Ski Lodge Prices, Grocery Store Ambitions
Topnotch / Mountain Road · Stowe · Resort Restaurant, American · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed by the RagingWine Tasting Desk · July 28, 2026
RagingWine reviewed Topnotch Resort - Flannel’s wine list and gave it The Lazy List — RagingWine’s Vibe-Check rating. How RagingWine reviews wine lists →
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Wingman Metrics
You're at a gorgeous resort in the Vermont mountains, fresh off the slopes, ready to treat yourself — and then the wine list shows up. Meiomi, Josh Cellars, La Marca. The list reads like the shelf at your nearest Total Wine, except nothing here is priced like it. The setting does a lot of work the wine program refuses to do.
Flannel leans hard into crowd-pleasing California and Italian staples with zero apparent effort to go deeper. The four producers we can confirm — Meiomi, Josh Cellars, La Marca, and Santa Margherita — are all solid mass-market names that belong on a casual chain restaurant list, not a resort charging $28-$38 an entrée. There's no evidence of regional American producers, no Vermont cider crossover curiosity, and no old-world depth to speak of. For a property positioning itself as upscale, the wine program is conspicuously asleep.
Glass pours run $12-$18, which sounds manageable until you realize the bottles behind those pours retail for $14-$28. The by-the-glass selection almost certainly mirrors the bottle list — meaning you're choosing between the same handful of familiar labels at margins that should make your eyes water. No evidence of any rotation or seasonal glass program.
Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio Alto Adige — $60
Still a steep mark-up at 114% over retail, but Santa Margherita is at least a legitimate bottle with some regional identity — Alto Adige Pinot Grigio is the real thing, not a bulk California blend. Of the options here, it's the one worth your money.
La Marca Prosecco
Nobody comes to Flannel for bubbles, but ordering a glass of Prosecco at a Vermont ski resort on a snowy evening is genuinely a good time. La Marca is inoffensive and festive, and if you're splitting it as a pre-dinner pour rather than committing to a $42 bottle, it punches above its station in the moment.
Josh Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon
A $14 retail bottle marked up to $40 is the most egregious play on this list. Josh Cellars Cab is fine — for $14. At $40, you are paying a 186% premium for the privilege of drinking a wine you could grab at a gas station in 38 states. Hard pass.
Meiomi Pinot Noir + Roasted Chicken
Meiomi is soft, fruit-forward, and low on tannin — exactly what you want against a well-seasoned roasted chicken. It won't challenge you or the dish, which is sometimes exactly the point after a long day on the mountain.
The Bottom Line
Flannel is a beautiful room serving a wine list that couldn't care less about the room it's in. If you're here, order a cocktail or budget for the Santa Margherita and move on — there's no wine discovery happening tonight.
· Stowe · Coastal-Inspired Seafood
Tipsy Trout is a solid resort wine program — not adventurous, not embarrassing, and priced exactly how you'd expect a mountain lodge with a view to price it. Come for the raw bar and the scenery; just don't expect the wine list to be the reason you made the reservation.
Crowd Pleasers
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Mountain Road corridor · Stowe · Wine Bar
Dedalus Stowe is a legit wild card — a destination wine bar hiding in plain sight on a ski mountain road. If you care about what's in your glass, detour here before or after the slopes.
Deep & Eclectic
Fair
Varietal Specific
Knowledgeable & Friendly
Set & Forget
Proper
Stowe Village · Stowe · Breakfast and Dinner Cafe / American
Butler's Pantry isn't here to impress wine nerds — it's here to make sure your dinner in Stowe doesn't come with a bad pour. For that, it mostly delivers.
Crowd Pleasers
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Trapp Hill Road / East Stowe · Stowe · Beer Hall, Austrian
This is a beer hall first, second, and third — and you should absolutely order the beer. But if your table wants wine, four thoughtful pours at fair prices beats the lazy list you'd expect, and the Grüner alone justifies the detour.
Small but Thoughtful
Fair
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Set & Forget
Acceptable
Mountain Road · Stowe · Italian
Trattoria La Festa is not a destination for the wine list — it's a destination for the atmosphere, the pasta, and crucially, Wednesday night, when every bottle under $100 goes half-price and suddenly a $50 Antinori feels like a very smart midweek decision. Go on a Wednesday, order the Bramito, and stop overthinking it.
Plays It Safe
Steep
Basic Stemmed
Willing but Green
Seasonal Rotation
Acceptable
Stowe outskirts / Route 100 north of village · Stowe · Fine Dining, European
Michael's on the Hill is the rare Vermont fine dining room where the wine list earns its reputation alongside the kitchen. Pricing runs steep as expected at this tier, but the depth and curation are real — and in the middle of Stowe ski country, that's not nothing.
Deep & Eclectic
Steep
Varietal Specific
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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