300 Bottles Deep in Small-Town Maryland
Havre de Grace · Baltimore · New American · Visit Website ↗
Updated June 2026
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · March 23, 2026
RagingWine reviewed The Vineyard Wine Bar’s wine list and gave it The Wild Card — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
You walk into what looks like a cozy neighborhood wine bar and then the list lands on the table — 300-plus labels covering California, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Australia, Argentina, and Oregon. That's not a wine list, that's a thesis. For a spot in Havre de Grace, Maryland, this thing has no business being this serious.
The list skews heavily toward California heavyweights — Opus One, Dominus, Insignia from Joseph Phelps, Turley Old Vines Zinfandel — which tells you someone here has strong Napa convictions and the buying relationships to back them up. Italy gets a real seat at the table too, with Sassicaia from Bolgheri showing up and signaling this isn't just a token Old World gesture. Australia earns its spot with Penfolds Bin 407, a reliable Cabernet that punches well above its price point. The breadth across eight-plus regions is genuinely impressive; the depth within each region is harder to verify, but the anchor bottles suggest the list was built with intent, not just populated to look full.
Eighty options by the six-ounce pour and seventy at three ounces — at $9 to $11 a glass, this is one of the better by-the-glass programs you'll find anywhere in Maryland, let alone outside a major city. The three-ounce format is smart: it lets you run through four or five wines across a dinner without committing to a bottle or blowing your budget. We'd love to know how often the selections rotate, but the sheer volume means there's almost always something interesting in the glass.
Turley Old Vines Zinfandel — $11
Turley's Old Vines Zin retails around $30-$35 a bottle, so catching it by the glass at $11 is a genuinely fair deal. It's a big, structured wine that holds up against the kitchen's heavier dishes without asking you to open a collector bottle.
Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon
Most people walk right past Australian Cabernet on a list this loaded with Napa royalty, which is a mistake. Bin 407 is one of the most consistent, well-made Cabs at its price point anywhere in the world, and it rarely gets the credit it deserves when it's sitting next to Dominus on the same menu.
Opus One
Opus One is a great wine, but it's also the most marked-up trophy bottle on lists like this everywhere in America. You're paying for the name recognition as much as what's in the glass, and at a wine bar where the whole point is discovery, there are far more interesting ways to spend that money.
Sassicaia Bolgheri DOC + Duck Breast
Sassicaia's Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc blend has the structure and dark fruit to stand up to duck's richness while the wine's natural acidity cuts through the fat. It's a classic Tuscan-meets-protein move that earns its price on a plate like this.
The Bottom Line
The Vineyard Wine Bar is doing something genuinely unexpected in a small Maryland waterfront town — running a 300-bottle list with serious producers and keeping glass pours under $11. It's not flawless, but the ambition is real and the value is hard to argue with.
Sparks · Baltimore · French-inspired with Mid-Atlantic seasonal ingredients
Explore the glass list before committing to a bottle: $12 Crémant and $17 Chinon give you two clear starting points. Prices and six-ounce servings come from the posted list checked in September 2026. Confirm availability; this menu guide doesn't rate service or cellar conditions.
· Baltimore · American
Give the international and local sections a look before defaulting to Burgundy. Sula at $70 and Old Westminster at $90 offer different budget options. These are posted bottle prices, not guaranteed stock; confirm availability. This menu guide doesn't rate service or cellar conditions.
Mount Vernon · Baltimore · Northern Italian
Try Lavignone at $14 a glass or compare a $52 bottle if everyone wants the same red. Sotto Sopra makes that budget decision straightforward. Prices come from the posted menu checked in September 2026; availability can change, and this guide doesn't rate service or cellar conditions.
· Baltimore · Italian
Facci's wine list is a quiet overachiever: all-Italian, regionally adventurous, and priced without greed. If you want to drink something you've never heard of and pay a fair price for it, this is your spot.
Surprising Depth
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Clipper Mill · Baltimore · American, Farm to Table
True Chesapeake is a Wild Card in the best possible sense — a working waterfront oyster spot with a Wine Spectator-recognized list helmed by a sommelier who clearly cares. Go for the oysters, stay for the Weinbach, and don't skip the Muscadet.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Horseshoe Casino · Baltimore · Steak house, European
Gordon Ramsay Steak isn't going to surprise you, but it delivers a solid, award-backed California-and-France wine list in a setting where you'd half-expect to be handed a laminated card with three options. For a casino steakhouse in Baltimore, that's genuinely worth something.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Lake Geneva · New American
Turf. Kitchen + Tap looks like a solid resort wine program — broad enough geographically to suggest some genuine effort, casual enough in setting that nobody's going to quiz you on your order. We'd feel comfortable sending a friend here for a relaxed dinner with a decent glass of wine, but we'd stop short of calling it a destination for the list itself. Come for the views and the Choriqueso; the wine will take care of itself.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Sonoma · New American
El Dorado Kitchen isn't trying to be a wine destination, but it's set up squarely in one, and the list reflects that self-awareness. Fair pricing, smart local representation, a few genuinely interesting outliers, and the full list available by the glass make this a reliable stop for a well-poured evening in Sonoma. If you're after a deep cellar or something truly adventurous, look elsewhere — but if you want to drink well without stress, this delivers.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Atlanta · New American
Siren has a wine list that punches above its weight in a few key areas — particularly the by-the-glass whites and the Champagne bottle program — but the markup structure means you're spending real money to access it. If you're the kind of diner who wants to order Furmint on a Tuesday night in Atlanta, this is one of the few places that makes that possible, and that alone earns it a spot on the shortlist.
Solid Range
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
One wine list review, one adventure pick, one quick tip, and a personal note. Every week. Under 500 words.
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