West Texas Ambition, Wine List Left Behind
Downtown Midland · Midland · Modern American, Texas-inspired contemporary cuisine · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed July 3, 2026
Wingman Metrics
You walk into Opal's Table expecting a list that matches the room — polished, considered, a little ambitious — and instead you get eight labels doing their best to fill the page. For a downtown spot in a city flush with oil money and expense accounts, this is a swing-and-miss. The cocktail program is clearly where the energy went.
Eight wines is not a wine list — it's a wine paragraph. The selections lean on California and France, with a nod to Beaujolais via the L'Ancien 2017, but there's no real thread connecting them into a coherent program. Jolie Folle, Averaen, and Garnaison Reserve suggest someone made decent individual picks, but the list stops well short of giving you any real range — no real depth in reds, no exploration of Texas producers despite being, well, in Texas. The Irvine H. Welsh label is a curiosity that reads more like a conversation piece than a considered addition.
By-the-glass options aren't clearly broken out, which is its own problem — if you can't find what's available by the glass on the menu or website, you're already starting the evening on the back foot. In a $$$-priced restaurant where entrees run into the mid-thirties, that ambiguity shouldn't exist. Ask your server and hope they know the answer.
L'Ancien Beaujolais 2017 — null
Beaujolais at a steakhouse in West Texas is an unexpected move, and Jean-Paul Brun's L'Ancien is one of the better expressions of the region — light, honest, and food-friendly. If the price is fair relative to what else is on this list, it's the pick with the most soul.
Garnaison Reserve
Grenache-based wines don't get nearly enough attention, and a Garnaison Reserve sitting quietly at the bottom of an eight-bottle list in Midland, Texas is the kind of thing most tables will skip right past. Don't.
Averaen
Averaen makes perfectly serviceable Oregon Pinot Noir, but at a $$$ price point in a restaurant with markups to match the neighborhood's expense-account culture, you're paying a premium for a bottle you could easily find at retail. Nothing wrong with the wine — plenty wrong with what you're probably paying for it here.
L'Ancien Beaujolais 2017 + Pork Belly Bites
Gamay and fatty pork is a classic pairing that never needs an explanation. The brightness and low tannin of the L'Ancien cuts through the richness without competing with it — it's the rare combination on this list where the wine actually has something interesting to say about the food.
❌ The Bottom Line
Opal's Table is a good restaurant carrying a wine list that didn't get the memo. If wine is important to your evening, manage expectations hard — or lean into their cocktails, which seem to be where the real thought went.
North Midland / Loop 250 · Midland · Tex-Mex and Mexican
Abuelo's is a great place to eat enchiladas and drink a margarita — the wine list is an afterthought and should be treated as one. If wine matters to you tonight, this isn't your spot.
Grocery Store
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Loop 250 / Retail Corridor · Midland · American Gastropub
Cork & Pig is doing more with wine than anyone should expect from a retail-corridor gastropub in Midland. The markups sting a little at the top end, but the Social Hour pricing and the breadth of the by-the-glass program make this an easy recommendation for locals who want something better than house red.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
North Midland · Midland · Urban Winery
Texas Sun Winery is a genuinely weird and fun detour in a city not known for wine culture — the sangria program is novel, the Texas wine wall is an unexpected bonus, and the by-the-glass markup is something to watch. Come for the experience, order the bottle, skip the solo glass.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
North Midland · Midland · Urban Winery
Texas Sun is a genuine local story in a city that doesn't have many of them, and for that alone it earns a visit. Just set your expectations to 'fun afternoon on the patio' rather than 'deep wine exploration' and you'll leave happy.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
East Midland · Midland · Event Venue / Pizza & Small Plates
Pi Social isn't a wine destination, but it doesn't bill itself as one. If you're in Midland, grabbing a glass of Prosecco before a pizza on the patio, this does the job without gouging you — and that's a reasonable ask.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
North Midland · Midland · Wine Bistro
Texas Sun Winery Bistro is doing something genuinely unusual in a city where the default move is a steakhouse Cab — a house-label global list with fair prices, 38 pours by the glass, and Armenian wines you won't find anywhere else in the Permian Basin. Send your most wine-curious friend here and tell them to ignore the Malbec.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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