Vail's Aprés-Ski Pours, No Surprises
· Vail · Hotel Bar & New American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · September 28, 2026
RagingWine reviewed The Lobby Bar’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The Lobby Bar's wine list is exactly what you'd expect from a hotel bar in a ski town — eleven by-the-glass options that skew heavily toward the familiar and the safe. There's nothing here that will surprise you, but at least the hits are competent ones. Think of it as the wine equivalent of a groomed run: no moguls, no drama.
Eleven labels, all poured by the glass, covering the major categories — sparkling, white, rosé, and red — without venturing anywhere adventurous. The whites lean on crowd-tested names like Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay and Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc, while the reds are anchored by The Federalist Cabernet and Altos del Plata Malbec, both workhorse bottles you've seen on a hundred similar lists. The one mildly interesting outlier is Grochau Cellars Commuter Cuvée Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley — a small-production, honest Oregon producer that feels slightly out of place in otherwise very mainstream company. There are no bottles available, no half-bottles, and no apparent depth beyond these eleven pours, which means if you want something beyond the obvious, you're out of luck.
All eleven wines are offered by the glass, ranging from $14 for the Mionetto Prosecco up to $26 for the Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label. The range is adequate for a round or two at the bar, but rotation appears nonexistent — this reads like a static, set-and-forget program rather than a thoughtfully curated pour list. No indication of half-pours or flights.
The Bottom Line
The Lobby Bar is fine — and in Vail, fine is doing a lot of heavy lifting. The list is short, static, and priced for people who just got off the mountain and aren't reading the bill too closely. If you're here, order the Grochau Pinot and call it a night; don't come looking for discovery.
· Vail · Italian
La Nonna is an Italian restaurant in a ski resort town that somehow assembled one of the more thoughtful grower Champagne lists in Colorado — and that's genuinely worth acknowledging. Markups run steep across the board, which is par for the Vail course, but if you order smart (Mignon, Larmandier-Bernier, the Correggia sparkler), you'll drink better than almost anywhere on the mountain. Come for the pasta, stay for the bubbles.
Surprising Depth
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Vail · New American
Larkspur has the bones of a Reliable — a thoughtful regional spread, a polished dining room, and a kitchen putting out serious plates like the Creekstone Farms strip loin and Ahi tuna crudo that deserve equally serious wine. We just don't have enough list detail to hand you a confident pick or warn you off a specific bottle. If you're heading here, ask the server what's drinking well right now and set a firm price ceiling before you open the book — Vail markups are real and they are not shy.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Vail · Steakhouse
Russell's isn't trying to be a wine destination and doesn't need to be — but the list is better than the room probably demands. Fair pricing, a genuine global reach, and twenty pours by the glass make this a steakhouse wine program worth engaging with. Order the Fincas de Ganuza, skip the Laurent Perrier, and leave the mountain resort markup where it belongs: on the cocktail list.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Vail · French
La Tour is not trying to be everything to everyone — it's a French restaurant in Vail that has quietly built one of the more credible white Burgundy lists in Colorado. The pricing is fair by resort standards, the selection has genuine depth from Chablis through Meursault, and there are a few bottles here that would turn heads in a serious wine city. If Chardonnay is your thing, this list is worth your time. If it's not, order the cocktails.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Vail · French
The Left Bank is a legitimately compelling wine destination for anyone who loves Champagne and grower producers — finding Bérêche & Fils 'Le Cran' or Larmandier-Bernier 'Longitude' on a list in Vail is not nothing. Markups are real and the lack of confirmed BTG options means you're probably committing to a bottle, but if that bottle is the Drappier or the Bourdy Crémant, you'll leave happy.
Small but Thoughtful
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Vail · New American
Harvest clears the bar that most ski town wine lists don't even bother approaching — there are real producers, genuine regional diversity, and a by-the-glass program with actual depth. Markups skew steep, as expected in Vail, but the J.L. Chave and the Madeira show that someone on staff is paying attention. If you're eating here, don't default to whatever's loudest on the list — dig into the by-the-glass section and you'll be rewarded.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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