Great Beer Bar, Wine Is an Afterthought
Las Colinas · Irving · Beer bar with American pub food · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed June 27, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed The Ginger Man - Irving’s wine list and gave it The Lazy List — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
Walk into The Ginger Man Irving and it's immediately clear where the love lives — in the tap handles, not the wine list. The wine program reads like a legal requirement: a handful of recognizable names tacked onto a menu built for craft beer. If you came here for wine, you may have made a wrong turn.
Six wines. That's what we're working with. The list covers a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from Ant Moore, two Blazon wines out of Lodi, an Alpataco Cab from Patagonia, Da Luca Prosecco, and Veuve Clicquot as the lone flex. There's no real regional philosophy here — just a grab bag of widely distributed, easy-to-source bottles that require zero curation effort. Lodi Pinot Noir is a tell: it's cheap to buy, and if it's being marked up to restaurant pricing, you're paying for convenience, not quality.
We'd assume everything here is available by the glass given the size of the list, but no pricing data is publicly available — which itself is a small red flag. Rotation appears nonexistent; this looks like a static, set-and-forget program that hasn't been revisited in a while.
Ant Moore Sauvignon Blanc — N/A
Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is at least a sensible, crowd-pleasing choice in this context — crisp, easy-drinking, and harder to mess up than the reds on this list. It's the pick if you're committed to ordering wine here.
Alpataco Cabernet
Patagonian Cab is an unexpected geography on a list this thin. Alpataco draws from cooler high-altitude vineyards in Argentina's south, which means more restraint than your typical Mendoza bruiser. Most people will default to the Blazon Pinot Noir and that's a mistake.
Blazon Pinot Noir
Lodi is Cabernet and Zinfandel country — Pinot Noir grown there in the valley heat rarely delivers what the grape promises. At restaurant markup, you're almost certainly overpaying for an underwhelming glass. Order a beer instead.
Veuve Clicquot Champagne + Soft pretzels with beer cheese
This is a silly pairing and that's exactly why it works. The acidity and bubbles in the Veuve cut right through the salty, fatty beer cheese, and ordering Champagne at a craft beer bar makes you either a genius or a menace. Either way, it's a good time.
The Bottom Line
The Ginger Man Irving is a genuinely solid craft beer destination and a poor destination for wine. Come for the taps, leave the wine list alone — or order the Veuve just to watch the bartender's face.
· Irving · Southern Brazilian Churrasco
Fogo de Chão Irving is a reliable call for wine if you go in with calibrated expectations — you're not discovering anything new here, but a South American red alongside a carved Picanha is a perfectly sound plan. The Wednesday half-price wine night rumor is worth investigating before you book; if it holds up, it dramatically improves the value proposition on a list that otherwise skews steep.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
Las Colinas · Irving · Italian
Italian Cafe is a reliable neighborhood option for a low-key dinner with wine that won't embarrass itself alongside the food. The wine program isn't the reason to come here — the lakeside atmosphere and comfort Italian cooking are — but it should hold its own for a casual weeknight out. If you're a serious wine drinker, temper expectations; if you just want something decent in the glass with your lobster ravioli, you'll be fine.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Las Colinas · Irving · Italian, steak, seafood
This is not the lazy hotel wine list you're bracing for. Someone made real choices here — Timorasso, Grignolino, Etna Rosso, Vajra — and priced most of them fairly for the setting. It earns the Wild Card badge because nothing about 'Ritz-Carlton in Irving, Texas' prepares you for a list this considered. If you're in Las Colinas for any reason, it's worth sitting down for a glass.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Varietal Specific
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Proper
· Irving · New American / Wine Bar
Bacchus has no business being this interesting with only four bottles on the list, but here we are. If you're open to drinking outside your comfort zone over brunch in suburban Texas, this tiny, weird card is worth the trip.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Deep Ellum · Irving · Bar / Entertainment
Electric Shuffle is genuinely a fun night out — just don't make wine the reason you go. Grab a cocktail, dominate at shuffleboard, and save the bottle hunt for somewhere that actually wants to be in that conversation.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
MIA
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Irving · Wine Bar
Mercy is punching way above its weight for Irving, Texas — a 14-bottle list that somehow covers natural wine, skin contact, sparkling, and old-world obscurities without a single safe-harbor Cab in sight. If you're anywhere near this zip code and you're tired of the same old list, this is your spot.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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
