Iowa City's Secret Cellar Hiding in Plain Sight
Downtown · Iowa City · Contemporary American / Gastropub · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 14, 2026
RagingWine reviewed One Twenty Six’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
Walking into a gastropub in downtown Iowa City and landing on a list with a 2001 Chateau Gruaud Larose and a 2005 Chateau Rayas is genuinely disorienting — in the best way. This is not a list that belongs in a college town bar. Someone here cares, and they've been building this thing for a while.
The list runs 27 labels deep but punches well above its weight class. France and California anchor everything, and the French side is where it gets interesting: a 2014 Cote Rotie from Domaine Champaet, a Gloria Saint-Julien 2019, and a Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2005 sitting alongside a Chateau Rayas at $1,620 — yes, that's on the menu. Italy shows up with respectable Barolo options from Casa Edi Mirafoire, Vajra, and Marcenasco, and there's even a Brunello from Argiano. The California side is more predictable (Silver Oak, Jayson Pahlmeyer, Ridge Three Valleys) but well-curated for the crowd. Gaps exist in natural wine, anything from Germany or Austria, and the Southern Hemisphere beyond a Wapisa Malbec.
Six pours by the glass is lean, and without a published rotation we can't confirm what's cycling through at any given time. What's on the main list — a Mont Gravet Pinot Noir at $44 a bottle and a Pali Grenache Cinsault at $48 — suggests the glass program is probably hitting approachable, crowd-friendly territory rather than anything adventurous. Don't come here expecting a by-the-glass deep dive; come for the bottle list.
Ridge Three Valleys Sonoma 2023 — $74
Ridge Three Valleys routinely retails in the $30-$40 range, making this a two-times-retail markup that's actually reasonable for a restaurant of this caliber. It's a proper Zinfandel-based blend with the history and pedigree to back it up — and it drinks far above what the price suggests.
Chateau La Roque Pic Saint Loup 2020
Most tables here are going to gravitate toward the Napa names or the Bordeaux trophy shelf. Meanwhile, this Languedoc Grenache-Syrah blend from one of Pic Saint Loup's best estates is sitting at $64 and almost nobody orders it. Structured, earthy, and genuinely interesting — it's the move.
Cannonball Chardonnay Sonoma 2021
At $56 a bottle, you're paying restaurant markup on a wine that retails for around $15 and is available at every grocery store in America. Nothing wrong with Cannonball, but there are far better options on this list for the same money or less.
Domaine Champaet La Vialiere Cote Rotie 2014 + Grilled Tenderloin
A decade-old Cote Rotie has had time to soften its Northern Rhone edges into something smoky, meaty, and iron-rich — everything a properly grilled tenderloin wants next to it. It's a splurge at $140, but this is the pairing that justifies the trip.
🎲 The Bottom Line
One Twenty Six is an anomaly — a downtown Iowa City gastropub with a wine list that would hold its own in a Chicago neighborhood restaurant. The markups on trophy bottles get steep fast, but there's real depth here if you know where to look, and the French selections alone are worth the reservation.
Downtown · Iowa City · Mexican / Tex-Mex
Order the margarita. Seriously. But if someone at the table insists on wine, the Barefoot pours are priced so close to retail that you're not getting hurt — just don't expect anything more than that.
Grocery Store
Steal
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown · Iowa City · Pizza / Italian-American
Pagliai's earns its legendary status in Iowa City as a pizza destination — the wine list, however, is an afterthought that nobody on staff or in the kitchen appears to think about much. Order a beer, order a soda, order another slice, and save the wine conversation for somewhere else.
Grocery Store
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Near Northside / Coralville border · Iowa City · Upscale American Steak and Chops
Iowa River Power is a perfectly respectable steakhouse wine list in a genuinely memorable room — but the list plays it too safe and prices too high to be anything more than serviceable. Send a friend here for the ambiance and the prime rib; tell them to pick carefully on the wine.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Northside · Iowa City · Diner / New American
Bluebird earns serious love for its food, but the wine list is pure filler — seven grocery-store bottles on a set-and-forget program. Order the biscuits and gravy, grab a coffee, and save the wine for somewhere that cares.
Grocery Store
Fair
Basic Stemmed
MIA
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown · Iowa City · Pub
Micky's is a great Irish pub — for Guinness, whiskey, and a Reuben at midnight. The wine program is an afterthought dressed up as a menu section, and nobody on either side of the bar is pretending otherwise. Order the beer.
Grocery Store
Fair
Basic Stemmed
MIA
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown · Iowa City · New American
Hearth is a fine place to drink wine, not a destination to drink wine — the list is short, the markups are real, and the picks lean commercial. But that Tuesday half-price bottle deal changes the math entirely: come back midweek, grab the Rhône blend, and you're suddenly getting a great deal at a lively spot.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Seasonal Rotation
Acceptable
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