The Wine List That Has No Ceiling
Yountville · Napa · Contemporary French and Californian tasting menu · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 13, 2026
RagingWine reviewed The French Laundry’s wine list and gave it The Rager — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The wine list at The French Laundry doesn't arrive — it presents itself. Roughly 2,400 labels spanning every serious wine region on earth, bound in what feels less like a menu and more like a case file on human ambition. Before you've ordered a drop, you already know this place takes wine as seriously as the kitchen takes its nine-course tasting menu.
Burgundy and Champagne anchor the list with genuine depth — we're talking multiple vintages of top domaines, older grower Champagnes like Pierre Paillard's 'Grand Récolte' 2008, and enough Napa royalty (Screaming Eagle, Harlan Estate, Colgin) to make a tech billionaire weep with joy. But the list doesn't stop at the obvious: Alzinger Grüner Veltliner from the Wachau, a 1972 Staatsweingut Riesling, Pyramid Valley Pinot from New Zealand, and a 1952 Cossart Gordon Madeira show a team that genuinely hunts for interesting bottles. The Bordeaux section includes museum pieces — Pétrus 1982, Château Margaux 1945 — that exist less as wine purchases and more as once-in-a-lifetime experiences priced accordingly. Gaps are essentially nonexistent; if there's a region worth caring about, it's here.
Twenty-six options by the glass is a serious program, with pours ranging from $30 to $60 — the Bouisson-Battault Bourgogne Blanc Vieilles Vignes at $55 a glass signals immediately that this isn't a house-wine-by-the-glass situation. The selection rotates to complement the tasting menu format, and the sommelier team will steer you toward a by-the-glass progression if you ask — which you should.
Bachelet-Monnot Santenay 2019 — N/A (bottle)
In a list full of four-figure Burgundy, Bachelet-Monnot's Santenay is your entry point to serious red Burgundy without committing your mortgage. It's a producer making genuinely compelling wines at a village level, and at The French Laundry it's as close to a bargain as this list gets.
Jolie-Laide Barsotti Vineyard Gamay 2018
Nobody comes to The French Laundry to order California Gamay. That's exactly why you should. Jolie-Laide makes some of the most interesting low-intervention Gamay in the state, and finding it buried in a list full of DRC and Pétrus is a small act of rebellion worth committing.
Château Pétrus 1982
At $25,000 a bottle against a retail of around $6,000, this is the list's most aggressive markup in absolute dollar terms — a 317% premium for the privilege of drinking it here. The wine is extraordinary. The math is not. If Pétrus '82 is your goal, find another way.
William Fèvre Chablis Grand Cru 'Valmur' 2018 + Oysters and Pearls
The sabayon of pearl tapioca with oysters and caviar is The French Laundry's most iconic dish — briny, rich, and impossibly delicate all at once. Fèvre's Valmur is Chablis at its most serious: flinty, mineral, with enough body to stand up to the tapioca's richness and enough acidity to cut right through it. This is the pairing the dish was practically designed for.
🔥 The Bottom Line
The French Laundry's wine program is one of the greatest in the country — genuinely encyclopedic, impeccably stored, and guided by a sommelier team that earns its keep. The markups are steep across the board, and there's no getting around that, but if you're spending $425 a head on food, you already made peace with that before you arrived.
Calistoga · Napa · Seasonal Modern American
TRUSS is a competent, well-staffed wine program that plays to its audience and its address — if you're here for deep cuts or value hunting, lower your expectations and enjoy the views. But if you want a reliable, properly stored Napa-focused list with real sommelier guidance and a solid glass pour selection, this is exactly what it's supposed to be.
Solid Range
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Downtown Napa · Napa · Italian with California Influence
Ristorante Allegria is a solid, honest wine destination for a downtown Napa dinner — not a list that'll make you gasp, but one that respects the room and the food. Watch the markups on the commodity bottles and lean toward the producers that actually earned their spots on the list.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Yountville · Napa · American comfort food / family-style
Ad Hoc's wine list is exactly what you'd expect from a Thomas Keller casual concept: well-curated, California-centric, and priced for people who didn't blink at the reservation. It won't blow your mind, but it'll hold its own against the fried chicken.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Downtown Napa · Napa · Contemporary American and Mediterranean-inspired
The CIA at Copia is the rare Napa restaurant where the wine list isn't trying to take your wallet hostage. If you're in downtown Napa and want serious producers at prices that don't require a second mortgage, this is the move.
Solid Range
Steal
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Yountville · Napa · New American
Lucy is a well-run hotel wine program that takes itself seriously — proper glassware, a sommelier who shows up, and a California list with genuine depth. The markups are Napa-level steep, but you're in Yountville; nobody's coming here expecting Brooklyn prices.
Solid Range
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Occasional
Proper
Downtown Napa · Napa · Contemporary New American
Torc earns its place at the top of Downtown Napa's wine scene — deep list, smart producers, a sommelier who presumably earned the title. Bring your appetite and a card that can handle a Napa markup, because the wine here is worth the conversation.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
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