Hotel Wine List, Hotel Wine Effort
Downtown / East Superior Street · Duluth · Hotel Restaurant / New American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 12, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Restaurant 301 at Sheraton Duluth Hotel’s wine list and gave it The Lazy List — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The wine list at Restaurant 301 reads like it was assembled by someone who Googled 'popular wine brands' and called it a day. Sixteen labels total, heavy on California staples you've seen at every airport TGI Fridays between here and LAX. It's not offensive — it's just thoroughly uninspired.
The list leans hard into crowd-pleasing California reds — Josh Cellars Cab, Meiomi Pinot, Troublemaker Red Blend — with a few token gestures toward Washington State, Argentina, and New Zealand. There's no real depth here: no interesting producers, no regional curiosity, nothing that suggests anyone with actual wine knowledge had a hand in building this. The Duckhorn Cabernet is the lone name that carries real weight, but at $165 a bottle in a hotel dining room, it's doing a lot of heavy lifting for a list that otherwise tops out at grocery store shelf presence. Italy and New Zealand get a mention in the region focus, but the actual bottle selection doesn't do much to prove it.
Fourteen of sixteen wines available by the glass is genuinely impressive on paper — you can try almost anything on the list without committing to a bottle. In practice, though, that's fourteen variations on the same safe theme: mainstream brands, familiar grapes, zero surprises. Pours run $10–$15, which is fine for what you're getting.
Brancott Estate Sauvignon Blanc — $10/glass, $35/bottle
Brancott is a reliable Marlborough producer and at $35 a bottle it's the most honestly priced wine on the list. Not exciting, but it delivers clean, citrusy New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc without the markup games happening elsewhere on this list.
Columbia Crest H3 Merlot
Most people walk right past anything labeled Merlot, especially at a hotel restaurant. Columbia Crest H3 is sourced from Horse Heaven Hills in Washington's Columbia Valley and consistently punches above its price point — earthy, structured, and more interesting than anything else in the red section here.
Duckhorn Cabernet Sauvignon
At $165 a bottle, you're paying a serious hotel premium for a wine that retails around $65. Duckhorn is great — but not this great. Save it for a proper wine bar or a retailer and spend that $165 on two bottles of something more interesting elsewhere.
The Hess Collection Cabernet + Steak
Hess Collection Mount Veeder Cab brings enough structure and dark fruit to stand up to a properly cooked steak without demanding you spend Duckhorn money to do it. It's the most sensible big-red move on a list that doesn't give you many options.
❌ The Bottom Line
Restaurant 301 is where wine goes to coast on name recognition and hotel captive-audience pricing. If you're staying at the Sheraton and need a glass of something familiar with dinner, it's fine — but we wouldn't cross the street for this list, let alone plan a night around it.
Woodland · Duluth · Pizza, American Grill
Bulldog Pizza & Grill is a perfectly good neighborhood pizza spot that has no business being evaluated for its wine program, because there isn't really one. Drink the beer, enjoy the pizza, and save your wine curiosity for a different night.
Grocery Store
Steep
Basic Stemmed
MIA
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Miller Hill · Duluth · Italian
Come for the never-ending pasta bowl and the breadsticks; the wine program is an afterthought that charges you for the privilege of being ignored. If you want a real glass of wine with dinner, this is not your night.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Canal Park · Duluth · Casual Italian / American
Green Mill is a solid pizza-and-a-beer kind of place, and the wine list knows it — it's not trying to be anything more than a functional afterthought. Send a friend here for deep dish and a cold drink, not for the wine.
Grocery Store
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Fitger's Complex · Duluth · Hotel Restaurant / American
Lake Avenue Café shouldn't have a wine list this interesting — and that's exactly why you should pay attention to it. If you're passing through Duluth or staying at Fitger's, make a Wednesday reservation and work the half-price list.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Seasonal Rotation
Acceptable
Lincoln Park · Duluth · Thai
Thai by Thai isn't here to impress a wine crowd, and that's completely fine — at $7 a glass and $27 a bottle, this is a no-stress, just-drink-something spot where the food is the reason you came anyway. Order the Kung Fu Girl Riesling, get the Drunken Noodle, and stop overthinking it.
Plays It Safe
Steal
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown · Duluth · Indian
India Palace is a genuinely solid spot for Indian food in Duluth, but the wine program is collecting dust. Steep markups, a California-only list that ignores everything that actually works with spiced cuisine, and zero signs of anyone caring enough to change it — order a mango lassi and save the wine for somewhere else.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown Allentown · Allentown · Hotel Restaurant / New American
The Dime is a competent hotel wine program — reliable, inoffensive, and priced for the room rather than the wine. If you're staying at the Renaissance or grabbing dinner before a show, you'll find something drinkable; just don't come here expecting to geek out.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Catalina Foothills · Tucson · Hotel Restaurant / New American
Hacienda del Sol is a beautiful place to drink wine, and the list backs up the setting well enough — sommelier on staff, proper glassware, solid California-France-Arizona range. Just go in knowing you're paying resort prices, and steer toward the Arizona bottles or the Jordan before defaulting to the Caymus.
Solid Range
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
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