Hartford's skyline finally has a wine list to match
Hartford · Fine Dining · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed June 12, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed The Foundry’s wine list and gave it The Rager — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
You open this list expecting a safe hotel-lobby wine card and instead you get 237 bottles that read like someone actually cares — grower Champagne, Jura oddities, Canary Islands whites, and serious Burgundy all sharing the same pages. It's genuinely surprising, and in the best possible way. The Hartford skyline through the windows is the view; the wine list is the show.
The depth here is real and it runs in every direction. The Champagne section alone — Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru, Emmanuel Brochet rosé, Krug Grande Cuvée, a 2006 La Grande Dame, and a Jeroboam of Lanson for the table that really wants to commit — would embarrass most wine bars. The French backbone is stacked: Beaujolais from Foillard père et fils, Dutraive, and Anne-Sophie Dubois; Burgundy from Comtes Lafon, Denis Mortet, and Dominique Lafon; Loire Chenin from Thibaud Boudignon and Chidaine; and Rhône Syrah from Jamet. But the list doesn't stop at France — Falkenstein Mosel Rieslings, Envinate Canary Islands whites, Arnot-Roberts California, Walter Scott Oregon Chardonnay, and a Bulgarian pét-nat from Zagreus give you enough detours to spend an hour just reading. The only mild gap: zero by-the-glass pours listed, which means every table is committing to a bottle from the jump.
There are no listed by-the-glass pours on this wine list — every option is bottle-only. For a fine dining room with an active specials program, we'd expect some glass options to exist in practice, so ask your server what's being poured by the glass tonight before you assume you're locked into a bottle. The active program suggests they rotate things through, but the printed list won't help you here.
Alex Foillard Brouilly, Beaujolais 2020 — $80
Alex Foillard — son of the legendary Jean — makes Brouilly with the same granite-driven precision his dad brings to Morgon, and at $80 this is one of the more honest prices on a list where you could easily spend three times that. Bright, structured, and completely at home at a fine dining table.
Francois Rousset Martin 'du Professeur' Savagnin, Cotes du Jura 2020
Most guests will skip right past this in favor of something they recognize. Don't. Rousset-Martin is one of the Jura's quiet overachievers, and a sous-voile Savagnin at a Hartford fine dining restaurant is the kind of thing that makes a meal memorable. Nutty, oxidative, completely unlike anything else on the table.
Chateau Lascombes Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaux 2010
At $275, you're paying a significant premium for a Margaux second estate that has had a complicated reputation over the years. For roughly the same money or less, you could be drinking Clos du Jaugueyron Margaux 2019 at $260 — a smaller, more focused property with a better recent track record. The vintage prestige on the Lascombes doesn't justify the price differential here.
Domaine Jamet Syrah, Cote Rotie 2022 + Chef's meat course or dry-aged beef
Jamet's Côte-Rôtie is one of the Northern Rhône's benchmarks — smoky, iron-boned, with that signature olive and violet character. Against a rich, properly rested meat course at a fine dining kitchen like this, it becomes something close to a perfect equation. This is the bottle you open when the meal calls for a moment.
The Bottom Line
The Foundry is doing something rare in Connecticut: running a genuinely ambitious, globally curious wine list in a room that looks the part and has the staff to back it up. Send your friends here without hesitation — and tell them to skip the safe choices.
· Hartford · Italian-American
Carbone's Hartford punches above its weight on Italian whites and Champagne — the Greco di Tufo, the Etna Bianco, and the Suavia 'Massifitti' are exactly the kind of picks that separate a real wine list from a prop. Markup runs steep in spots (that Livio Felluga isn't doing anyone favors), and the by-the-glass program leaves some of the best bottles stranded on the bottle-only list. Come for the Italian-American classics, bring a table of four, and split something interesting from the whites.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
West Hartford Center · Hartford · Wine bar / tapas
Crush is the kind of place that makes you reconsider what a small-city wine bar can be — a thoughtful, eclectic list, a sommelier who's actually there, food that goes beyond the usual tapas playbook (octopus skewers, duck prosciutto, Basque cheesecake), and a room that earns a second visit. If you're in greater Hartford and you care about what's in your glass, this is your spot.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
· Hartford · Italian
Geppetto is the kind of place where the wine list actually reflects the kitchen's point of view — Italy, seriously, without apology. It's not a destination wine program, but it's a trustworthy one, and in Torrington, that earns real points.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
West Hartford Center · Hartford · Upscale American Seafood and Raw Bar
Max's Oyster Bar is exactly the kind of reliable wine program a seafood-focused restaurant should have — thoughtfully built around what's on the plate, staffed by people who can guide you through it. The markup keeps it from being exceptional, but if you stick to the Old World whites, you'll drink very well.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
West Hartford · Hartford · American Tavern
Tavern in the Square West Hartford is a perfectly decent place to watch a game and eat a burger, but the wine list is purely functional — familiar brands, steep markups, and zero curation. Stick to draft beer or a cocktail unless a glass of Prosecco is all you need.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Downtown Hartford · Hartford · New American / Seafood
Max's Trumbull Kitchen is a reliable wine stop elevated by a genuinely smart focus on seafood-friendly whites — just don't pay full price when you can come back on Thursday and get the whole list at half off. That changes the math considerably.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
Central · Colorado Springs · Fine Dining
A bottle list with a long Napa Cabernet section and prices from 40 to 3,500, plus an 11-pour glass section at $7 to $25. Start with the Wine Specials page, where the Viña Alberdi Reserva Tempranillo is on the $60 list, or the CVNE Monopole Blanco at 40, and confirm prices because nothing is dated. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.
Downtown · Anchorage · Fine Dining
A wine-bar list with real range: 29 pours with glass and bottle prices, and 73 bottles from $31 to $1,200. Start with the Dr. Loosen Red Slate Riesling at $38 or the Chateau Recougne Bordeaux Superieur at $40, and step up to the Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir at $84 (or the 375 mL half at $46) if you want something to build the dinner around. Confirm prices, since neither list shows a date. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.
Newport · Providence · Fine Dining
Order the $20 Scarpetta Pinot Grigio or the $27 Faiveley Pinot Noir by the glass, and treat the $45 Philipponnat Champagne as the splurge pour. Confirm current availability and prices, since the list sits on a menu dated 7/8/26. This unrated guide covers that posted list, not service, storage or retail markups.
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
List Variety
Markup
Glassware
Staff
Specials & Deals
Storage & Temp
