Mountain lodge hiding a serious wine game
Keystone · American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 7, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Ski Tip Lodge’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
You drive up to a century-old ski lodge on a dirt road in the Colorado Rockies and the last thing you expect is a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence. Then the list lands on the table and you recalibrate fast. This place takes wine seriously in a setting that looks like it should be serving hot cocoa and calling it a night.
The 150-250 bottle list leans hard into California — Caymus, Jordan, Stag's Leap, Duckhorn, and Opus One are all present and accounted for — which makes sense given the clientele dropping resort money on a ski trip. France shows up respectably through Louis Jadot's Burgundy program, and there's enough Italian representation to round things out without stealing the spotlight. Grgich Hills Estate Chardonnay is a smart, quality-forward call in the white wine department. The gaps show up in natural wine, Southern Hemisphere, and anything adventurous below $60 — this is a crowd-pleasing list that plays its lane very deliberately.
With 12-20 pours on offer, the by-the-glass program is a genuine asset at altitude — you're not locked into a bottle when you've got a ski day tomorrow. Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling anchors the lighter end of the glass list and is consistently the smartest order in the room. We'd love to see more rotation here, but what's on works.
Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling — $40
At the entry point of their price range, Ste. Michelle's Riesling is a sharp, food-friendly pour that holds its own against mountain-priced competition. Order it by the glass, order it twice.
Duckhorn Vineyards Merlot
Everyone at this table is ordering the Cabernet, and nobody's thinking about Duckhorn's Merlot — which is exactly why you should. It's a more nuanced, food-flexible wine that plays better with the elk and lamb than any Cab on this list.
Opus One
Look, Opus One is a great wine. It's also a wine that gets marked up to the stratosphere the moment it appears on a resort property list. At Ski Tip, you're paying a premium on top of an already premium bottle. Save it for a restaurant that earns the price.
Jordan Vineyard & Winery Cabernet Sauvignon + Colorado rack of lamb
Jordan Cab is built for exactly this moment — structured enough to match the richness of Colorado lamb, polished enough not to overpower it. It's a classic call that works every time in this room.
The Bottom Line
Ski Tip Lodge is the rare mountain lodge that earned its wine credentials rather than just buying a recognizable list. The markups sting and nobody on staff is going deep on terroir with you, but the bones are solid and the setting makes a good bottle taste better. Send your friends here — just tell them to skip the Opus One.
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RH Yountville is a genuinely beautiful place to drink wine — the room earns that much on atmosphere alone, and the California-forward list will keep most guests happy without any friction. But in Yountville, where the competition includes some of the most serious wine programs in the country, 'happy without friction' isn't the same as memorable. Go for the experience, order confidently by region, and don't expect the list to surprise you.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Bakersfield · American
Yard House Bakersfield is a beer hall that happens to sell wine, and the list makes no effort to hide that. Markups are aggressive, selections are safe to the point of being anonymous, and the only reason to open a bottle here is if your table voted against another round of IPAs. If you're wine-focused, redirect your budget to the Jean-Luc Colombo Rosé by the glass and call it a night.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Yountville · American
The Kitchen at Priest Ranch is a one-winery show, and that's exactly the point. If you want to spend an evening exploring what a single Napa estate produces across whites, rosé, Zinfandel, Merlot, and multiple Cabernet expressions — including older large-format bottles — this is a genuinely interesting way to do it. Just don't come expecting breadth or outside discovery. Send a friend here if they love Priest Ranch or want to.
Plays It Safe
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Proper
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