The English Room

Walking into the Deer Path Inn's sunroom and cracking open this list, you immediately know you're not in casual dining territory. The Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence hanging on the wall since 2019 isn't just décor — the list backs it up with 300-plus bottles weighted heavily toward California and France. It's the kind of list that makes you want to linger over dinner longer than you planned.

The California backbone here is serious: Opus One, Caymus, Silver Oak Alexander Valley, Stag's Leap, Far Niente, and Chateau Montelena are all present and accounted for, giving collectors and Napa devotees plenty to work with. France holds its own with Chateau Lynch-Bages anchoring the Bordeaux section and Louis Jadot representing Burgundy with some depth. The Domaine Drouhin Oregon entry is an interesting crossover pick that bridges the Old and New World sensibilities of the list. The combination of American cuisine and sushi on one menu is an odd pairing, but there's enough range here — from structured reds to leaner whites — to navigate both sides of the kitchen.

Twenty to thirty-five options by the glass is genuinely generous for a hotel restaurant of this size, and the $14–$25 range means you can pour something serious without committing to a full bottle. We'd like to see more rotation — the program feels like it was set and left to run on autopilot rather than actively curated. That said, the floor here is higher than most, so even the workhorse pours are likely to be solid.