Every Glass on the List, No Excuses
· Milwaukee · Steakhouse · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · August 26, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Rare Steakhouse’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
Rare does something unusual: the entire 41-bottle wine list is available by the glass. No bottles-only gatekeeping, no awkward half-pours on the good stuff — just a flat-out commitment to letting you drink what you want, one glass at a time. That alone earns some goodwill before you've even sat down.
The list skews heavily toward American crowd-pleasers with familiar label recognition — Duckhorn, La Crema, The Prisoner, Cakebread — which makes sense for a steakhouse crowd that wants something dependable with a ribeye. There's a little international texture with the Viña Cobos Felino Malbec, Monte Antico Supremus, and M. Torres Cordillera Cab from Chile, but don't come expecting a deep Burgundy rabbit hole or anything from the Rhône. The bubbly section punches above its weight with a Moët option alongside accessible Cava and Prosecco. Whites are respectable — a Château Chaintre Chablis and Dr. Loosen Riesling give it more credibility than the average steakhouse white section, which usually stops at Chardonnay and calls it a day.
Forty-one by-the-glass options is genuinely rare (pun noted, not intended) for a steakhouse, and the price range from $12 to $175 suggests there's headroom for both the casual Thursday dinner and the celebration splurge. The glass program is static — no visible rotation or seasonal churn — but when every bottle is already pourable, you can live with that.
Viña Cobos Felino Malbec 2023 — $17/glass
Felino is a legitimate Mendoza Malbec from one of the region's most respected producers, and $17 a glass is honest pricing. Most places would charge $22-24 for the same pour. Order this with anything red-meat adjacent.
Château Chaintre Chablis 2024
Chablis at a steakhouse is an underrated move — the mineral, almost saline edge cuts through rich food in a way that butter-bomb Chardonnay just can't. Most tables will sleep on it and order another Pinot Grigio. Don't be those tables.
The Prisoner Wine Company The Prisoner 2022
At $25 a glass, The Prisoner is paying for its own marketing budget more than its actual quality. It's fine — jammy, approachable, crowd-pleasing — but it's a $45 retail bottle stretched into a price point that makes the Clos Du Val next to it look like the smarter call.
Clos Du Val Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 + ribeye
Clos Du Val has Napa structure without going full fruit-bomb, which means it holds up to a properly seared ribeye without overwhelming the beef. The tannins do the work you want them to do. At $26 a glass for a serious Napa Cab, this is the move for a steak night that means something.
The Bottom Line
Rare Steakhouse isn't trying to reinvent wine culture — it's a steakhouse that takes its wine list seriously enough to make every bottle pourable by the glass and price things like it wants you to come back. That's enough to make it worth skipping the cocktail menu.
Story Hill · Milwaukee · American, Regional
A compact 12-wine list with glass and bottle prices posted, half-glass portions, and a bottle shop run by the same business. Order the $11 Famille Perrin Côtes du Rhône or the $11 Anjou Chenin Blanc by the glass and confirm current availability, since the menu is linked as 8-22-26. This unrated guide covers the posted beverage menu, not service, storage or markups.
Downtown · Milwaukee · American, Steakhouse, Seafood, Contemporary
A very large list with no by-the-glass section posted: 657 priced wines from $30 to $4,450, and Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is the biggest group at 93 entries. For a starting point, the $50 Jean Marc Martin Haut-Médoc Merlot 2015 is the lowest-priced wine in the "Sommelier's Favorites Reds", and the $70 Thorne & Daughters Rocking Horse White Blend 2023 is the South African pick. Prices carry no unit and the page is undated, so confirm both. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.
Brady Street · Milwaukee · American
A short, varied list: 35 wines, from Lambrusco and Mourvèdre to Napa Cabernet, with paired numbers from 11 to 15 and a Cruvinet box at 11 to 22. Try the 11 | 43 Pirates del Ebro Tempranillo, or the Selbach Riesling with the scallops, and ask which number is the glass price. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.
Riverwest · Milwaukee · Pub fare and brewery food
Lakefront is a beer hall with a one-line wine list: three Wollersheim wines at $9. If you want wine, start with the Prairie Fumé alongside the cheese curds and ask about pour size, since the menu does not say. This unrated guide covers the posted drinks selection, not service, storage or markups.
Brady Street · Milwaukee · Italian-American
A friendly, easy list for a pasta-and-pizza room: 19 pours by the glass from $7 to $13, plus bottles from $36 to $90. Start with the $7 Wollersheim Prairie Fumé, or get the $10 Banfi Chianti Superiore with a bowl of Pomodoro, and confirm prices because the page is undated. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.
Historic Third Ward · Milwaukee · Italian-Mediterranean
A bottle list with Greek, Sicilian and Lebanese bottles alongside Napa Cabernet, and Dom Perignon at $550. Start with the $40 Oenops 'Apla' or the $65 Château Musar 'Jeune', and plan around Wine Wednesday, when the restaurant says select bottles are half price from 5pm to 9pm. Confirm vintages and which bottles qualify before you order. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.
· White Plains · Steakhouse
This appears to be a Restaurant Week wine promotion rather than Benjamin Steakhouse's full list, and we'd want to see a complete menu before rendering a final verdict on the overall program. Based on what's sourced here, though, the wine offering is thin for a steakhouse of this caliber — if you're coming for a serious bottle of Cab with your dry-aged ribeye, call ahead and ask what's actually on the full list.
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Pleasant Valley · Colorado Springs · Steakhouse
A compact, fully priced list of 16 wines with a glass and a bottle price printed for every wine. Start with the Angeline Cabernet at $10 a glass for a low-cost red, or the L' Ecole Merlot at $17 if you want the Washington bottle, and confirm prices since the page is undated. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.
Downtown DC · Washington · Steakhouse
A steakhouse beverage menu with 30 wines by the glass and a bottle list that is mostly California, with some France, Italy and Portugal. Start with the $9/glass happy hour Bonanza Cabernet if you arrive in the window, or the Eroica Riesling, the only Riesling on the glass list, and ask for prices because regular wine prices aren't posted. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
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