Great View, Safe Pours, Hotel Prices
The Buttes / West Tempe · Tempe · Lounge / New American · Visit Website ↗
Updated September 2026
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · June 30, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Top of the Rock Lounge’s wine list and gave it The Reliable — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
Wingman Metrics
The wine list arrives and the view from the top of The Buttes is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Forty-two labels in a hotel lounge perched over the Valley of the Sun feels like the right number — until you realize most of them are the usual suspects you'd find at any upscale Marriott property from Phoenix to Portland. This is a list built for people who are already impressed by where they're sitting.
California dominates, and not in an adventurous way — Caymus in two expressions, Orin Swift twice, Rombauer Chardonnay, and a safe Mumm Napa bubbly. There's a nod to Oregon with the Penner-Ash Pinot Noir and a genuinely interesting outlier in the Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino, which suggests someone with taste had a brief moment of influence on this list. The Champagne shelf is stocked for proposals and anniversaries — Dom Pérignon and Perrier-Jouet both present and accounted for. Beyond that, expect no surprises and no real reason to linger over the list.
Twenty options by the glass is actually generous for a hotel lounge, and the $12–$24.40 range covers the spread without forcing you into a commitment. The problem is the by-the-glass program mirrors the bottle list — California-heavy, comfort-zone selections, no real curveballs. It gets the job done for a sunset cocktail hour, but don't come here expecting a rotating pour of something interesting from Jura.
Penner-Ash Pinot Noir Willamette Valley — N/A (bottle price not published)
It's the one wine on this list that feels like it wasn't just auto-populated from a hotel corporate catalog. Penner-Ash makes serious, terroir-driven Willamette Pinot and it sticks out here in the best way — if you're going bottles, this is where your money should go.
Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino
Nobody coming to a hotel lounge in Tempe is ordering Brunello, which means this bottle sits quietly on a list full of California big boys. Il Poggione is a classic, reliable Montalcino producer and this wine is the most interesting thing on the list by a comfortable margin — most tables will walk right past it.
Caymus Special Selection Cabernet Sauvignon California
At $475 a bottle, you're paying hotel-markup rates for a wine that retails around $185–$200. Caymus Special Selection is a fine, crowd-pleasing Cab, but this is a 2.5x markup on a bottle that was already a status symbol before it got on this list. The sunset view is free. This bottle isn't worth it.
Orin Swift Papillon Bordeaux Blend + Filet Mignon
Papillon is Orin Swift's Bordeaux-style blend — structured tannins, dark fruit, a little polish — and it handles a well-seared filet without stepping on it. It's the kind of pairing that makes sense at a table with a dramatic view and a $55 entrée in front of you.
The Bottom Line
Top of the Rock is a perfectly acceptable place to drink wine if the sunset and the occasion are doing the work — just don't expect the list to surprise you or the prices to be anything but hotel-steep. Order the Brunello or the Penner-Ash, enjoy the view, and let it be what it is.
· Tempe · New American
Terra Tempe's wine list is the restaurant equivalent of a reliable sedan — gets you where you're going, no drama, reasonable fuel costs. If you're looking for adventure, you won't find it here; if you just want a decent bottle with dinner at a fair price, you're in good hands.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Tempe · Mediterranean / Wine Bar
Salut Kitchen Bar isn't going to make a wine lover's heart race, but it's a perfectly decent place to drink something approachable with Mediterranean food without getting gouged or lectured. Stick to the Naia Verdejo or Yalumba Rosé and you'll leave happy.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
· Tempe · Italian
Vincitorio's has put in real work on this list — 155 labels and 60 by-the-glass options is a serious commitment. It's not a destination wine program, but it's a genuinely solid one that earns your trust more often than it loses it.
Solid Range
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Elliot Road · Tempe · Sports Bar / American
Vine Tavern is a sports bar first and a wine destination never — the seven-bottle list exists as a checkbox, not a commitment. Order a beer, order a cocktail, or bring your wine expectations somewhere else entirely.
Grocery Store
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Rotating Cast
Set & Forget
Acceptable
South Tempe · Tempe · American / Neighborhood Bistro
The Hudson is a fine place to eat a burger and drink a beer, but the wine list is on autopilot — familiar labels, steep markups outside of Wednesday's deal, and no evidence that anyone on staff is losing sleep over it. Send a friend here for the food, tell them to drink a cocktail.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Occasional
Acceptable
Novus / ASU Campus District · Tempe · American Burger & Craft Bar
Eureka! Tempe is a craft beer bar first, a burger spot second, and a wine destination never. Order a local draft, enjoy your Truffle Cheese Fries, and save the wine for a place that's actually trying.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
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