Atlanta's Original French Restaurant With a Personal Wine Obsession
Brookhaven · Atlanta · French · Visit Website ↗
Updated August 2026
Reviewed February 10, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed Petite Violette’s wine list and gave it The Rager — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
Atlanta's original French restaurant (opened Auberge in 1974) is a family-run classic that flies under the radar of the trendy dining scene. Co-owner Michael Gropp's personal love of wine has built a spectacularly deep French-focused wine list spanning Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Rhone, and Loire Valley. You will find Louis Jadot, Belle Glos, Gevrey-Chambertin, Domaine du Chateau d'Eau, and Pinotage from Ken Forrester alongside French and German classics. The depth reflects a lifetime of collecting, not a distributor's catalog.
Lunch and dinner prices are genuinely affordable for this caliber of French cuisine: Coq au Vin, Rack of Lamb, Beef Wellington. Live French music three nights a week and a murder mystery dinner theater in the private Bordeaux Room add charm you will not find at any other restaurant in Atlanta. This is old-school wine dining at its best.
A 50-year-old family-run French restaurant with a personally curated Burgundy and Bordeaux collection at affordable prices is a Rager because you cannot replicate it. The wine list was built over decades by someone who loves wine, not by a beverage program. That difference shows in every bottle.
The Bottom Line
Petite Violette is a 50-year Atlanta institution with a personally curated French wine collection that money alone cannot build. Burgundy, Bordeaux, affordable French cuisine, and live music. A hidden Rager in Brookhaven.
Brookhaven · Atlanta · New American/Southern
Roc South is a genuinely fun restaurant — the food sounds great and the vibe is undeniable — but the wine program doesn't give us enough to work with or get excited about. Until there's a verifiable list with real producers and fair pricing, let the bartender guide your evening instead.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · New American/Southern
Park 82 has a wine list in the same way a gas station has a wine selection — technically present, practically limiting. If you're a Pinot Noir devotee who doesn't mind paying restaurant markup for bottles you've seen at Kroger, you'll survive. Everyone else should probably lead with cocktails and ask what's on tap.
Grocery Store
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · Asian
Tabla's wine list punches above its weight for an Asian restaurant in Atlanta. The white-heavy, aromatic-focused selection makes genuine sense with the food, pricing at the entry level is fair, and the BTG depth is real. We'd send a friend here for wine without hesitation — just order the Grüner first.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · Other
MCK isn't trying to be a wine destination — it's a bar and restaurant with a list built for toasting and crowd comfort. The sparkling program punches above the list's weight, the by-the-glass selection is generous, and the markups on still wines are steep but not outrageous. Send a friend here if they want Champagne and something easy to sip; send them somewhere else if they're chasing a wine experience.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · Gastropub/Tavern
Blue Moon Brewery & Grill is a beer bar first, second, and third — the wine list exists so your friend who doesn't drink beer doesn't feel stranded. If that's the situation, the Cava at $9 or the Elouan Rosé at $10 are perfectly fine. But if wine is the reason you're going out, go somewhere else.
Grocery Store
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · Thai
Pink Lotus has built a wine list that takes its cues from the food — acid-forward, bubbles-heavy, and genuinely curious — which is more than most Thai spots in town bother to do. Markups are fair, the by-the-glass selection is wide, and there are real finds here if you look past the Dom Pérignon showpiece bottles at the top. If you're eating Thai in Atlanta and you want something interesting in your glass, this list deserves your attention.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
River Market · Kansas City · French
A French-led list with 25 two-price wines up front and a long run of Burgundy, Bordeaux and Rhône bottles behind them. Start with the Chinon Le Garenne at 42 or the Cornas 'Granit 60' at 88, ask which number is the glass price, and confirm prices, since the page is undated. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.
Union Square · San Francisco · French
A 66-page list that starts with a 20-pour glass page and moves quickly into Burgundy, Rhône and Bordeaux bottles priced in the hundreds and thousands, so decide early whether you are drinking by the glass or committing to a bottle. Start with the $20 Chablis or the $23 Corsican red, and confirm today's list because it carries no print date. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.
Meatpacking District · New York · French
A French wine list with a wide price ladder: $16 glasses, $40 half bottles and $60 full bottles at the bottom, Pétrus and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti at the top. Start with the $16 Famille Coulon Rhône white by the glass, or spend $115 on the Marcel Deiss Alsace pinot noir, and check prices because the two PDFs show different bottle prices for Delos. This unrated guide covers the posted wine lists, not service, storage or markups.
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.