1,500 Bottles Deep and Still Swinging
Presidio Heights · San Francisco · American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 5, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Spruce’s wine list and gave it The Rager — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
The wine list at Spruce arrives like a small novel — somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 selections — and it takes a minute to process that you're sitting in a wood-paneled dining room on Sacramento Street and not in a Michelin-starred cave in Lyon. What's immediately clear is that someone here genuinely cares: this isn't a list assembled to impress investors, it's one built to be drunk. The range from a $15 glass pour to a $25,000 bottle of DRC is absurd in the best possible way.
California and Burgundy are the twin engines here, and both run hot — Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaine Leroy, and Domaine Leflaive anchor the French side while Kosta Browne, Ridge Monte Bello, Harlan Estate, and Screaming Eagle hold down the West Coast. But the list doesn't stop there: Giacomo Conterno's Barolo Monfortino shows up for the Italy faithful, Egon Müller Scharzhofberger Riesling handles Germany, and E. Guigal's Côte-Rôtie La Mouline and La Landonne make the Rhône chapter worth lingering in. The depth is real — this is a Grand Award list that's been earning that designation since 2015 and shows no signs of coasting.
With 20 to 30 options by the glass starting around $15 to $25, the pour program is genuinely useful rather than a token gesture. Standouts like the Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and Domaine Dujac Morey-St-Denis appear at prices that let you taste something serious without committing to a full bottle. The Monday half-price wine night — on the full bottle list — elevates this from a great by-the-glass program to a legitimate reason to plan your week around dinner at Spruce.
Ridge Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 — $32
Ridge at $32 a glass is genuinely hard to argue with. The Monte Bello estate produces one of California's most serious Cabernets, and getting a pour from a 2019 vintage — which is drinking beautifully right now — for this price at a fine dining spot in SF is the kind of move your wallet will thank you for.
Scholium Project The Prince in All His Glory 2019
Most tables will walk right past this and order the Kosta Browne, which is fine but predictable. Scholium Project is one of California's most idiosyncratic producers — Abe Schoener makes wines that don't fit a tidy category — and The Prince in All His Glory is exactly the kind of strange, compelling bottle that a list like Spruce's exists to surface. At $28 a glass it's the most interesting thing on the menu.
Caymus Vineyards Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon
Caymus Special Selection is a fine bottle but it's also the wine your uncle orders at every steakhouse from here to Dallas. On a list this deep and interesting, defaulting to Caymus is like going to a great record store and buying a greatest hits compilation. The restaurant can do better for you and so can you.
E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne 2017 + Liberty Farm duck with cherry mostarda and hazelnuts
La Landonne is all iron and smoke and dark fruit — it's one of the more muscular expressions coming out of the northern Rhône. Duck with cherry mostarda and hazelnuts is practically made for it: the gaminess of the Liberty Farm bird, the sweet-tart pop of mostarda, and the richness of hazelnuts all find something to hold onto in a wine this structured and savory. At $75 a glass it's a splurge, but this is the pairing you'll be talking about at breakfast.
Monday — Half-price wine night on Mondays — applies to bottles from the full wine list. One of the better deals in San Francisco fine dining.
The Bottom Line
Spruce is the rare restaurant where the wine list is genuinely as good as the kitchen, and the Monday half-price bottle program alone is worth bookmarking. Send your friends here — but tell them to skip the Caymus.
Nob Hill / Van Ness Corridor · San Francisco · American Steakhouse
House of Prime Rib is one of San Francisco's great dining institutions and the wine list knows its assignment — California Cabs to drink with California beef, no fuss. It won't thrill anyone looking for adventure, but it won't embarrass anyone either, and for a night built around tableside carving and Yorkshire pudding, that's probably enough.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Noe Valley · San Francisco · Sardinian Italian
La Ciccia is the rare neighborhood restaurant where the wine list is genuinely part of the experience, not an afterthought stapled to a food menu. If you care about Italian wine — especially anything off the beaten Tuscany-Piedmont path — you should be making reservations here.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Seasonal Rotation
Proper
SoMa · San Francisco · Steakhouse with Japanese influence
Alexander's is a serious wine destination dressed up as a steakhouse — the list is deep, the staff knows it, and the room supports it. Just go in eyes open: this is a splurge-or-go-home situation, and the markups reflect exactly where you are.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Embarcadero · San Francisco · Steakhouse, American
EPIC Steak is a reliable, well-executed steakhouse wine program that earns its stripes with real depth, a sommelier who cares, and a few smart curveballs buried in the list. The markups will sting, but if you know where to look — and now you do — there's genuinely good drinking to be had with that view.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Occasional
Proper
Embarcadero · San Francisco · Seafood, Coastal American
Waterbar is doing the work — a genuinely broad list with smart coastal instincts, fair happy hour pricing, and a dessert wine program that most full-service wine bars would envy. Send your friends here; just make sure they stay through dessert.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Occasional
Proper
Mission District · San Francisco · Californian-Mediterranean
Foreign Cinema is doing something most San Francisco restaurants aren't — pairing a genuinely thoughtful, terroir-driven wine list with an atmosphere that could've easily gotten away with phoning it in. The markups sting a bit, but the selection earns the trip.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Eagle Ranch · Vail · American
The Wild Sage is your dependable neighborhood spot in Eagle Ranch — the wine list won't blow your mind, but it won't embarrass you at dinner either. Watch the markups on the top-shelf Napa bottles and stick to the mid-range, and you'll be fine.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown Waterfront · Traverse City · American
Warehouse Kitchen + Cork won't win any awards for depth or ambition, but it plays its hand honestly — fair prices, solid local representation, and a full by-the-glass program that respects your wallet. If you're in Traverse City and want a glass of something local with a water view, this works.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
West Truckee · Truckee · American
Sunnyside is a casual lodge restaurant wearing a serious wine list under its flannel — the markup is steep and it won't win any awards for staff expertise, but the producer lineup is legitimately impressive for where you're sitting. If you're already at the lake, this is absolutely worth ordering a real bottle.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
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