Hotel Wine Done Surprisingly Right
Downtown · Seattle · Contemporary American · Visit Website ↗
Updated June 2026
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · April 14, 2026
RagingWine reviewed The George Restaurant’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
Walking into a Fairmont hotel restaurant, you brace for the usual shakedown — inflated prices on wines you could grab at any grocery store. The George flips that script almost immediately. The list isn't trying to impress wine nerds, but the pricing is genuinely hard to argue with.
About 25 labels cover the bases you'd expect — California, Italy, Pacific Northwest, New Zealand, a nod to France and Argentina — without venturing anywhere adventurous. Duckhorn and The Prisoner anchor the California side, which tells you the audience here skews toward recognizable names over discovery. There's no deep bench on Burgundy or Rhône, no natural wine rabbit hole, no single-vineyard anything to get excited about. But within its lane, the list is coherent and competently assembled, which is more than you can say for most hotel dining rooms.
The by-the-glass program is the real story here, running $10–$25 and covering enough ground to make ordering a bottle feel almost unnecessary. Specific counts aren't published, but the spread includes sparkling, white, red, and everything in between. The pricing relative to retail on several pours is legitimately shocking for a Fairmont property.
Duckhorn Chardonnay — $22
Retail on this bottle sits around $40, and they're pouring it by the glass at $22. That's essentially buying a glass of a $40 wine for the price most places charge for house Chardonnay. It's the clearest win on the list.
Mer Soleil Chardonnay
At $12 a glass for a wine that retails around $20, this Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay is flying under the radar next to flashier names on the list. Richer and more textured than the Pinot Grigio crowd typically expects, and priced like they forgot to check retail.
Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio
It's the one glass on the list where the markup actually runs the wrong direction — $21 for a wine you can grab for $15 at any wine shop. Santa Margarita is fine, but it's not $21-a-glass fine, especially when the Maso Canali Pinot Grigio is sitting right there at $12.
The Prisoner Red Blend + Grilled Ribeye
The Prisoner's dark fruit and plush, slightly jammy profile is built for something with a char on it. A grilled ribeye gives the wine something substantial to push against, and at $25 a glass — against a $40 retail price — you're eating well on both counts.
The Bottom Line
The George won't win any awards for adventurous curation, but the pricing is genuinely generous for a hotel restaurant of this caliber — several glasses are at or below what you'd pay at retail. Send a friend here if they want something familiar and well-priced; just don't send them expecting to discover anything new.
Eastlake · Seattle · Italian
Serafina is a reliable Italian neighborhood spot with a wine list that matches its ambitions — cozy, competent, and a little expensive for what it is. Send a friend here for the pasta and Nebbiolo, but warn them to steer clear of the Prosecco markups.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Capitol Hill · Seattle · French / Northwest Seafood and Wine Bar
Bar Melusine is what Capitol Hill needed more of: a focused, France-forward wine program that actually earns its place next to the food. If you're eating oysters in Seattle, this should be in your regular rotation.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Magnolia · Seattle · Italian
Picolinos is the kind of neighborhood Italian where the wine list genuinely backs up the food, and that's rarer than it should be. Send your friends here if they want a proper Barolo with their osso buco without flying to Turin.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Pike Place Market · Seattle · Italian-American with Northwest influence
The Pink Door is a reliable wine list in a genuinely great room — the atmosphere does a lot of heavy lifting, and the wine program is good enough not to get in the way of a memorable evening. Just watch the markups, stick to the Italian bottles, and let the trapeze act do the rest.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Capitol Hill · Seattle · Modern steakhouse with French-influenced Pacific Northwest cuisine
Bateau is the rare steakhouse where the wine list earns as much attention as what's on the butcher board. Markups keep it from being a total steal, but the depth, the staff, and the Pacific Northwest-first perspective make this one worth the splurge.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Belltown · Seattle · Italian
Tavolàta's wine list is exactly what a good Italian pasta spot should have — focused, fairly priced, and honest about what it is. If you're looking for a list to geek out over, keep walking; if you're looking for something that drinks well with great pasta, pull up a chair.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Beaver Creek Plaza · Vail · Contemporary American
Golden Eagle Inn is the kind of reliable mountain wine list that won't embarrass you on a date or a client dinner, but it'll charge you for the altitude at every turn. The Brunello and the Bouchard Beaune are genuine bright spots — find those, skip the Veuve, and you'll have a good night.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Vail Village · Vail · Contemporary American
Sweet Basil is the best wine list in Vail by a wide margin — 400 bottles, a real Cruvinet program, and a sommelier who put actual thought into the selections. The markups sting, but that's mountain dining; the quality justifies the trip.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
West Sedona · Sedona · Contemporary American
The Hudson isn't going to make any wine lists for its wine list, but it's a solid, competent program for what this place is — a lively upscale-casual spot where the views are doing a lot of the work. Send your friends here for dinner and tell them to stick to the bottles under $70.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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