's one of the better deals on the list.
The Bottom Line
Morton's Portland isn't trying to reinvent wine culture, but it doesn't need to — the list is deeper than expected, the by-the-glass pricing is legitimately fair, and the California-forward selection actually makes sense for the room. Send a friend here for a steak and a glass of Austin Hope and tell them not to overthink it.
Kerns · Portland · American
Noble Rot is the rare restaurant wine program that would hold up as a standalone wine bar — deep list, sharp staff, fair prices, and a view that makes the whole experience feel earned. Send your friends here. Send yourself here.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Seasonal Rotation
Proper
Northeast Portland · Portland · New American
OK Omens is doing something genuinely uncommon: running a focused, adventurous wine program in a neighborhood restaurant without making it feel precious or intimidating. If you're the kind of person who wants to drink something you've never heard of and trust that the staff knows why it's there, send yourself here immediately.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Northwest 23rd · Portland · Rustic French / Northwest French
St. Jack is the rare Portland restaurant where the wine list earns as much respect as the kitchen. The French-Oregon axis is well-executed, the staff knows what they're talking about, and the pot lyonnais format alone is worth the trip.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Downtown · Portland · Mexico City–inspired tacos and small plates
Tope is a Wild Card in the best sense — a rooftop taqueria that's quietly assembled a natural and low-intervention wine list worth paying attention to. If you're eating here and only drinking mezcal cocktails, you're leaving half the story on the table.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown · Portland · Texan–Pacific Northwest, Wood-fired American
Bullard Tavern is the Wild Card badge in its purest form — a smoked-meat joint that snuck in a genuinely considered wine list without making a fuss about it. Send a friend here if they think good wine and good brisket can't coexist.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown/Waterfront · Portland · Seafood, Pacific Northwest
King Tide earns its Wild Card badge by hiding a genuinely curious, well-priced wine list inside what could easily have been a forgettable hotel seafood room. If you're eating oysters on the Willamette, you could do a lot worse than Domaine de l'Écu in your glass.
Small but Thoughtful
Steal
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · Steakhouse
Il Premio is a steakhouse that took its wine list seriously enough to skip the obvious plays, and the result is one of the more interesting Italian-focused lists in Atlanta right now. It's compact, priced fairly across the board, and built for exploration — whether you're going glass by glass through the Italian regions or just need a solid bottle of Chianti Classico at $72 to make a steak dinner feel right. We'd send a friend here specifically for the wine.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Healdsburg · Steakhouse
Stark's is the rare steakhouse that treats wine as something other than an afterthought or a cash grab. The list is compact but genuinely considered, markups are fair across the board, and the full bottle-to-glass availability is a policy every restaurant should copy. If you're eating in Healdsburg and want to drink well without overpaying, this is a legitimate stop.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown Albany · Albany · Steakhouse
Order by the glass and explore: the posted menu gives you Riesling, Chablis, Cahors and Rioja without a bottle commitment. Pentimento at $16 is our price-conscious red starting point. Check the current list before ordering; the complete cellar, service and storage haven't been independently verified.
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
List Variety
Markup
Glassware
Staff
Specials & Deals
Storage & Temp
