Southern soul meets high desert wine sense
Downtown · Santa Fe · Farm-inspired cuisine with southern sensibilities · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 3, 2026
Wingman Metrics
Walk in expecting biscuits and bourbon and you'll get that — but the wine list has more going on than the southern comfort menu might suggest. There's a sommelier quietly steering the ship here, and it shows in the curation. The list isn't sprawling, but it's edited with intention.
Radish & Rye leans into bubbles harder than most farm-to-table spots, with a Champagne, Cava, and Prosecco spread that covers serious ground — from Laurent Perrier to the locally made Gruet Blanc de Noir. The Vara portfolio gets meaningful representation, which tracks given New Mexico's growing food-and-wine identity. The list skews European with a smart nod to regional producers, though anyone hunting deep reds or an extensive Burgundy run will come up short. At 50-80 bottles, it's compact but purposeful — this is a team that knows what they're doing and isn't padding the list to look impressive.
The by-the-glass program clocks in somewhere around 8-14 options, and what we see surfacing includes both the Gruet Blanc de Noir and the Vara Viura Vino Blanco — two pours that actually make sense with the food. Pricing by the glass starts as low as $12, which in a downtown Santa Fe dining room with a sommelier on staff is genuinely refreshing. Rotation appears limited, so don't expect seasonal surprises, but what's there is solid.
Vara Silverhead Brut Rosado Cava N.V. — $14
A sparkling rosé Cava for $14 that retails around $12 — the markup is practically nonexistent and it's a more interesting pour than the Prosecco sitting next to it on the list.
Vara Viura Vino Blanco 2018
Viura is an undersung Spanish white grape that most people walk right past. At $14 a glass, this is the kind of thing a good sommelier puts in front of you before you've even looked at the menu — bright, textured, and actually interesting.
Adami Prosecco Brut N.V.
At $45 a bottle against a $25 retail price, this is the one spot where the pricing logic breaks down. It's fine Prosecco, but you're paying an 80% markup for something you can grab at any decent wine shop. Go Cava instead.
Gruet Blanc de Noir N.V. + Shrimp & Grits
A New Mexico-made sparkling wine alongside one of the kitchen's southern signatures is a genuinely great local story — and it works on the palate too. The Blanc de Noir has enough body to stand up to the richness of grits while the bubbles keep each bite feeling clean.
🎲 The Bottom Line
Radish & Rye is a Wild Card in the best sense — a southern comfort kitchen in the high desert with a tighter, smarter wine list than you'd expect and pricing that mostly respects your wallet. Send a friend here and tell them to start with bubbles.
Downtown/Plaza · Santa Fe · Winery Tasting Room with Light Bites
A single-producer tasting room shouldn't make this strong a case for itself, but Gruet earns it — absurdly fair pricing, genuinely interesting bubbles, and a concept that reminds you New Mexico is quietly doing something special. If you're in Santa Fe and skip this, that's on you.
Small but Thoughtful
Steal
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Downtown/Plaza · Santa Fe · Winery Tasting Room
Noisy Water's Santa Fe tasting room is the Wild Card badge made flesh — a downtown spot doing something genuinely regional and proudly weird that you won't find replicated anywhere else. Send a curious friend, not a Bordeaux purist.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown/Plaza · Santa Fe · Wine bar with French-inspired New American small plates
Hervé is exactly what it is — a polished, single-producer showcase that happens to be one of the more honest wine programs in Santa Fe. If you're open to letting New Mexico terroir surprise you, this is worth the stop; if you came looking for Burgundy, you're at the wrong address.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Seasonal Rotation
Acceptable
South Capitol · Santa Fe · Contemporary American with regional New Mexican influences
Joseph's is the kind of place that earns a double-take — a cozy pub on Agua Fria with a sommelier, a real wine list, and enough range to reward curiosity. We'd absolutely send a friend here for wine, especially if duck confit is on the menu that night.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Seasonal Rotation
Proper
Downtown · Santa Fe · Spanish tapas and wine bar
Taberna La Boca is doing something genuinely rare in Santa Fe: building a wine program with a real point of view. It's not perfect — the curation could go deeper and the staff knowledge is hit or miss — but the commitment to Spanish and Mediterranean wines in a tapas context is exactly right, and the Wild Card badge is earned.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
North of Santa Fe / Tesuque · Santa Fe · Southwestern / New American
Terra is what a luxury resort wine list looks like when the hotel actually tried — proper storage, a real sommelier, and some legitimately good producers on the page. The markup is what it is, and there's no getting around it, but if you're already spending a night at the Four Seasons, this is not the place to order a cocktail and ignore the wine list.
Solid Range
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
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