Ruth's Chris Steak House - Durham

The wine list at Ruth's Chris Durham is exactly what you'd expect from a national steakhouse chain that takes itself seriously — thick, Napa-heavy, and priced like the restaurant knows you just ordered a $75 ribeye. Three hundred to four hundred bottles sounds impressive until you realize half of them are California Cabernet in slightly different bottles.

The list leans hard into Napa Valley and Sonoma, with Bordeaux and Burgundy making token appearances for anyone who wants to feel continental. The Prisoner Wine Company and Duckhorn Vineyards anchor the recognizable end — crowd-pleasing names that sell themselves so the staff doesn't have to. There's real depth here by steakhouse standards, but adventurous drinkers looking for natural wine, esoteric regions, or anything that challenges convention will leave disappointed. It's a list built to move bottles, not to educate.

Twenty to thirty by-the-glass options is genuinely solid, and the $12–$22 range gives you room to work with across multiple pours. The selection skews predictably toward California reds, but there's enough range to find something worth drinking without committing to a full bottle. Don't expect the BTG list to rotate with the seasons — this is a Set & Forget program dressed up in fine dining clothes.