State & Lemp

The wine list at State & Lemp reads exactly like the restaurant feels — restrained, intentional, and a little intimidating in the best way. This isn't a place that throws 200 labels at you and calls it a program; it's a curated stack of 40-odd bottles that someone clearly thought hard about. The optional wine pairing is the obvious move here, but the à la carte list holds up on its own.

The regional focus leans heavily on Willamette Valley and Burgundy, with Northern Rhône and Northern Italy rounding out the edges — a lineup that makes sense given the tasting menu's Pacific Northwest-meets-classical-French sensibility. Oregon Pinot dominates, which is no surprise, but the presence of Domaine Drouhin Oregon alongside Willakenzie Estate shows range within that lane — you're not just getting one price point, you're getting a conversation about the region. Elk Cove Pinot Gris is a smart inclusion, a wine that actually works as a food pairing workhorse rather than a novelty pour. The gaps are real — if you want Rioja or Barossa, you're at the wrong restaurant — but within its lane, this list is coherent and confident.

Expect somewhere between 6 and 12 pours by the glass, ranging from roughly $14 to $22, which is honest pricing for this caliber of restaurant. The real BTG action here is the optional tasting menu wine pairing, which is almost certainly the smarter value play if you're doing the full tasting — you get course-matched pours and the staff actually knows why each wine landed on the plate. Solo glass drinkers won't feel neglected, but the program is clearly engineered around the pairing format.