Persian food meets a surprisingly serious wine list
White Plains · Persian & Mediterranean Wine Bar · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed September 12, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed Shiraz Kitchen & Wine Bar’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
Walk into a Persian wine bar in White Plains and you already know this isn't your average suburban restaurant list. At 26 labels, the list is compact — but whoever built it was paying attention, with representation from Etna, Toro, Alsace, and the Loire sitting alongside the expected Napa crowd-pleasers. It's a tight edit that punches above its square footage.
The white wine side is genuinely impressive for a list this size: the Alta Mora Etna Bianco brings volcanic personality, the Soalheiro Alvarinho from Portugal is a smart off-the-beaten-path pick, and the Finca Allende Rioja Blanco is a white Rioja that most people in Westchester County have never heard of. Reds lean heavier toward crowd-pleasing territory — Justin Cab, Whispering Angel rosé, Conundrum — but the Numanthia Termes Tempranillo from Toro and the Louis Sipp Pinot Noir Bio from Alsace show genuine curiosity. The Château Rollan de By Médoc 2014 is a quietly interesting inclusion: an older vintage Bordeaux at a restaurant level is not something you stumble across every day. Gaps are real — no Champagne, nothing from the Southern Rhône, and the red depth thins out quickly — but the selection earns its place.
Twenty-one of the 26 bottles are available by the glass, which is an unusually high ratio and a genuine differentiator — you can essentially drink your way through the entire list in a single visit. Pours run $16–$25, which is fair for Westchester without being a steal. The range by the glass tracks the bottle list well, meaning you can get to the Etna Bianco or the Sancerre without committing to a full bottle.
Soalheiro Primeiras Vinhas Alvarinho, Portugal 2023 — $62
Soalheiro is one of Portugal's benchmark Alvarinho producers, and 'Primeiras Vinhas' — old vine fruit from the Monção e Melgaço subzone — typically retails around $25–$28 a bottle. At $62 on-list, the markup is fair, and this wine genuinely delivers texture and stone fruit depth that makes it feel like a discovery to anyone ordering off autopilot.
Louis Sipp Pinot Noir Bio, Alsace, France 2022
Alsatian Pinot Noir is one of the most underrated wine categories on any list — light, savory, earthy in a way that Burgundy fans love but few people seek out. Louis Sipp is a serious Ribeauvillé producer and the organic designation is real, not marketing. Most tables here will reach for the Justin Cab or the Malbec. Don't be most tables.
Conundrum Red Blend, California 2022
At $70 a bottle, Conundrum Red Blend — a Caymus-adjacent California red that retails for around $18–$20 — is the most glaring markup on the list. It's an easy crowd-pleaser that earns its place on paper, but the value math here doesn't hold up when the rest of the list is doing so much more interesting work at similar price points.
Alta Mora Etna Bianco, Sicily 2023 + Herb-marinated lamb kebab
Etna Bianco's high-acid, mineral, almost saline character cuts right through the fat in grilled lamb while the volcanic terroir echoes the char and smokiness of the kebab. It's the kind of pairing that feels obvious only after you've tried it.
The Bottom Line
Shiraz Kitchen is the kind of unexpected wine find that makes suburban dining worth exploring — a Persian restaurant in White Plains with an honest, curious wine list and glass pour access to nearly everything on it. If you're in Westchester and tired of the same old Chardonnay-and-Cabernet loop, this is your move.
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Fogo de Chão White Plains is not a wine destination, but it's not trying to be. The by-the-glass program is wide enough to find something that works with the meat parade, the Malbec lineup is appropriately on-theme, and the $10 entry point keeps things accessible. Markups trend steep as you climb the list, so stay in the $10–$20 glass range and you'll leave satisfied. Send a friend here for the beef; the wine is just along for the ride.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· 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.
Grocery Store
Steal
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Occasional
Acceptable
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The Capital Grille Stamford isn't going to excite anyone who takes wine seriously, but it's not the embarrassment that many chain steakhouse lists are either. The Prüm Riesling and Substance Cab punch above their price points, and 23 BTG options gives you real flexibility. Just go in knowing the markups are aggressive and the list hasn't changed since someone in a corporate office approved it — probably over a Meiomi.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Active Program
Acceptable
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Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
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