Twenty-Five Thousand Bottles Deep in Wine Country
Woodinville · Seattle · Pacific Northwest · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 10, 2026 · How we review
RagingWine reviewed The Herbfarm’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 Herbfarm doesn't arrive — it lands. Twenty-five thousand bottles housed in a proper cellar beneath a cottage in Woodinville wine country is a statement that very few restaurants in America can make. Before you've touched your first course, you already know this place takes wine as seriously as the nine courses coming your way.
The list leads with Washington and Oregon, which is exactly right given where you're sitting — Red Mountain, Walla Walla, and Willamette Valley all get serious real estate. But this isn't a regional vanity project: world classics are woven in with the kind of depth that only comes from decades of deliberate buying. The 2015 Upchurch Vineyard Counterpart from Red Mountain anchors the Washington selections as a showcase bottle, while the presence of a 2001 Château d'Yquem signals that the cellar reaches well beyond the Pacific Northwest when it counts. Gaps are hard to find when the collection is this size, but the average diner will feel the weight of the list more than its breadth — navigation is a team sport here, and the sommelier team earns their keep.
By-the-glass specifics aren't published, which tracks for a restaurant built almost entirely around multi-course tasting menus with wine pairings. The pairing program is the real play here — it's curated course-by-course and likely your best entry point into what the cellar actually does well. Asking for half-pours or swaps is absolutely worth attempting.
2015 Upchurch Vineyard Counterpart, Red Mountain — null
For a bottle from one of Washington's most respected vineyard sites, this is the kind of wine that justifies the drive to Woodinville on its own. Red Mountain Cabernet at this age is hitting its stride, and within the context of a list that runs into rare French trophy bottles, it's the home-state pick that doesn't feel like settling.
1946 Toro Albala Don Pedro Ximénez Sherry
Most people at this table are going to ignore anything labeled Sherry and focus on the Burgundy or the Bordeaux. Their loss. A 1946 Don PX from Toro Albala is a genuinely rare artifact — concentrated, ancient, and nothing like the sticky dessert pour people are picturing. If it's available, ordering it is the move.
2001 Château d'Yquem
Look, d'Yquem is transcendent wine — no argument there. But at a restaurant operating at this price tier on top of a tasting menu already running several hundred dollars per head, the markup on a bottle this famous is going to be punishing. Unless you're celebrating something that warrants a four-figure bottle of Sauternes, let the sommelier steer you toward something from the cellar that delivers comparable wonder at a fraction of the trophy tax.
2015 Upchurch Vineyard Counterpart, Red Mountain + Salmon Nation seasonal dish
Washington Cabernet from Red Mountain and Pacific salmon sounds like a mismatch on paper — it's not. The earthier, more restrained structure of the Counterpart plays against the richness of a well-prepared salmon preparation without bulldozing it, and the regional story they tell together is exactly the kind of thing The Herbfarm is built to deliver.
The Bottom Line
The Herbfarm is one of the few restaurants in the Pacific Northwest where the wine program is genuinely as ambitious as everything else on the table. Send your most wine-obsessed friend here without hesitation — and tell them to let the sommelier drive.
Downtown · Seattle · Brazilian Churrascaria
The real headline here is the half-price South American bottles — available Monday through Thursday, all day, on bottles under $150 — which turns a polished steakhouse into a legitimately reasonable wine night. The list won't excite anyone who came for the wine, but if you came for the meat and want a solid regional bottle at a fair price, this deal is worth planning around.
Plays It Safe
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Active Program
Acceptable
Ballard · Seattle · Italian
A short, Italian-leaning list with most of its bottles in the Old World red section. Order the $11 Montepulciano by the glass, or the $69 Travaglini Gattinara if you want to splurge a little, and confirm prices on the day. This unrated guide covers the posted wine menus, not service, storage or markups.
Downtown · Seattle · Pacific Northwest / New American
A hotel wine list with a Pacific Northwest page up front, Champagne, Bordeaux and Italian sections behind it, and a separate glass list on the drink menu. Start with the $12 Treveri Blanc de Blancs at happy hour or the Mark Ryan 'Goldfinch Tavern Red Blend', and check the current list before you go, since the restaurant says menus are subject to change. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list and drink menu, not service, storage or markups.
Lake Union · Seattle · Steakhouse
A long, Northwest-first steakhouse list with plenty of bottles under $100 as well as a $300-to-$550 tier of Leonetti and Quilceda Creek Cabernets. Start with the $20 Five Star Cellars “Prime” Cabernet by the glass, or the same wine at $55 on the bottle pages, and confirm prices because the list says vintages and availability change. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.
Capitol Hill · Seattle · Italian
An all-Italian list that is easy to navigate: 11 wines by the glass from $13 to $30, a bottle list sorted by region, and $8 house wine during Apericena. Order the Soave at $13 or the $17 Kerner by the glass, or the Villa Venti Sangiovese with the tagliatelle al ragu, and confirm prices because the page says they are subject to change. This unrated guide covers the posted wine list, not service, storage or markups.
Central District · Seattle · Seafood
A mostly natural, mostly French bottle list that stretches from $60 Muscadet to a $455 Champagne, with a deep run of Jura, Savoie and Loire bottles. Start with the $60 Hautplanty Muscadet or the $72 Laurent Herlin Cabernet Franc, and ask about the list’s ◆ and ◉ key if you want help choosing between classic and wild. This unrated guide covers the posted drinks selection, not service, storage or markups.
Northwest Portland · Portland · Pacific Northwest
Paley's Place runs one of the most thoughtful wine lists in Portland — fair prices, real depth, and staff who can actually talk you through it. Yes, send your friends here for wine.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Seasonal Rotation
Proper
Northwest Portland · Portland · Pacific Northwest
Wildwood is where Portland's food-first ethos and Oregon wine pride converge — the list won't dazzle globalists, but if you want to drink the Pacific Northwest the way it was meant to be drunk, this is the room to do it. Send a friend here, but tell them to ask questions before defaulting to whatever Pinot is cheapest.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Proper
Capitol Hill · Seattle · Pacific Northwest
Charlotte is a hotel restaurant that takes its wine list seriously enough to deserve a proper look — 250 labels, a sommelier on staff, and some genuinely interesting Pacific Northwest picks save it from the usual hospitality-industry laziness. The markups are real, so pick strategically, and let the view do the rest.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
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