The Fireside

Walking into The Fireside, the lodge-warm aesthetic does exactly what it promises — this is lake country Minnesota doing upscale steakhouse, and the wine list follows the same instinct: familiar, comfortable, and unapologetically Californian. The list reads like a greatest hits of Napa Valley, which will delight roughly 80% of guests and mildly bore the other 20%. For Detroit Lakes, though, this is genuinely one of the better wine programs you'll find within a long drive.

The list runs 80–120 bottles and leans hard into California, with Caymus, Silver Oak, Jordan, Stag's Leap, Duckhorn, and Rombauer anchoring the lineup — all names your guests will recognize, all names that move bottles in a steakhouse setting. There's no Burgundy deep dive here, no natural wine detour, no Oregon Pinot to keep things interesting. What you get is a well-curated selection of reliable California producers that make sense with a prime ribeye or filet, even if it won't surprise anyone who follows wine closely. The Wine Spectator Award of Excellence, held since 2017, is well-earned for what this list is — a focused, honest California program executed with consistency.

The by-the-glass program runs 10–16 options, which is a solid count for a steakhouse of this size in this market. Expect the usual suspects from the bottle list to show up by the glass — think Rombauer Chardonnay and likely a Caymus pour for the Cab crowd. Rotation appears minimal, so don't expect seasonal surprises, but the core pours are reliable and appropriate for the menu.